Coaches Poll: Duke #1

Polls are usually as meaningless as recruiting rankings, but it’s still fun to see how teams are regarded. And for our money the coaches poll is the best.

So it’s nice to see Duke ranked #1.

Of course that’s preseason and post-season is the one you want. Still, it’s cool.

There are four other ACC teams ranked:

• UNC - 9
• Miami - 12
• Notre Dame - 14
• Louisville - 16

Virginia, FSU, Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech also received votes.

As we say though October is meaningless. Time to put it on the court!

It’s impossible to predict the Final Four, let alone the winner from this far out, but chances are it’ll be one of the following schools:

• Duke
• Michigan State
• Kentucky
• Arizona
• Kansas
• Louisville
• UNC
• Wichita State
• Miami
• Texas
• USC
• Villanova
• Florida
• UCLA
• Gonzaga
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Notre Dame
• Oregon
• USC
• Purdue
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Xavier
• Maryland
• Virginia

Even out of that group we wouldn’t bet on Louisville, Minnesota, Purdue, Virginia or Xavier. So basically you’re looking at 20 schools, give or take, that have a realistic shot. Will there be a Cinderella? Well there could be of course. But not to win it all.