College Basketball | UNC is coaches’ preseason No. 1
North Carolina leads four teams from the 2007 Elite Eight in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll, released Friday morning.
The Tar Heels edged UCLA and Memphis for the top spot, despite the fact that the Bruins had two more first-place votes (12) than the Tar Heels (10). North Carolina had 739 points in the poll, followed by No. 2 UCLA with 734 and No. 3 Memphis with 731 points and eight first-place votes.
“We’re excited about people thinking we’re going to be pretty good because we think we’re going to be pretty good,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said.
Fellow Elite Eight participants Kansas (one first-place vote) and Georgetown complete the top five.
Washington State, which finished a surprising 26-8 in 2006-07, is ranked 10th. Gonzaga, looking to make its 10th straight NCAA tournament appearance, is tied for 14th with Texas A&M.
Neither Florida nor Ohio State, the teams that played for the national championship, made the Top 25.
The ESPN/USA Today poll is voted on by a panel of 31 Division I head coaches.
The tightest two-way preseason poll was in 2000-01, when Arizona edged Duke by three points for No. 1 and Stanford was a distant third. Duke ended up beating the Wildcats in the national-championship game.
Cougars recruit banned
PULLMAN - Washington State freshman recruit Fabian Boeke has been banned from playing this season by the NCAA because he played on a professional team in Germany.
Boeke, of Kummerfeld, Germany, played four seasons with the Ehingen Club team, a mix of high school and older players.
Members of that club team, but not Boeke, received stipends that the NCAA determined were above necessary expenses. The NCAA decided the Ehingen team was a pro organization and banned Boeke.
“This is an unfortunate situation because Fabian paid his way to go to high school and competed on the club team affiliated with his school,” Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. “To Fabian’s knowledge, and ours, he was competing on a team that would not jeopardize his amateur status.
“We will do everything we can to have Fabian’s eligibility restored.”
Boeke can continue practicing with the team.
Notes
• The gunman who wounded five Duquesne players after a school dance last year pleaded guilty and will spend up to 40 years in prison.
William B. Holmes III, 19, of Pittsburgh, shot players Sam Ashaolu, Shawn James, Kojo Mensah, Aaron Jackson and Stuard Baldonado on campus on Sept. 17, 2006.
Holmes was sentenced to 18 to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges. Assistant District Attorney Mark Tranquilli said the players were consulted and agreed with the plea agreement.
• Missouri senior reserve forward Darryl Butterfield was charged with peace disturbance, a little over a week after he was arrested after an incident with his girlfriend.
He was initially accused of third-degree domestic assault after his arrest in Columbia, Mo., on Oct. 17, but that charge was never filed. Butterfield, who remains suspended from the team, is scheduled for arraignment Oct. 30. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail.
• Takais Brown, Georgia’s leading scorer last season who already was suspended for the first nine games this season, was dismissed from the team for a violation of team policies.
Brown and two other Georgia players were suspended earlier this month for violations of the school’s new class-attendance policy for student-athletes. He will be allowed to remain at Georgia as a student.
Gannett News Service, ESPN.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.