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It's been a long time since the California Golden Bears had a major preseason top 25 ranking in either sport (last I can recall is 2009, when Cal was ranked 12th in football and 13th in basketball). Cal basketball starts 2015-16 ranked 14th by the media and the Associated Press.
Among future Cal opponents, Arizona leads all Pac-12 schools with a 12th place ranking. Utah is 16th and Oregon is 26th. Cal is also scheduled to play 6th-ranked Virginia before Christmas and could play West Virginia (currently 28th) in Las Vegas just after Thanksgiving. San Diego State and UCLA also receive two votes each.
Cal basketball is also ranked 14th in the Coaches preseason poll.
Below are the rankings.
2015-16 AP Preseason Poll
| RANK | TEAM (FIRST) | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina Tar Heels (35) | 1566 |
| 2 | Kentucky Wildcats (10) | 1520 |
| 3 | Maryland Terrapins (14) | 1487 |
| 4 | Kansas Jayhawks (5) | 1410 |
| 5 | Duke Blue Devils | 1350 |
| 6 | Virginia Cavaliers (1) | 1347 |
| 7 | Iowa State Cyclones | 1185 |
| 8 | Oklahoma Sooners | 1088 |
| 9 | Gonzaga Bulldogs | 1047 |
| 10 | Wichita State Shockers | 1032 |
| 11 | Villanova Wildcats | 1013 |
| 12 | Arizona Wildcats | 917 |
| 13 | Michigan State Spartans | 838 |
| 14 | California Golden Bears | 757 |
| 15 | Indiana Hoosiers | 755 |
| 16 | Utah Utes | 499 |
| 17 | Wisconsin Badgers | 433 |
| 18 | Vanderbilt Commodores | 393 |
| 19 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 360 |
| 20 | Connecticut Huskies | 307 |
| 21 | LSU Tigers | 268 |
| 22 | Baylor Bears | 265 |
| 23 | Purdue Boilermakers | 236 |
| 24 | Butler Bulldogs | 223 |
| 25 | Michigan Wolverines | 126 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Oregon (0-0) 116; SMU (0-0) 112; West Virginia (0-0) 84; Texas A&M (0-0) 72; Cincinnati (0-0) 63; Miami (Fla.) (0-0) 48; Louisville (0-0) 46; Georgetown (0-0) 23; NC State (0-0) 19; Florida State (0-0) 18; Texas (0-0) 18; Rhode Island (0-0) 17; Dayton (0-0) 12; Xavier (0-0) 12; Providence (0-0) 10; Iowa (0-0) 6; Brigham Young (0-0) 5; Valparaiso (0-0) 5; Boise State (0-0) 4; Old Dominion (0-0) 3; Oklahoma State (0-0) 2; UCLA (0-0) 2; San Diego State (0-0) 2; Central Michigan (0-0) 1; UC Irvine (0-0) 1; Iona (0-0) 1; Yale (0-0) 1 | ||