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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.