The USILA released their preseason coaches poll today and Denver earned top billing with 274 points. Notre Dame, Duke (last year's national champion), Syracuse, and Johns Hopkins rounded out the top five. Here's the full poll:
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS | FIRST PLACE VOTES |
| 1. | Denver | 274 | |
| 2. | Notre Dame | 271 | |
| 3. | Duke | 268 | |
| 4. | Syracuse | 244 | |
| 5. | Johns Hopkins | 238 | |
| 6. | North Carolina | 234 | |
| 7. | Loyola | 198 | |
| 8. | Maryland | 191 | |
| 9. | Virginia | 189 | |
| 10. | Cornell | 177 | |
| 11. | Harvard | 134 | |
| 12. | Albany | 112 | |
| 13. | Pennsylvania | 105 | |
| 14. | Penn State | 69 | |
| 15. | Yale | 68 | |
| 16. | Drexel | 65 | |
| 17. | Hofstra | 57 | |
| 18. | Lehigh | 54 | |
| 19. | Bryant | 44 | |
| 20. | Army | 40 |
Also receiving votes: Ohio State, Princeton, Massachusetts, Towson, Villanova, St. John's, Fairfield, Air Force, Brown, Bucknell, and Navy.
The conference breakdown was as follows: ACC (five); Ivy League (four); Big Ten, Patriot (three); CAA (two); and America East, Big East, NEC (one). Two leagues -- the Southern Conference and the MAAC -- did not have a team ranked. The ACC, the nation's most powerful conference, but its entire five-team membership into the top 10.
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