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College basketball rankings: Arizona just outside top-10 in preseason AP poll

The Arizona Wildcats are the class of the Pac-12 in the AP's preseason poll as they come in at No. 12.

Stephen Dunn

The Arizona Wildcats are the highest ranked Pac-12 school in the preseason AP Top-25 poll released earlier Friday at No. 12.

The UCLA Bruins clock in one spot behind Arizona at No. 13 with their highly-touted freshman SG Shabazz Muhammad expected to miss time early on due to a shoulder sprain. Muhammad's eligibility for 2012-2013 is also being investigated which has voters thinking that the Wildcats could be the best team in the conference.

Stanford was the only other Pac-12 team that looks to be on the AP's radar as they received two votes.

With the No. 3 recruiting class in the country, CBS Sports college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb chose Arizona to win it all this year. The Wildcats open their season on Nov. 11 at home against Charleston Southern and play UCLA for the first time on Jan. 24. Before that though, Arizona will have to get through a tough No. 10 ranked Florida team who is the only other top-25 opponent the Wildcats currently have on their schedule.

Here is the complete preseason poll:

Team (First-place votes) 2011-12 Record Pts
1. Indiana (43) 27-9 1,592
2. Louisville (20) 30-10 1,568
3. Kentucky (2) 38-2 1,453
4. Ohio St. 31-8 1,292
5. Michigan 24-10 1,290
6. NC State 24-13 1,270
7. Kansas 32-7 1,210
8. Duke 27-7 1,094
9. Syracuse 34-3 1,062
10. Florida 26-11 936
11. North Carolina 32-6 904
12. Arizona 23-12 902
13. UCLA 19-14 840
14. Michigan St. 29-8 789
15. Missouri 30-5 664
16. Creighton 29-6 622
17. Memphis 26-9 539
18. UNLV 26-9 488
19. Baylor 30-8 486
20. San Diego St. 26-8 463
21. Gonzaga 26-7 384
22. Notre Dame 22-12 297
23. Wisconsin 26-10 285
24. Cincinnati 26-11 120
25. Florida St. 25-10 101

Others receiving votes: Murray St. 59, VCU 58, Saint Louis 46, Texas 46, Minnesota 40, Butler 33, Pittsburgh 32, Saint Joseph’s 25, Marquette 23, Tennessee 15, Oklahoma St. 14, Kansas St. 12, Georgetown 9, New Mexico 9, Ohio 9, Miami 8, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 6, West Virginia 6, Davidson 5, Drexel 5, N. Iowa 5, Valparaiso 3, Lehigh 2, Stanford 2, Colorado St. 1, Oral Roberts 1.