Nov. 7, 2005

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Associated Press released its preseason college basketball poll on Monday and the Villanova Wildcats are ranked fifth in the country. Duke tops the Associated Press poll, followed by Texas, Connecticut and Michigan State. Oklahoma is ranked sixth and Louisville begins the season ranked seventh.

Villanova will face four of the top seven teams in the AP preseason poll. The Wildcats travel to Texas on Jan. 14, play two contests against Big East rivals Connecticut (Feb. 13 and 26) and Louisville (Jan. 5 and Jan. 30), and host Oklahoma on Dec. 3 at the Pavilion. All of those contests will be televised nationally.

Gonzaga, Kentucky and Arizona rounded out the top ten. Boston College is 11th, followed by Memphis, Stanford, West Virginia, Alabama, Syracuse, Illinois, Wake Forest, UCLA and Iowa. The final five ranked clubs are George Washington, Nevada, Indiana, Maryland and Iowa State.

A total of five Big East squads - UConn, Villanova, Louisville, Syracuse and West Virginia - are included in the preseason AP Top 25.

Villanova returned to the national rankings in January 2005, after an eight year absence, and remained there for the balance of the campaign. The Wildcats have ascended as high as No. 2 in the AP poll, during the early part of the 1995-96 campaign.

The Wildcats return the bulk of the cast that brought them to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1988 and finished with a 24-8 record. The only loss of significance came last month, when senior forward Curtis Sumpter was sidelined indefinitely by a torn ACL in his left knee. Seniors Randy Foye, Allan Ray, and Jason Fraser are back along with juniors Mike Nardi, Will Sheridan and sophomore Kyle Lowry.

The 2005-06 season gets underway for Villanova on Nov. 18 at the Pavilion when the `Cats host Stony Brook.