Florida is back where it started 20 years ago: at the top of the preseason AP Top 25.
The Gators were voted No. 1 in Monday’s preseason men’s basketball poll, collecting 47 of 59 first-place votes and becoming the top-ranked team to open the season for the first time since 2006. That was the year Florida came in off its first national championship, loaded with Corey Brewer, Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Taurean Green, and then rolled right into a second straight title.
Todd Golden’s team enters this season with a familiar edge: continuity. Florida brings back four starters from a group that won 27 games during the 2025-26 season and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. The returnees are Thomas Haugh, Rueben Chinyelu, Alex Condon and Boogie Fland.
Florida’s place at the top had been expected for weeks, and the Gators now sit in position to chase something even bigger: the chance to make it two championships in three seasons if they end up as the last team standing in Detroit come April.
Duke checked in at No. 2, exactly where many expected it to land as well. The Blue Devils return Dame Sarr, Cayden Boozer, Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II from a team that was the No. 1 overall seed in last season’s NCAA Tournament. They also add a headline-grabbing recruiting class led by Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2028 NBA Draft, along with Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell, who earned preseason second-team All-American honors from CBS Sports.
Illinois is right behind at No. 3 after reaching the Final Four for the first time since 2005. The Fighting Illini will lean on preseason first-team All-American forward David Mirković.
UConn, which knocked Illinois out in Indianapolis earlier this spring, opens at No. 4.
Florida, Duke and Illinois were the only programs to receive first-place votes. The rest of the top 25 opens with UConn, Arizona, Michigan State, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Houston, Louisville, Arkansas, St. John’s, Miami (FL), Gonzaga, Michigan, Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Alabama, USC, UCLA, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and BYU.
In Other News...
UConn Is Again A Title Contender But One Test Looms Fast
UConn enters the season with the kind of respect that comes from repeated success, landing No. 4 in the AP preseason top 25 behind Florida, Duke and Illinois. Dan Hurleys team kept three starters, added transfers and freshmen, and once again looks built to spend the winter in the title conversation, even as the Big East showed only one other ranked team in St. Johns at No. 13.
The first real measuring stick arrives quickly, and it is a harsh one for a roster still blending returning pieces with newcomers. UConns nonconference slate is loaded with ranked opponents, and the Huskies will not have much time to ease into things before finding out how this version stacks up against the national elite. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Just Added A New Wrinkle To UConn's Toughest Test
Kansas gave UConn a little more to think about with the addition of Trey Kaufman-Renn, a veteran big man who spent four seasons at Purdue before deciding to return to college basketball. The move comes just before the start of the season, and it gives the Jayhawks another experienced piece as they shape a roster built to handle one of the sports most demanding schedules.
His arrival also fits into a wider NCAA landscape that has gotten murkier, not clearer, as eligibility rules continue to shift. The new five-years-to-play-five-seasons framework has changed how teams and players view roster-building, while disputes over extra eligibility for certain seniors keep adding twists for programs trying to plan ahead. For UConn, it means a matchup that was already going to be a test now carries one more layer of uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Gets An Early Reality Check With Michigan State Coming Up
UConns next tune-up comes with a little more edge than the usual preseason exhibition. The Huskies are set to meet Michigan State in the second half of a home-and-home series, giving them an early test against a program that rarely treats October basketball as anything less than serious business. Tom Izzo is back for his 34th season guiding the Spartans, and Michigan State will bring back familiar pieces in Jeremy Fears Jr. and Coen Carr.
For UConn, it is the kind of matchup that can reveal a lot before the games start counting. The timing alone adds some intrigue, and the fact that this one is being carried exclusively on B1G+ means it will be tucked away from the broader college hoops audience rather than played out in the usual national spotlight. There is also some uncertainty around the Huskies lineup heading into it, which only adds to the sense that this exhibition may say a little more than a typical preseason scrimmage. [Read more 🡒]