Purdue tops preseason AP men’s basketball poll for first time

For the first time in program history, the Purdue Boilermakers will enter a college basketball season as the No. 1 team in the country.

Matt Painter’s team, which fell in the Sweet 16 last season and played in the national title game two years ago, earned 35 out of the possible 61 first-place votes in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll, which was released Monday afternoon.

Purdue has now been ranked No. 1 in the poll 14 times in program history. All 14 appearances have come under the direction of Painter.

“We are obviously excited to get the season going and being ranked No. 1 in the preseason is a great indicator of what we feel this team can accomplish,” Painter told The Associated Press. “But the goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. We’re thrilled that people think this highly of our team, but there is a long ways to go and a lot of work to do to reach that goal in April.”

It’s been a rough go of it for preseason No. 1. teams in recent years. Kansas, the preseason No. 1 in each of the past two seasons, failed to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in both years. A year before that, North Carolina became the first team in the history of the AP poll to go from preseason No. 1 to excluded from the NCAA Tournament.

The last time a preseason No. 1 team in the AP poll ended up cutting down the nets? All the way back in 2008-09 when Tyler Hansbrough led UNC to the promised land.

Houston, which beat Purdue in the Sweet 16 and ultimately lost in the national championship game, received 16 first-place votes and checked in at No. 2. Reigning national champion Florida (8) and UConn (2), which were ranked No. 3 and No. 4, were the only other teams to receive first-place votes. Rick Pitino’s St. John’s squad rounded out the preseason top five.

Here’s the full preseason AP top 25 for 2025-26:

1. Purdue (35)
2. Houston (16)
3. Florida (8)
4. UConn (2)
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. North Carolina

Others receiving votes: NC State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego St. 74, Texas 35, Ohio St. 23, Kansas St 13, Mississippi 11, Southern Cal 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise St. 4, Mississippi St. 3, VCU 2, Virginia 2, Saint Mary’s 2, Indiana 1, Oklahoma 1, Baylor 1.