The Duke men’s basketball team is ranked No. 9 in the Associated Press preseason poll released Monday, marking the 14th consecutive season that the Blue Devils made their debut in the top 10.
Duke also extends the nation’s longest streak of being ranked in the top 10 at any point in a season to 26 consecutive years. The next closest program is Kansas, which has held a top-10 ranking at some point in each of the last 16 seasons.
Entering the 2021-22 campaign, the Blue Devils have been in the AP top 10 for 1,064 of 1,399 (77 percent) games under 42nd-year head coach Mike Krzyzewski. His Duke squads are 872-192 (.820) when playing as a top-10 ranked team.
Duke returns six letterwinners from last season’s team and welcomes eight newcomers, including four freshmen that comprise the nation’s No. 4-ranked recruiting class.
The Blue Devils host Winston-Salem State in an exhibition at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 1:30 p.m., on ACCNX. Duke tips off the regular season versus Kentucky on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at Madison Square Garden in the State Farm Champions Classic on ESPN.
The University of North Carolina is No. 19 in the 2021-22 preseason Associated Press men’s basketball poll. Carolina has been ranked for at least one week in the AP poll in every season since the start of 1966-67.
This is the 929th AP poll that includes UNC, more than any other school in the history of the poll.
It is the 65th season in the 74-year history of the AP poll the Tar Heels have been ranked at least once.
Last season, Carolina was 16 in the preseason poll and was ranked for four additional weeks before dropping out of the poll.
The Tar Heels are scheduled to play eight games this season against teams ranked in the preseason top 25 and at least five against top-10 opponents.
UNC will play No. 2 UCLA in Las Vegas, No. 6 Michigan at home in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, No. 7 Purdue in Uncasville, Conn., in the Basketball Hall of Fame Tipoff, No. 9 Duke home and away, No. 20 Florida State and No. 25 Virginia in Chapel Hill and either No. 4 Villanova or No. 18 Tennessee on the second day of the Hall of Fame Tipoff.
Full men’s preseason AP Top 25:
1. Gonzaga
2. UCLA
3. Kansas
4. Villanova
5. Texas
6. Michigan
7. Purdue
8. Baylor
9. Duke
10. Kentucky
11. Illinois
12. Memphis
13. Oregon
14. Alabama
15. Houston
16. Arkansas
17. Ohio State
18. Tennessee
19. North Carolina
20. Florida State
21. Maryland
22. Auburn
23. St. Bonaventure
24. UConn
25. Virginia
Slow Starts Continue to Plague Tar Heels