AP College Basketball Poll 2022: Complete Preseason Rankings Released | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

A year after reaching the NCAA tournament final, North Carolina enters as the No. 1 team in the preseason men’s college basketball Associated Press poll.

There are plenty of familiar faces at the top of the rankings as well, including Gonzaga, Duke and Kentucky.

Reigning champion Kansas enters at No. 5, although the squad will have to replace several key players from last year’s roster.

Here is the full Top 25 before the season opens Nov. 7.

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AP Poll

1. North Carolina

2. Gonzaga

3. Houston

4. Kentucky

T-5. Kansas

T-5. Baylor

7. Duke

8. UCLA

9. Creighton

10. Arkansas

11. Tennessee

12. Texas

13. Indiana

14. TCU

15. Auburn

16. Villanova

17. Arizona

18. Virginia

19. San Diego State

20. Alabama

21. Oregon

22. Michigan

23. Illinois

24. Dayton

25. Texas Tech

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It was a surprise when North Carolina drove to the Final Four as a No. 8 seed last season, but the squad had truly turned it on during the second half of the season and proved to be a legitimate title threat.

Now, expectations are even higher in 2022-23, as guard Caleb Love told ESPN last week:

“It’s national championship or bust. For real. That’s what we all came back for. They can’t take that away from us, once we do that. And that’s an accomplishment and a goal that will live with us forever. We’re already locked in, but that will be another thing for us. We’ll come back 20 years from now and it’ll still be hanging.”

Love returns alongside R.J. Davis, Leaky Black and All-American candidate Armando Bacot, who averaged 16.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game last season. The big man had 21 rebounds in the shocking national semifinal win over rival Duke.

With Northwestern transfer Pete Nance set to fill in for Brady Manek, the pieces are there to win a title.

There will still be plenty of competition throughout the year from teams filled with both young talent and veteran stars.

Drew Timme helped Gonzaga earn the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, although the squad fell in the Sweet 16 to Arkansas. Losing Chet Holmgren will hurt, but Julian Strawther and Rasir Bolton could take another step in the backcourt to help the Bulldogs make a deeper run in 2023.

Kentucky will feature the reigning Naismith award winner in Oscar Tshiebwe, who averaged 17.4 points and 15.2 rebounds per game last season. Even after the Wildcats’ surprising first-round loss to Saint Peter’s, they enter No. 1 on the preseason KenPom ratings and could be a major threat this year.

UCLA also returns some proven players in Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Tyger Campbell, while Houston’s Marcus Sasser could take his team on another deep run.

Meanwhile, fans should also acclimate themselves to new faces on Duke.

Jon Scheyer takes over for Mike Krzyzewski as head coach and brings with him three of the top four recruits in the 2022 class, per 247Sports composite rankings. There could be some growing pains, but Dereck Lively II, Dariq Whitehead and Kyle Filipowski will ensure the Blue Devils remain a contender.

Kansas will also have to recover from the losses of Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun and David McCormack, but Jalen Wilson will try to be the next man up for last year’s champions alongside highly touted freshman Grady Dick.