North Carolina remains No. 1

Nov 17, 2008 - 6:12 PM MCLEAN, Virginia (Ticker) -- North Carolina remained atop the rankings in the latest USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, which was released Monday.

The top 19 teams in the rankings remained unchanged.

Despite playing without injured All-American Tyler Hansbrough (shin), the Tar Heels had little trouble in posting an 86-71 victory over Pennsylvania on Saturday in their season opener.

North Carolina garnered 30 of the 31 first-place votes and 774 points overall.

Behind 7-3 Tanzanian giant Hasheem Thabeet, who collected 23 points and 17 rebounds, second-ranked Connecticut opened its season with an 81-55 rout of Western Carolina on Friday. The Huskies picked up the other first-place vote and 722 points.

Louisville (0-0) is third, followed by UCLA (2-0), Duke (3-0), Pittsburgh (1-0), Michigan State (1-0), Texas (1-0), Notre Dame (1-0) and Purdue (1-0).

The next five are Gonzaga (1-0), Memphis (1-0), Tennessee (1-0), Oklahoma (1-0) and Arizona State (1-0).

Miami (1-0) is 16th, followed by Marquette (1-0), Georgetown (0-0), Florida (2-0) and Southern California (1-0).

The final five are Davidson (1-0), which fell one spot to 21st, Wisconsin (1-0), Villanova (1-0), Kansas (1-0) and Wake Forest (1-0).