(AP) – North Carolina, which returns four starters and nine of its 10 top scorers from the team that reached the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament, is No. 1 in The Associated Press’ preseason Top 25 for a record ninth time.

The Tar Heels received 35 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Kentucky is ranked second with 10 No. 1 votes, followed by Maryland, which had 14 first-place votes, and Kansas, which was No. 1 on five ballots. Defending national champion Duke is fifth with Virginia, which got one first-place vote, sixth followed by Iowa State, Oklahoma, Gonzaga and Wichita State.

North Carolina was last a preseason No. 1 in 2011-12. They broke a tie for most preseason No. 1 rankings with UCLA.

1. North Carolina (35) 26-12 1,566 15
2. Kentucky (10) 38-1 1,520 1
3. Maryland (14) 28-7 1,487 12
4. Kansas (5) 27-9 1,410 10
5. Duke 35-4 1,350 4
6. Virginia (1) 30-4 1,347 6
7. Iowa St. 25-9 1,185 9
8. Oklahoma 24-11 1,088 13
9. Gonzaga 35-3 1,047 7
10. Wichita St. 30-5 1,032 14
11. Villanova 33-3 1,013 2
12. Arizona 34-4 917 5
13. Michigan St. 27-12 838 23
14. California 18-15 757 –
15. Indiana 20-14 755 –
16. Utah 26-9 499 19
17. Wisconsin 36-4 433 3
18. Vanderbilt 21-14 393 –
19. Notre Dame 32-6 360 8
20. UConn 20-15 307 –
21. LSU 22-11 268 –
22. Baylor 24-10 265 16
23. Purdue 21-13 236 –
24. Butler 23-11 223 24
25. Michigan 16-16 126 –
Others receiving votes: Oregon 116, SMU 112, West Virginia 84, Texas A&M 72, Cincinnati 63, Miami 48, Louisville 46, Georgetown 23, NC State 19, Florida St. 18, Texas 18, Rhode Island 17, Dayton 12, Xavier 12, Providence 10, Iowa 6, BYU 5, Valparaiso 5, Boise St. 4, Old Dominion 3, Oklahoma St. 2, San Diego St. 2, UCLA 2, Cent. Michigan 1, Iona 1, UC Irvine 1, Yale 1.