Purdue tops preseason AP Top 25 poll for 1st time

Purdueis No. 1 in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 college basketball poll for the first time. 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-upHoustonat No. 2 and reigning championFloridaat No. 3. “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 season 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 straight 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 return a first-team AP All-American in point guardBraden Smith, scoring leaderTrey Kaufman-Renn(20.1) and veteran guardFletcher Loyer. Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars earned 16 first-place votes to match the program’s best-ever preseason AP ranking after last year’s run to the final. The other No. 2 appearance was by the 1967-68 team led by Elvin Hayes. Todd Golden’s Gators earned 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. UConn was next 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.