The start of the college basketball season is right around the corner, and the voters in the USA TODAY Sports preseason coaches poll have weighed in on who they think will be the teams to beat this season.
We begin today with the release of the men’s poll, where Purdue will open the campaign at No. 1. The Boilermakers, who played for the championship two years ago but are still seeking the program’s first national title, received 18 of 31 first-place votes. It is the first ever preseason No. 1 ranking for Purdue.
Houston, last season’s NCAA tournament runner-up, begins this year where the last one ended at No. 2. The Cougars were picked first on 12 ballots and will start a position higher than the school that knocked them off in the most recent title game. That would be Florida, which will open its championship defense with a No. 3 preseason ranking, though the Gators did pick up one first-place nod. Perennial powers Connecticut and Duke round out the preseason top five.
OUTLOOKS: Previewing each team in the preseason Top 25 rankings
The rest of the top 10 also includes some names quite familiar to hoops followers. St. John’s opens at No. 6 followed by No. 7 Michigan, and Kentucky and Louisville hold down the 9 and 10 spots. Then there’s Brigham Young, checking in at No. 8 with its highest preseason ranking.
Several other usual contenders weren’t rated quite as high by the voting panel. Kansas opens at No. 19, its lowest starting point since 2008. Michigan State starts with a wait-and-see No. 21 ranking, and No. 25 North Carolina narrowly avoids missing the preseason poll for the first time since 2005.
The Power Five basketball conferences dominate the Top 25. The Big 12, Big Ten and SEC each have six ranked teams, with three each from the ACC and Big East.
No. 20 Gonzaga is the lone program from outside those leagues that will begin the year with a number.