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Maryland basketball ranked No. 3 in season's first Coaches Poll

The Terps are one of five ranked Big Ten teams.

Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports

The Maryland men's basketball team is ranked No. 3 in the season's opening Coaches Poll, released Thursday.

Kentucky, after going 38-1 a season ago, is tied for No. 1 despite losing almost its entire rotation and replacing it with a new crop of blue-chip freshmen. The Wildcats are tied with North Carolina – a Maryland opponent at the start of December– and then come the Terps themselves. Maryland got five preseason votes for first place, compared to 11 for Kentucky and 12 for North Carolina.

The Big Ten has four other teams ranked: No. 13 Michigan State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 24 Purdue. The Terps play each of those teams on the road and have a few home-and-homes, setting up an hugely challenging conference schedule.

No league has more ranked teams than the Big Ten, and Maryland is emerging as the league's consensus favorite. In addition, Maryland guard Melo Trimble was picked Wednesday as the conference's preseason player of the year.

It's probably worth noting that Maryland started at the same spot in 2001-02, and things worked out OK that year.

TEAM RECORD POINTS
1 Kentucky (11) 38-1 749
1 North Carolina (12) 26-12 749
3 Maryland (5) 28-7 723
4 Duke (3) 35-4 686
5 Kansas (1) 27-9 675
6 Virginia 30-4 667
7 Iowa St. 25-9 541
8 Oklahoma 24-11 520
9 Villanova 33-3 498
10 Arizona 34-4 477
11 Gonzaga 35-3 468
12 Wichita St. 30-5 461
13 Michigan St 27-12 386
14 California 18-15 350
15 Indiana 20-14 312
16 Utah 26-9 250
17 Wisconsin 36-4 181
18 Notre Dame 32-6 172
19 Louisiana State 22-11 163
20 Vanderbilt 21-14 153
21 Baylor 24-10 145
22 Butler 23-11 132
23 West Virginia 25-10 125
24 Purdue 21-13 110
24 Connecticut 20-15 110