Purdue is No. 1 in The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 College Basketball Poll for the first time.
The Boilermakers earned 35 of 61 first-place votes to lead Monday’s poll to begin the 2025-26 season. This puts Matt Painter’s team ahead of the two teams that played in last year’s NCAA title gamewith runner-up Houston at No. 2 and defending champion Florida at No. 3.
“We’re obviously excited to start the season and being ranked No. 1 in the preseason is a great indicator of what we think 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 so highly of our team, but there’s still a long way to go and a lot of work to do to reach that goal in April.”
Purdue has started a year ranked second once before, in 1987-88 under Gene Keady.
It’s another milestone for Painter, the former Keady player who built his own successful program and is still in search of his NCAA title 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 reached the top. The last came during the 2023-24 season behind two-time AP National Player of the Year Zach Edey in a race until the national title game.
The Boilermakers reached last year’s Sweet 16 before falling against Houston on a last-second basketbut return a first-team AP All-American consisting of point guard Braden Smith, scoring leader Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1) and veteran guard Fletcher Loyer.
The upper level
Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars earned 16 first-place votes, matching the program’s highest preseason AP ranking ever. after last year’s final. The other No. 2 appearance was on the 1967-68 team led by Elvin Hayes.
Todd Golden’s Gators earned eight first-place votes to begin this year with their best preseason ranking since they last entered a year as defending champions in 2006-07, the start of a run toward a second straight title.
UConn was next in 4th place and took the remaining two first-place votes. St. John’s ranked 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 AJ Dybantsa – Kentucky and Texas Tech to round out the top 10.
Quick transitions
It didn’t take long for Pat Kelsey to get Louisville back among the national elitewith the Cardinals ranking 11th after a 27-win season to begin 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 down
Kansas was ranked 19th, the lowest preseason ranking for Bill Self’s Jayhawks since they started at 24th in the 2008-09 season as the defending national champion. Kansas had only been ranked outside the top 10 once since this year (No. 13 in 2011-12), while also starting at No. 1 in 2019-20. like each of the last two seasons in this section.
Pearl’s beginnings
Auburn opens at No. 20 as it enters its first season since Coach Bruce Pearl’s unexpected retirement after last year’s Final Four.
Pearl stepped down last month after 11 seasons, sparking a transition to his son Steven, 38, who rose through the ranks of his father’s team throughout his elder Auburn’s tenure but never served as head coach or coached elsewhere in college.
Eve of the conference
The Southeastern Conference, Big Ten and Big 12 each had six teams ranked to represent 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 this group to have three teams in the top 10.
Watchlist
Will Wade’s arrival at NC State and the subsequent roster shakeup places the Wolfpack as the first team off the ballot, just three points behind ACC rival 25th-ranked North Carolina. Oregon is lurking in close quarters and entering its 16th year under coach Dana Altman.
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