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Maryland basketball opened the season ranked No. 25 in the AP preseason poll on Monday. This is 22 spots below where the the Terps stood a year ago, a reflection of the four starters this team lost. Duke will enter the season ranked No. 1, followed by Kentucky, Kansas and defending champion Villanova.
The last spot in the poll is fitting given how nobody knows how good Maryland really is. This team will play four new players in transfer L.G. Gill, who should start at power forward, and three freshmen in guards Anthony Cowan and Kevin Huerter and wing Justin Jackson. Dion Wiley, returning to play for the first time since his freshman year after tearing his meniscus before the season opener, feels like a fifth new player.
The Terps still have talent returning with Trimble and big man Damonte Dodd, but we have no idea how all of these new, unproven pieces will mesh. It appears the AP voters aren’t too confident either.
Other Big Ten teams in the AP top 25 include Wisconsin at No. 9, Indiana at No. 11, Michigan State at No. 12 and Purdue at No. 15.
Here’s the full poll:
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke (58) | 0-0 | 1,612 |
| 2 | Kentucky (2) | 0-0 | 1,479 |
| 3 | Kansas | 0-0 | 1,476 |
| 4 | Villanova (4) | 0-0 | 1,465 |
| 5 | Oregon (1) | 0-0 | 1,343 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 0-0 | 1,314 |
| 7 | Xavier | 0-0 | 1,167 |
| 8 | Virginia | 0-0 | 1,149 |
| 9 | Wisconsin | 0-0 | 1,135 |
| 10 | Arizona | 0-0 | 1,004 |
| 11 | Indiana | 0-0 | 917 |
| 12 | Michigan State | 0-0 | 903 |
| 13 | Louisville | 0-0 | 755 |
| 14 | Gonzaga | 0-0 | 699 |
| 15 | Purdue | 0-0 | 672 |
| 16 | UCLA | 0-0 | 540 |
| 17 | Saint Mary's | 0-0 | 512 |
| 18 | Connecticut | 0-0 | 504 |
| 19 | Syracuse | 0-0 | 464 |
| 20 | West Virginia | 0-0 | 360 |
| 21 | Texas | 0-0 | 250 |
| 22 | Creighton | 0-0 | 231 |
| 23 | Rhode Island | 0-0 | 199 |
| 24 | Iowa State | 0-0 | 168 |
| 25 | Maryland | 0-0 | 144 |
| Others receiving votes: Cincinnati 110, Dayton 98, Florida State 88, California 74, San Diego State 48, Miami 35, NC State 29, Butler 21, Wichita St 21, Ohio State 18, Virginia Tech 18, Florida 18, Texas A&M 14, Mississippi State 14, Oklahoma 11, Colorado 10, Michigan 8, Monmouth 7, Notre Dame 6, Washington 5, Seton Hall 5, Princeton 2, Ohio 1, Vanderbilt 1, Harvard 1 | |||