The Tar Heels ended last season with a 96-84 overtime loss to Georgetown in the regional final. They lost an 11-point lead in the second half and missed 22 of 23 shots during a 15-minute stretch.
Three starters, including junior center Tyler Hansbrough, are among eight contributors back from that team.
"In the game today a veteran team is sophomores and juniors instead of juniors and seniors like in the old days," North Carolina coach Roy Williams said Friday. "We had a great run last year and the Georgetown game set us back in that we were a jump shot away from the Final Four."
"The players have used that as motivation in some ways but even more was the realization of how quickly it can be over," he added. "In some ways that made the team work harder. We are not talking about Georgetown by any means right now, but over the offseason, yes, because the suddenness of what happened stuns you."
North Carolina received 29 first-place votes and 1,728 points from the 72-member national media panel. UCLA, which has four starters back from its Final Four team, was No. 1 on 24 ballots and had 1,7** points. Memphis, which has all five starters back from its regional final team, got 18 first-place votes and 1,680 points.
Kansas was fourth and Georgetown, which drew the only other first-place vote, was fifth, followed by Louisville, Tennessee, Michigan State, Indiana and Washington State.
Marquette was 11th followed by Oregon, Duke, Gonzaga, Texas, Texas A&M, Arizona, Southern California, Arkansas and Kentucky.
The last five ranked teams were North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Southern Illinois and Kansas State.
The Pac-** led the way with six teams in the preseason poll (UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, USC, Arizona and Stanford). The Big 12 and Big East both had four teams, while the Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference had three each.
The last time Kansas State was ranked was No. 23 for one week in February 1993. This version of the Wildcats features a strong frontcourt in sophomore Bill Walker and highly recruited freshman Michael Beasley. It will be the first head coaching job for Frank Martin, who was promoted to replace Bob Huggins, who left after one season for West Virginia.
