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Once again I am a voter for the Associated Press Top 25 men's basketball poll. I turned in my ballot today, because the poll comes out Thursday - as does the preseason All-America team.

Here's how I voted

1. Kansas: The Jayhawks have two stars in Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, and could wind up with their second NCAA title in three seasons. All five starters are back from a Sweet 16 team, and freshman Xavier Henry has come aboard.

2. Michigan State: Kalin Lucas is back to try to lead the Spartans to a second straight Final Four. They will miss Goran Suton and Travis Walton, but Raymar Morgan and Durrell Summers return.

3. Villanova: Scottie Reynolds will try to get the Wildcats to a second straight Final Four. Two other starters are back, as well as Big East sixth man of the year Corey Fisher.

4. Texas: Dexter Pittman and Damion James are back to lead the way. With eight of the top 10 scorers back from an NCAA tournament team, this should be a deep bunch, even though AJ Abrams is gone. Freshman Avery Bradley will be one to watch.

5. Purdue: Robbie Hummel, JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore are back from a Sweet 16 team. All the starters are back, in fact.

6. Cal: Four starters are back from an NCAA tournament team, including Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher.

7. WVU: Four starters are back from an NCAA tournament team, although Alex Ruoff will be missed. But Da'Sean Butler and Devin Ebanks are back, and will be joined by national JUCO player of the year Casey Mitchell.

8. Kentucky: Calipari should have UK clicking right away, thanks to freshman John Wall and standout Patrick Patterson, even though Jodie Meeks is gone. Patterson is one of 3 starters back.

9. UNC: Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington and Graves are gone, but Ed Davis should have a big year. Ginyard and Thompson are back, and freshman John Henson should be good. Zeller is promising. Will Drew and Ginyard get the job done in the backcourt?  Another national title isn't likely, but UNC should still be fun to watch.

10. Duke: Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer are back from a Sweet 16 team. Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams will be missed, though. Can Nolan Smith and freshman Dawkins have good years in the backcourt? Can Duke hurt teams in the paint? The 1-2 punch of Singler and Scheyer should make Duke pretty good, though.

11. Tennessee: Vols have all five starters back from an NCAA tournament team, including Tyler Smith.

12. Ohio State: Evan Turner and William Buford are back from an NCAA team. BJ Mullens will be missed, but all the other regulars are back, and David Lighty is healthy again.

13. Washington: Three starters are back from an NCAA team. Jon Brockman and Justin Dentsmon will be missed, but freshman Abdul Gaddy looks good and Isaiah Thomas is back.

14. Miss. State: Five starters are back from an NCAA team, including Jarvis Varnado.

15. Dayton: Four starters are back from an NCAA team. Chris Wright will lead the way for the A-10 team.

16. Butler: All the starters return from an NCAA team. Matt Howard is back to help Butler rule the Horizon League.

17. Illinois: Three starters are back from an NCAA team: Mike Davis, Demetri McCarney and Mike Tisdale.

18. UConn: Huskies don't look like a Final Four team, not with Thabeet, AJ Price and Jeff Adrien gone. Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson are back. If the newcomers click, the Huskies will too. Be interesting to see Ater Majok, who spent a year in Henry County before heading to Storrs.

19. Michigan: Another Big Ten team? Yep. The top five scorers are back from an NCAA team, including Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims.

20. Oklahoma: Blake Griffin and two other starters as gone, but Willie Warren is back. Tiny Gallon has come aboard from Oak Hill and should make an impact.

21. Georgetown: Only an NIT team last year, but three starters are back: Greg Monroe, Austin Freeman and Chris Wright. DaJuan Summers will be missed, though. I thought long and hard about having Louisville be the 4th Big East team in my Top 25, not the Hoyas.

22. Ga. Tech: Gani Lawal is back, and freshman Derrick Favors comes in to give the Jackets a great set of post players. Clinch and Aminu will be missed, but with eight of the top 10 scorers back and Bell healthy again, I think Jackets go from losing team to NCAA team. I thought long and hard about Clemson or Maryland being my 3rd ACC team in this poll, but I think GT has more potential.

23. Siena: Four starters are back from a MAAC team that won an NCAA tournament game again last season. Kenny Hasbrouck will be missed, but Siena deserves to be ranked.

24. Western Kentucky: This Sun Belt team deserves to be ranked, too. Four starters are back from a team that also won an NCAA first-round game last season. Orlando Mendez-Valdez will be missed, though.

25. Northern Iowa: All five starters are back from an NCAA team. Adam Koch will lead the way for the Missouri Valley team.

That's my ballot. I also considered Louisville, Clemson, Maryland, Vandy and Utah State. I also thought about South Carolina, VCU, BYU, Tulsa and Notre Dame.

As far as my preseason All-America team, I went with Harangody of Notre Dame, Aldrich of Kansas, Lucas of Michigan State, Patterson of Kentucky and Reynolds of Villanova.

I also thought about Collins of Kansas, Warren of Oklahoma, Booker of Clemson, Downey of South Carolina, Ebanks of WVU and Singler of Duke.

The Pistons waived Deron Washington today (Monday).

Deron, who was picked by Detroit in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft, spent last season in Greece. He averaged 3.3 points, 0.6 rebounds and 6.4

Greetings from ACC media day in Greensboro, where the Hokies were ranked 8th in the ACC preseason media poll. Duke and UNC tied for first. Malcolm Delaney made the preseason All-ACC team as the fourth-leading vote-getter.

The fact that the Hokies were only voted 8th is no big shock. They have two standouts in Malcolm and Jeff Allen, but the jury is still out on the supporting cast.

I voted the Hokies 7th because of their great 1-2 scoring punch, but did not vote them any higher than that because we need to see if they can replace AD's scoring punch and become a better defensive team. But that 1-2 punch could carry them pretty far in a league where many stars from last year have left. You wouldn't think VT would be better minus AD, but they could be, just because other teams have lost valuable parts as well.

If you want to suppose that the ACC gets 7 teams in the NCAAs, like last year, the Hokies being picked 8th means they are thought to be close to being an NCAA tournament team but look more like they will wind up in the NIT again. Fair assessment at this point. They could indeed wind up in the NCAAs, but you just don't know yet how much improvement guys like Dorenzo and JT will show this year.

Duke got 25 first-place votes, five more than UNC, but both had 545 points to top the poll-- first time there has been a tie atop the poll. I voted UNC No. 1 and Duke No. 2, but both have question marks. UNC lost some great players to the NBA but still has lots of talent, including Ed Davis. You have to wonder how good their backcourt is, though.

Duke has a great 1-2 punch in Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer, but the loss of Gerald Henderson and Elliot Williams leaves you wondering about just how good the rest of the team is.  I think that's why Duke and UNC tied for the top, rather than one of them being an obvious No. 1. But I did expect UNC to be the clear-cut No. 1, and that was not the case. I guess the ACC media is not as sold on the overall talent on the roster as the national magazines are.

Clemson was 3rd with 409 points, with Ga. Tech fourth at 387. Maryland was fifth, followed by Wake, FSU, Va. Tech, BC, Miami, UVa and NC State.

As far as I am concerned, after Duke and UNC (or UNC and Duke), you can put teams 3-9 in a hat, basically. Any order would not be a bad poll, and any order would not be a surprise if that is how it pans out in March. It was very hard for me to vote 3-9. (I had GT 3rd, Maryland 4th, Clemson 5th, FSU 6th, Hokies 7, Wake 8 and BC 9. But I kept changing that order).

Clemson being voted 3rd in the poll has a lot to do with the return of Trevor Booker, one of the ACC's best big men. And Demontez Stitt is back at PG. But Tigers lost KC Rivers, Terrence Oglesby and Raymond Sykes. Will Clemson have the outside shooting to balance Booker inside?

Ga Tech being picked 4th after a lousy year last season has a lot to with freshman big man Derrick Favors joining Gani Lawai to give GT two great post players. GT also has PG Shumpert back, and the return of D'Andre Bell from injury that kept him from playing last winter. GT could be very good if Favors lives up to his billing and the backcourt can provide some scoring balance for the two post players. (Backourt is a question with many teams this year).

Maryland being picked 5th makes sense because Terps have most everyone back from an NCAA tournament team, including Greivis Vasquez, one of the league's better guards. Maryland is one of those teams where Vasquez's supporting cast does not impress, but they were good enough to make the NCAAs last year and have 4 starters back, so you have to put them pretty high in the poll.

Wake being picked only sixth is because James Johnson and Jeff Teague are gone. But they were still picked in the top half of the poll because Aminu, Ish Smith, LD Williams and Chas McFarland are back. Wake needs some scorers to emerge to help out Aminu.

FSU was picked 7th because even though Toney Douglas is gone (and Echefu), a number of promising players are back -- Alabi, Singleton, Kitchen. Douglas' scoring punch is going to be missed, so we will see if last year's supporting cast can turn into stars. That is the reason why FSU was not picked higher than 7th in the poll.

I've already discussed VT. BC was picked 9th because, like FSU, the Eagles lost a big scorer from an NCAA tourney team - Tyrese Rice. You could make an argument for them to be higher than 9th cause they return solid players like Trapani, Sanders, Jackson and Raji. But Rice was such a great player that you want to see if they can replace his scoring punch.

Miami was only picked 10th because UM also lost a great player, Jack McClinton. You need to see if other players will step up, and if Collins can be a real force inside.

UVa was only picked 11th cause, although Landesberg is back, you still wonder about the supporting cast. And you want to see how the Cavs adjust to their new coach.

State was an obvious choice for last place. Costner, Fells and McCauley are all gone from a team that wasn't very good last year.

The Preseason All ACC team is Malcolm plus Vasquez from Maryland, Booker from Clemson, Singler from Duke, and Davis from UNC. That is exactly who I voted for. You could also make an argument for Gani Lawal of GT, Scheyer of Duke and Aminu of Wake, but the five that got the most votes were my picks as well.

I was surprised, though, that Delaney got only 24 votes. I thought the leading returning scorer in the ACC, and one of the best returning guards in the ACC, would have gotten more votes than that. He did make All-ACC third team last spring, after all. But at least he did make the preseason team, as expected.

Singler was the preseason player of the year with 19 votes, with Vasquez 2nd with 15 votes. I voted for Booker, who was 3rd with 8 votes. But you really could have made an argument for any of the five guys on the preseason team being player of the year.

Derrick Favors was the preseason rookie of the year. The Ga Tech big man got 40 votes, including mine. The only other guy to consider was Henson of UNC, who was 2nd with 8 votes.

A Hokie had surgery today, but it was a player who wasn't going to see action in games this season anyway.

Florida transfer Allan Chaney had surgery for a torn labrum in his left shoulder. Tech hopes he is ready for individual workouts next spring.

Well, the preseason magazines are out, and I figured I'd save you the expense of buying them. Want to know where The Sporting News, Lindy's and Athlon pick the Hokies and Cavs to finish in the ACC? Want to know where they pick Radford and VMI to finish in the Big South? Want to know their preseason Top 25s?  Want to know what they think of the UVa women, the CAA men and the D-III men? Here you go:

SPORTING NEWS

ACC men: 1. UNC; 2. Duke; 3. Clemson; 4. Wake Forest; 5. Maryland; 6. FSU; 7. Ga. Tech; 8. BC; 9. Va. Tech; 10. NC State; 11. Miami; 12. UVa (This magazine has a far less optimistic view of Ga. Tech as the other magazines but still has GT making the NCAAs, along with its other picks to finish in the top 7)

Top 25 men: 1. Kansas; 2. Kentucky; 3. Mich. St.; 4. UNC; 5. WVU; 6. Texas; 7. Purdue; 8. Duke; 9. Villanova; 10 Miss. State; 11. Georgetown; 12. Tennessee; 13. Washington; 14. Butler; 15. UConn; 16. California; 17. Clemson; 18. Wake Forest; 19. Ohio State; 20. Maryland; 21. Illinois; 22. Notre Dame; 23. Dayton; 24. Michigan; 25. FSU.

Big South men: 1. Radford; 2. Winthrop; 3. Coastal Carolina; 4. UNC Asheville; 5. High Point; 6. VMI; 7. Gardner-Webb; 8. Liberty; 9. Charleston So.; 10. Presbyterian

CAA men: 1. VCU; 2. G. Mason; 3. ODU; 4. Hofstra; 5. Northeastern; 6. JMU; 7. Drexel; 8. Delaware; 9. W&M; 10. Towson; 11. UNCW; 12. Ga. State

D-III men: 1. Washington (Mo.); 2. Guilford; 3. Richard Stockton; 4. Franklin & Marshall; 5. Wooster; 6. UMass-Dartmouth; 7. John Carroll; 8. DeSales (Pa.); 8. Wisconsin-Stevens Point; 10. Brooklyn

Top 25 women: 1. UConn; 2. Stanford; 3. Ohio St; 4. UNC; 5. Duke; 6 Notre Dame; 7 Oklahoma; 8. UVa; 9. LSU; 10. Baylor; 11. Mich. State; 12. Tennessee; 13. Xavier; 14. FSU; 15. Ga. Tech; 16. Arizona State; 17. Texas; 18. DePaul; 19. Maryland; 20. Cal; 21. Miss. State; 22. SDiego State; 23. Middle Tenn.; 24. Marist; 25. BC

LINDY'S

ACC men: 1. UNC; 2. Duke; 3. Ga. Tech; 4. Maryland; 5. Clemson; 6. FSU; 7. Va. Tech; 8. BC; 9. Wake; 10. UVa; 11. NC State; 12. Miami.  (Magazine has VT and its other picks in top 7 making the NCAAs)

Top 25 men: 1. Kansas; 2. Texas; 3. Mich. State; 4. Villanova; 5. UNC; 6. Purdue; 7. Butler; 8. Kentucky; 9. Michigan; 10. Cal; 11. Duke; 12. Tenn.; 13. Ga. Tech; 14. Oklahoma; 15. Louisville; 16. Wash.; 17. Dayton; 18. WVU; 19. Tulsa; 20. Maryland; 21. Miss. State; 22. Ohio State; 23. UCLA; 24. So. Carolina; 25. Illinois

Big South men: 1. Radford; 2. UNC Asheville; 3. Gardner-Webb; 4. Charleston Southern; 5. Coastal Carolina; 6. Winthrop; 7. VMI; 8. Presbyterian; 9. High Point; 10. Liberty

CAA men: 1. VCU; 2. ODU; 3. Northeastern; 4. JMU; 5. George Mason; 6. Hofstra; 7. UNCW; 8. Delaware; 9. Towson; 10. Drexel; 11 W&M; 12. Ga. State

Women's Top 25: 1. UConn; 2. Stanford; 3. Ohio State; 4. Tenn. 5; Notre Dame; 6. Duke; 7. Mich State; 8. Rutgers; 9. Baylor; 10. Oklahoma; 11. UVa; 12. UNC; 13. Xavier; 14. FSU; 15. Ariz. St.; 16. DePaul; 17. LSU; 18. Texas; 19. Maryland; 20. Vandy; 21. Middle Tenn.; 22. SDiego State; 23. Cal; 24. South Dakota St; 25. Miss. St

ATHLON

ACC men: 1. UNC; 2. Ga. Tech; 3. Duke; 4. Maryland; 5. Clemson; 6. FSU; 7. BC; 8. Va. Tech; 9. Wake; 10. Miami; 11. UVa; 12. NC State (magazine has its top seven advancing to NCAAs, with VT, Wake and Miami bound for NIT)

Top 25 men: 1. Kansas; 2. Mich. State; 3. Texas; 4. Purdue; 5. UNC; 6. Kentucky; 7. Villanova; 8. Tenn; 9. Oklahoma; 10. WVU; 11. UConn; 12. Butler; 13. Ga. Tech; 14. Cal; 15. Miss. State; 16. Vandy; 17. Washington; 18. Duke; 19. Louisville; 20. BYU; 21. Georgetown; 22. Maryland; 23. Michigan; 24. Clemson; 25. Dayton

Big South men: 1. Radford; 2. UNCA; 3. Winthrop; 4. Liberty; 5. Gardner-Webb; 6. High Point; 7. VMI; 8. Coastal Carolina; 9. Charleston Southern; 10. Presbyterian

CAA men: 1. ODU; 2. Northeastern; 3. VCU; 4. Hofstra; 5. G. Mason; 6. Ga. St.; 7. JMU; 8. Drexel; 9. Delaware; 10. Towson; 11. W&M; 12 UNCW

Women's Top 25: 1. UConn; 2. Stanford; 3. Ohio St; 4. Duke; 5. Mich. State; 6. Texas; 7. Xavier; 8. Baylor; 9. Ga. Tech; 10. UNC; 11 Tenn.; 12 Notre Dame; 13. UVa; 14. FSU; 15. Rutgers; 16. Ariz State; 17. LSU; 18. Vandy; 19. Oklahoma; 20. Middle Tenn; 21. Maryland; 22. Kansas; 23. Georgia; 24. Cal; 25. Tex A&M