College football might be in the middle of the season, but college basketball is also just around the corner. On Monday, the AP released its preseason men’s college basketball poll for the 2025-26 season. It looks similar to our own poll from earlier this month with a few key differences setting the stage for the season to come.
College basketball rankings: Men’s preseason AP poll released with surprises
Here’s the AP preseason poll for the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Purdue starts the year as the No. 1 team behind the best guard in America, senior Braden Smith. Houston checks in at No. 2 after coming heartbreakingly close to winning the national championship last season. Kelvin Sampson returns three players in Milos Uzan, Jojo Tugler, and Emanuel Sharp and also has three McDonald’s All-Americans debuting on the roster. The reigning national champion Florida Gators come in at No. 3, while Danny Hurley’s UConn squad is No. 4 seeking to win their third national title in four years.
Illinois has the biggest difference between the human polls and computer models entering the season after essentially bringing in a European professional team for its roster. The Illini are No. 6 in KenPom’s rankings, but only No. 17 in the AP Poll. The year of the freshman is another storyline to watch. Duke big man Cameron Boozer, BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, and Tennessee wing Nate Ament will start the season as the projected top-4 picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, and all are playing for preseason top-20 teams this year.
NC State, Oregon, San Diego State, Texas, and Ohio State were the next five teams out. Here’s how the first place votes were split. Here’s the full AP preseason poll for the men’s college basketball season in 2025-26.
1. Purdue
2. Houston
3. Florida
4. UConn
5. St. John’s
6. Duke
7. Michigan
8. BYU
9. Kentucky
10. Texas Tech
11. Louisville
12. UCLA
13. Arizona
14. Arkansas
15. Alabama
16. Iowa State
17. Illinois
18. Tennessee
19. Kansas
20. Auburn
21. Gonzaga
22. Michigan State
23. Creighton
24. Wisconsin
25. UNC
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