Arizona lands in top 15 of AP preseason men’s basketball rankings ...Middle East

The Associated Press ranked the 2025-26 Arizona Wildcats as the preseason’s No. 13 men’s college basketball team in the nation.

New faces will help replace departed stars such as leading scorer Caleb Love and lottery pick Carter Bryant, who departed for the NBA.

Five-star freshmen Koa Peat and Brayden Burries will take on starring roles for a team that also returns point guard Jaden Bradley and centers Tobe Awaka and Motiejus Krivas.

Purdue is No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 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-up Houston at No. 2 and reigning champion Florida at No. 3.

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“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 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 guard Braden Smith, scoring leader Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1) and veteran guard Fletcher Loyer.

2025-26 preseason AP Top 25 men’s basketball rankings

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.

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 of that group to have three top-10 teams.

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