Duke and Maryland were 1-2 Monday in The Associated Press’ preseason college basketball poll, just the second time two teams from the same conference have held the top spots.

The other time also involved two schools from the Atlantic Coast Conference, when Georgia Tech and North Carolina were 1-2 before the 1985-86 season.

Duke, the defending national champion, were the runaway No. 1 choice by the national media panel. The Blue Devils, who return three starters from the team that went 35-4 last season, received 61 first-place votes and 1,787 points.

Maryland, which lost to Duke in its first Final Four appearance, had six first-place votes and 1,634 points to match the school’s highest ranking ever.

Duke and Maryland are scheduled to play twice this season — at Duke on Jan. 17, and a month later at Maryland.

The preseason No. 1 ranking is the fifth for Duke and first since before the 1998-99 season. The Blue Devils, who were No. 2 in last year’s preseason poll, have been ranked in the top 10 before each of the last 12 seasons, except for 1995-96. Since the preseason poll began for the 1961-62 season, Duke has been ranked in the top 10 23 times.

“It’s always an honor and very nice to be ranked No. 1,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, playing down the preseason ranking for a team that lost consensus national player of the year Shane Battier and fifth-year senior Nate James. “Experience means so much. Fortunately, this group has that.