BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s basketball team, after a Final Four season that included winning the championship of the Southeastern Conference in 2006, is ranked seventh in the preseason ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll announced by the media outlets on Friday.
LSU, third in the final coaches poll of the 2005-06 season after its trip through the NCAA Tournament to the NCAA Final Four, is one of five SEC teams listed in the inaugural poll for 2006-07.
Defending national champion Florida was a unanimous selection at No. 1, receiving all 30 first-place votes. Other SEC teams ranked are Alabama at No. 12, Kentucky at No. 22 and Tennessee at No. 24.
North Carolina is second in the poll followed by Kansas, Ohio State, Pittsburgh and UCLA ahead of LSU with Georgetown, Wisconsin and Arizona rounding out the top 10.
LSU plays nine games against teams ranked in the preseason top 25 including games against Florida, Alabama (twice), No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 Washington, No. 18 Connecticut, No. 19 Texas, No. 22 Kentucky and No. 24 Tennessee. Also LSU will face Wichita State from the receiving votes list.
Florida finished last year’s poll No. 1, while Alabama was unranked in the final poll, as was Kentucky.
LSU opens exhibition play on Nov. 9 against EA Sports and after a Nov. 15 exhibition with Louisiana College opens regular season play on Nov. 17 against Nicholls State. That game is set for 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center and that night the official NCAA Final Four banner will be lowered from the catwalk of the Maravich Center to join the ring of banners around the top of the building commemorating the special moments for the sports that play in the building.
Tickets for the 2006-07 basketball season are on sale at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office at 225-578-2184 or online at www.LSUsports.net.
Preseason USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches’ Poll
Oct. 27, 2006
Rank, Team (first-place votes) Record, Points, Previous ranking
1. Florida (30), 33-6, 772, 1
2. North Carolina, 23-8, 728, 14
3. Kansas, 25-8, 714, 22
4. Ohio State (1), 26-6, 595, 13
t5. Pittsburgh, 25-8, 583, 18
t5. UCLA, 32-7, 583, 2
7. LSU, 27-9, 556, 3
8. Georgetown, 23-10, 538, 16,
9. Wisconsin, 19-12, 530, NR
10. Arizona, 20-13, 478, NR
11. Duke, 32-4, 477, 7
12. Alabama, 18-13, 420, NR
13. Texas A&M, 22-9, 335, NR
14. Memphis, 33-4, 328, 6
15. Boston College, 28-8, 284, 11
16. Washington, 26-7, 240, 12
17. Marquette, 20-11, 203, NR
18. Connecticut, 30-4, 200, 4
19. Texas, 30-7, 172, 9
20. Syracuse, 23-12, 138, NR
21. Georgia Tech, 11-17, 137, NR
22. Kentucky, 22-13, 119, NR
23. Creighton, 20-10, 113, NR
24. Tennessee, 22-8, 106, 20
25. Nevada, 27-6, 101, NR
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Gonzaga 88, Wichita State 78, Louisville 77, Southern Illinois 70, Illinois 52, Xavier 44, Villanova 39, Air Force 26, San Diego State 24, Hofstra 20, Oklahoma State 19, Michigan 17, Michigan State 15, Maryland 12, DePaul 11, Florida State 9, George Mason 6, Indiana 5, Houston 3, Brigham Young 2, George Washington 2, Winthrop 2, Utah 1, Bucknell 1, New Mexico State 1, Saint Louis 1.
DROPPED FROM RANKINGS
Villanova 5, George Mason 8, Gonzaga 10, Illinois 17, George Washington 19, Wichita State 21, Bucknell 25.