The Florida Gators won the NCAA men’s national basketball championship in the 2024-25 season, but they aren’t No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 college basketball poll released Monday.
Instead, Purdue is No. 1 for the first time.
What You Need To Know
- Florida is ranked No. 3 in the preseason AP Top 25 college basketball poll
- The defending champion received eight of 61 first-place votes
- Purdue received a No. 1 ranking for the first time in a preseason poll
- The Houston Cougars, who the Gators beat in the spring to win the title, are ranked at No. 2
The Boilermakers earned 35 of 61 first-place votes to top Monday’s poll to begin the 2025-26 season. That put Matt Painter’s squad ahead of the two teams that played in last year’s NCAA title game, with runner-up Houston at No. 2 and reigning champion Florida at No. 3.
Todd Golden’s Gators received eight first-place votes to start this year with their highest preseason ranking since the last time they entered a year as reigning champions in 2006-07, the start of a run to a second straight title.
“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 said. “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.”
Purdue started a year ranked as high as No. 2 once before, in 1987-88 under Gene Keady.
It’s another milestone for Painter, the former Keady player who has built his own successful program that is still looking for its NCAA title breakthrough as he enters his 21st season. Purdue had never been ranked No. 1 in any AP poll before the 2021-22 season, which marked the first of three consecutive seasons in which the Boilermakers have reached the top. The last was during the 2023-24 season behind two-time AP national player of the year Zach Edey in a run all the way to the national title game.
The Boilermakers reached last year’s Sweet 16 before falling to Houston on a last-second basket, but they return a first-team AP All-American in point guard Braden Smith, scoring leader Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1) and veteran guard Fletcher Loyer.
The top tier
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars, the team that Florida defeated in the NCAA championship game last spring, earned 16 first-place votes to match the program’s best-ever preseason AP ranking after last year’s finals run. The other No. 2 appearance was by the 1967-68 team led by Elvin Hayes.
UConn came in at No. 4 and earned the remaining two first-place votes. St. John’s was fifth, with Rick Pitino’s Red Storm surpassing the program’s previous best ranking in a preseason AP poll (No. 7 in 1984-85).
Duke was next at No. 6, followed by Michigan, BYU — which landed the nation’s No. 1 recruit in A.J. Dybantsa — Kentucky and Texas Tech to round out the top 10.
Quick transitions
It hasn’t taken long for Pat Kelsey to get Louisville back among the national elite, with the Cardinals checking in at No. 11 after a 27-win season to start his tenure. The Cardinals were 12-52 in the two seasons before his arrival.
Louisville is one of five programs with a second-year coach in the preseason poll, joining Michigan, BYU, Kentucky and No. 14 Arkansas with John Calipari.
Jayhawks lower
Kansas checked in at No. 19, the lowest preseason rank for Bill Self’s Jayhawks since starting at No. 24 in the 2008-09 season as the reigning national champion. Kansas had been ranked outside the top 10 only once since that year (No. 13 in 2011-12) while starting at No. 1 in 2019-20 as well as each of the past two seasons in that stretch.
Steven Pearl’s debut
Auburn opens at No. 20 as it enters its first season since the unexpected retirement of coach Bruce Pearl following last year’s Final Four run.
Pearl stepped aside last month after 11 seasons, triggering a transition to his 38-year-old son Steven, who climbed his father’s staff through the elder Pearl’s Auburn tenure but has never been a head coach nor coached elsewhere in college.
Conference watch
The Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 each had six ranked teams to make up 72% of the field. The Atlantic Coast Conference and Big East were next with three each, while the West Coast Conference had one with No. 21 Gonzaga. The Big 12 was the only league in that group to have three top-10 teams.
SEC poll
The Gators have been chosen as the media’s pick to win the 2026 SEC title.
Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh was selected as the Preseason SEC Player of the Year. Kentucky was selected to finish second.
Voters in the preseason poll were a select panel of both SEC and national media members.
Associated Press
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