Florida opens the 2026-27 season at the top of the AP preseason poll, and the Gators arrive there with a résumé that convinced voters they belong. They picked up 47 of 59 first-place votes after winning the SEC regular-season title last season and bringing back several pieces from their 2025 national championship team.
Duke sits right behind Florida at No. 2, powered by 10 first-place votes, while Illinois landed the other two and checks in at No. 3.
UConn, which reached the national championship game, is fourth, and Arizona follows at No. 5 after making the Final Four. The early top five reflects just how much last season’s postseason run still shapes the way voters see the sport.
Florida’s ranking, though, comes with a built-in warning. The Gators opened last season at No. 3, dropped out of the poll during a rough stretch, and eventually were knocked out by Iowa in the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
This year’s group has been through both sides of the experience - the title run and the quick March exit - and that’s a big reason voters put them on top. Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu are back, and Denzel Aberdeen returns after spending last season at Kentucky.
Kentucky has a storyline of its own at No. 23.
The Wildcats are now up to 998 AP poll appearances, leaving them two more from becoming the first program to reach 1,000. Vanderbilt, meanwhile, lands at No. 24 and is back in the preseason Top 25 for the first time since 2015.
BYU rounds out the poll at No. 25.
One notable absence is Purdue. The Boilermakers drew votes, but not enough to stay ranked, ending their streak at 79 straight weeks in the AP Top 25.
Houston now owns the longest active run, according to the AP. Missouri and Nebraska were the top teams outside the rankings, positioned to push into the mix early.
The full preseason AP Top 25 runs from Florida at No. 1 through Vanderbilt at No. 24, with BYU closing the list at No. 25.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Has A Painful Stock Up Stock Down Debate After Arkansas
Vanderbilts search for answers keeps getting tougher, and Saturdays 31-21 loss to Arkansas only added another painful entry to the ledger. The Commodores have now dropped four straight and are still trying to get traction in SEC play, even though there were individual bright spots worth noting. Junior Sherrill continued to give the offense a reliable target, Bryan Longwell was active all over the field, and Sedrick Alexander chipped in as both a runner and receiver to keep Vanderbilt within striking distance.
Still, the game turned on the kind of mistake that can define a young offense. Freshman quarterback Jared Curtis had a uneven afternoon, and a late interception in the final minutes came at the worst possible time as Vanderbilt was trying to push for a tying score. It left the Commodores sorting through the familiar stock up, stock down debate again, with some encouraging performances on tape and a result that leaves plenty unresolved heading into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Just Earned The Respect Commodores Fans Have Been Waiting For
Vanderbilts preseason work has already given fans a first look at how Mark Byington wants this group to look in year three, with an exhibition against Virginia now in the books and another tune-up against UAB still ahead before Bellarmine comes to town for the regular-season opener. The roster has been reshaped again, this time with a mix of incoming transfers and freshmen around a core that still includes point guard Tyler Tanner.
For a program trying to prove last year was a step forward rather than a one-off, the early schedule feels like a useful measuring stick. The Commodores are carrying more attention into November than they have in a while, and the next few weeks should show whether the blend of returning talent and newcomers can turn that buzz into something more lasting once the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Vanderbilt Gets An Early Test As Tyler Tanner's New-Look Cast Debuts
Mondays exhibition against UAB gives Vanderbilt an early chance to see how a reshaped roster holds up before the games start to count. The matchup is one of three mens college basketball exhibitions scheduled for the day, along with Marquette at Green Bay and Saint Leo at South Florida, and it offers coaches a first real look at their teams in a live setting after months of offseason work.
For the Commodores, the focus is less on the score than on how the new-look group fits around Tyler Tanner and handles a step up in competition. Official athletic department schedules have locked in the date, and this kind of tune-up is exactly where lineups, rotations and late-offseason answers begin to take shape, even if the full picture wont be clear for a while. [Read more 🡒]