October 29, 2009 -- Preseason
| Rank | School (first place votes) | Record | Points | Rank |
| 1 | Kansas (27) | 27-8 | 770 | 10 |
| 2 | Michigan State (3) | 31-7 | 732 | 2 |
| 3 | Texas | 23-12 | 676 | 23 |
| 4 | North Carolina (1) | 34-4 | 653 | 1 |
| 5 | Kentucky | 22-14 | 635 | NR |
| 6 | Villanova | 30-8 | 620 | 4 |
| 7 | Purdue | 27-10 | 586 | 14 |
| 8 | Duke | 30-7 | 528 | 11 |
| 9 | West Virginia | 23-12 | 501 | NR |
| 10 | Butler | 26-6 | 408 | 25 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 21-13 | 406 | NR |
| 12 | California | 22-11 | 370 | NR |
| 13 | Washington | 26-9 | 364 | 16 |
| 14 | Connecticut | 31-5 | 361 | 3 |
| 15 | Michigan | 21-14 | 279 | NR |
| 16 | Oklahoma | 30-6 | 244 | 7 |
| 17 | Ohio State | 22-11 | 241 | NR |
| 18 | Minnesota | 22-11 | 151 | NR |
| 19 | Mississippi State | 23-13 | 149 | NR |
| 20 | Georgia Tech | 12-19 | 136 | NR |
| 21 | Georgetown | 16-15 | 134 | NR |
| 22 | Dayton | 27-8 | 130 | NR |
| 23 | Louisville | 31-6 | 123 | 5 |
| 24 | Clemson | 23-9 | 114 | NR |
| 25 | Syracuse | 28-10 | 111 | 12 |
Others receiving votes: Maryland (21-14) 100; Illinois (24-10) 83; Siena (27-8) 72; UCLA (26-9) 59; Vanderbilt (19-12) 38; Oklahoma State (23-12) 29; Missouri (31-7) 28; Xavier (27-8) 25; Gonzaga (28-6) 24; Notre Dame (21-15) 22; Southern California (22-13) 22; Pittsburgh (31-5) 19; Tulsa (25-11) 17; Brigham Young (25-8) 16; Kansas State (22-12) 16; Florida State (25-10) 15; Florida (25-11) 13; Wake Forest (24-7) 13; San Diego State (26-10) 8; Creighton (27-8) 7; Boston College (22-12) 4; Texas A&M (24-10) 4; Cornell (21-9) 3; Memphis (33-4) 3; Mississippi (16-15) 3; Southern Illinois (13-18) 3; Utah State (30-5) 3; UNLV (21-11) 2; Northern Iowa (23-11) 1; South Carolina (21-10) 1.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2009-10 season: Mike Adras, Northern Arizona; Dana Altman, Creighton; Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Tevester Anderson, Jackson State; Ronnie Arrow, South Alabama; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's; Eddie Biedenbach, North Carolina-Asheville; Jim Boeheim, Syracuse; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Charlie Coles, Miami (Ohio); Steve Fisher, San Diego State; Greg Graham, Boise State; Rob Jeter, Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Billy Kennedy, Murray State; Billy Lange, Navy; Dan Leibovitz, Hartford; Fran McCaffery, Siena; Mike McConathy, Northwestern State; Bob McKillop, Davidson; Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph's; Ron "Fang" Mitchell, Coppin State; Matt Painter, Purdue; Tom Pecora, Hofstra; John Pelphrey, Arkansas; Mike Rice, Robert Morris; Doc Sadler, Nebraska; Herb Sendek, Arizona State; Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts; Bob Williams, UC-Santa Barbara; Gary Williams, Maryland; Doug Wojcik, Tulsa.
Record shown is final 2008-09 record. Rank is final rank from 2008-09 season.
