A pair of SEC teams sit atop the 2012 USA Today/ESPN Coaches Preseason Poll, which was released on Thursday.
| Rank |
School |
2011 Record |
Points |
Final 2011 Rank |
First Place Votes |
| 1. |
Florida |
53-19 |
759 |
2 |
17 |
| 2. |
South Carolina |
55-14 |
740 |
1 |
12 |
| 3. |
Stanford |
35-22 |
646 |
13 |
1 |
| 4. |
North Carolina |
51-16 |
644 |
5 |
0 |
| 5. |
Texas |
49-19 |
629 |
7 |
0 |
| 6. |
Texas A&M |
47-22 |
608 |
6 |
1 |
| 7. |
Rice |
42-21 |
533 |
21 |
0 |
| 8. |
Arkansas |
40-22 |
470 |
23 |
0 |
| 9. |
Florida State |
46-19 |
469 |
9 |
0 |
| 10. |
Georgia Tech |
42-21 |
453 |
20 |
0 |
| 11. |
TCU |
43-19 |
420 |
19 |
0 |
| 12. |
Vanderbilt |
54-12 |
343 |
3 |
0 |
| 13. |
Miami (Fla.) |
38-23 |
338 |
24 |
0 |
| 14. |
LSU |
36-20 |
333 |
NR |
0 |
| 15. |
Oklahoma |
41-19 |
281 |
NR |
0 |
| 16. |
Cal State-Fullerton |
41-17 |
244 |
17 |
0 |
| 17. |
Virginia |
56-12 |
218 |
4 |
0 |
| 18. |
UCLA |
35-24 |
217 |
22 |
0 |
| 19. |
Oregon State |
41-19 |
214 |
11 |
0 |
| 20. |
Arizona |
39-21 |
210 |
25 |
0 |
| 21. |
St. John's |
36-22 |
207 |
NR |
0 |
| 22. |
California |
38-23 |
181 |
8 |
0 |
| 23. |
Clemson |
43-20 |
180 |
16 |
0 |
| 24. |
Louisville |
32-29 |
176 |
NR |
0 |
| 25. |
Georgia |
33-32 |
151 |
NR |
0 |
Others receiving votes (with 2011 record): UC-Irvine (43-18) 102; Connecticut (45-20-1) 29; Mississippi State (38-25) 28; Baylor (31-28) 27; Dallas Baptist (42-20) 25; Oregon (33-26) 24; Stetson (43-20) 23; Southern Mississippi (39-19) 20; Fresno State (40-16) 13; Kent State (45-17) 13; Oklahoma State (35-25) 12; East Carolina (41-21) 9; Troy (43-19) 9; North Carolina State (35-27) 8; Georgia Southern (36-26) 7; Creighton (45-16) 6; Ole Miss (30-25) 6; Missouri State (33-23) 6; Southern California (25-31) 6; Illinois (30-27) 5; Wichita State (39-26) 5; Alabama (35-28) 4; Belmont (38-26) 4; Coastal Carolina (42-20) 4; Pittsburgh (33-23) 4; Central Florida (39-23) 3; UNC-Wilmington (31-28) 3; Charleston (39-22) 1; Jacksonville (37-24) 1; James Madison (42-19) 1; Oral Roberts (39-22) 1; Southeastern Louisiana (35-22) 1; Stony Brook (42-12) 1.
The USA TODAY/ESPN Board of Coaches is made up of 31 coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the American Baseball Coaches Association. The board for the 2012 season: Terry Alexander, Jacksonville; John Anderson, Minnesota; Ed Blankmeyer, St. John's; Rob Cooper, Wright State; Sherman Corbett, Texas-San Antonio; Tim Corbin, Vanderbilt; Barry Davis, Rider; Greg DiCenzo, Holy Cross; Mike Gaski, UNC-Greensboro; Nino Giarratano, San Francisco; Gary Gilmore, Coastal Carolina; Keith Guttin, Missouri State; Danny Hall, Georgia Tech; Carlton Hardy, Savannah State; Donny Harrel, Seattle University; Loren Hibbs, Charlotte; Charlie Hickey, Central Connecticut State; George Horton, Oregon; Steve Jaksa, Central Michigan; Omar Johnson, Jackson State; Rick Jones, Tulane; John Musachio, Oakland (Mich.); Bobby Pierce, Troy; Gary Powers, Nevada; Mark Scalf, UNC-Wilmington; Jim Schlossnagle, TCU; Jim Schmitz, Eastern Illinois; Matt Senk, Stony Brook; Doug Smith, UC-Riverside; Steve Smith, Baylor; Bob Whalen, Dartmouth.