Many people thought the University of Alabama men's basketball team would start the season in the AP top 25, but it looks like the program will have to earn its first ranking of 2017 on the court.

The AP preseason poll was released on November 1 and the Crimson Tide finds itself as the first team outside of the top 25. Avery Johnson's team received 86 votes, which is good enough for 26th. That puts Alabama behind Kentucky (No. 5), Florida (No. 8), and Texas A&M (No. 25) in the Southeastern Conference.

Duke took the top spot while Michigan State, Arizona, and Kansas also received first-place votes.

Alabama will have a plenty of opportunities to earn quality wins through the season based on this first poll. Currently the Tide will face No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 Kentucky, No. 8 Florida, No. 15 Minnesota, No. 25 Texas A&M, and Rhode Island, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and South Carolina from the teams receiving votes.

Here are the top 25 teams in The Associated Press' preseason 2017-18 college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final 2016-17 records, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and last year's final ranking:

RecordPtsPrv
1. Duke (33)28-915727
2. Michigan St. (13)20-151520NR
3. Arizona (18)32-515064
4. Kansas (1)31-514393
5. Kentucky32-613406
6. Villanova32-412841
7. Wichita St.31-5127019
8. Florida27-9110020
9. North Carolina33-710475
10. Southern Cal26-10995NR
11. West Virginia28-984013
12. Cincinnati30-683718
13. Miami21-12836NR
14. Notre Dame26-1081414
15. Minnesota24-10642NR
16. Louisville25-957010
17. Xavier24-14544NR
18. Gonzaga37-25002
19. Northwestern24-12473NR
20. Purdue27-836215
21. UCLA31-53408
22. Saint Mary's (Cal)29-533322
23. Seton Hall21-12274NR
24. Baylor27-816312
25. Texas A&M16-15130NR

Others receiving votes: Alabama 86, Virginia 57, Rhode Island 49, TCU 46, Providence 34, Missouri 19, Virginia Tech 16, Wisconsin 14, Butler 13, Texas 10, Maryland 7, Oklahoma 7, Nevada 7, Michigan 6, Dayton 5, Middle Tennessee 4, Ball St. 4, SMU 3, Oakland 2, Oregon 2, South Carolina 1, Harvard 1, UCF 1.

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