North Carolina No. 1 in AP's preseason men's basketball poll

North Carolina surprised just about everyone last year when a talented team led by first-year coach Hubert Davis parlayed a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament into a run to the national title game.

The Tar Heels won't be sneaking up on anyone this year.

With four starters back from the team that lost to Kansas in New Orleans, the Tar Heels are the runaway pick as the preseason No. 1 in the AP Top 25 released Monday. They earned 47 of 62 first-place votes from a national media panel to easily outdistance Gonzaga, the top preseason team the past two years.

The Bulldogs received 12 first-place votes while No. 3 Houston had one and fourth-ranked Kentucky the other two.

«As they opened up their lockers for the first practice of last year, there was a picture of the New Orleans Superdome in there. I wanted them to see where we were headed in April,» Davis recalled last week. «The hard work and preparation, the practice that had to be put into place to put ourselves in position to do that. It's the same approach this year compared to last year. The only difference this year is the outside noise.

»Last year," Davis said, «the outside noise didn't think we had a chance. The outside noise this year thinks we do.»

It is the 10th time that North Carolina has been preseason No. 1, breaking a tie with Duke for the most in the history of the AP poll. But only twice during those years did the Tar Heels reach the national championship game, and only the 1981-82 team with James Worthy and Michael Jordan ultimately cut down the nets.

«Like Coach Davis always preaches, a lot of outside noise, and we don't really worry about any of that,» said Caleb Love, one of the four returning starters for North Carolina along with R.J. Davis, Leaky Black