National:

🚨PRESEASON AP TOP 25🚨

1. Purdue
2. Houston
3. Florida
4. UConn
5. St. John's
6. Duke
7. Michigan
8. BYU
9. Kentucky
10. Texas Tech
11. Louisville
12. UCLA
13. Arizona
14. Arkansas
15. Alabama
16. Iowa State
17. Illinois
18. Tennessee
19. Kansas
20. Auburn
21. Gonzaga
22.…

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) October 13, 2025

SEC:

My initial reaction to the SEC MBB Preseason Poll, I think it’s solid, but…

Ole Miss and Oklahoma are a few spots too high.

Arkansas is way too low, I think the Razorbacks are a top 3 team in the league.

Vanderbilt and Texas A&M are a few spots too low. pic.twitter.com/1r18DFWeSO

— Luke Evangelist (@lukeevangelist_) October 13, 2025

Shock the world

Well, it shouldn't be too hard to play the "nobody believed in us!!" card.

FWIW the preseason formulation for KenPom, Torvik and Miya all like us as a high bubble-ish team.

KenPom: 35
Torvik: 37
Miya: 46

Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

Athanasius said:

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Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

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I think it's odd that people think this.

Acting like preseason rankings have any sort of bearing on the court is pointless, but I think there's plenty of value in doing them.

I don't mind the low ranking. We are an absolute question mark as a team. I really like what I've heard from Bucky and his thoughts on the game. However, a team of guys who have never played together will surely have some growing pains. But just because we start the season ranked low doesn't mean we have to end there.

Don't get y'all's panties wadded up, but I'll be satisfied with a .500 record overall. As the year gets on we'll be better; With that said, I'm interested in the 1st game we play down down in Rosenberg vs ASU. I'm interested in how we play and interested in the turnout.

I would say that's probably a fair assumption of expectations

monarch said:

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Don't get y'all's panties wadded up, but I'll be satisfied with a .500 record overall. As the year gets on we'll be better; With that said, I'm interested in the 1st game we play down down in Rosenberg vs ASU. I'm interested in how we play and interested in the turnout.

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That's pretty much the opinion here. It's premium that has unrealistic expectations

Last year, fourteen SEC teams were seeded #11 or higher. Bucky said he thought A&M probably would have a good chance of making the tournament if they took care of their business.

I think we need to be a few games better than .500 overall. Our non-con schedule isn't exactly a murderer's row so to make the tournament we're probably going to need to post a decent number.

But something close to .500 in league play and getting in the tournament, no matter how you get in, would be a good first year.

FWIW, Maryland was picked #13 in the Big Ten media poll.

Oh sure. Outside of the SEC our schedule is not daunting or scary at all. For Bucky's first go I'm OK with a .500 record and an NIT spot then go from there. After that, let's get better every year.

bobinator said:

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Athanasius said:

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Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

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I think it's odd that people think this.

Acting like preseason rankings have any sort of bearing on the court is pointless, but I think there's plenty of value in doing them.

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Seriously, what's the value?

I guess it depends on what we mean by "value," but it's something to talk about and it gives you an idea to start building some preseason expectations around for your team and others. They're also a good poll less for how good you're going to be that particular season, but more for how strong people around the country think your program is.

I think that's good info to know. It's just not something to take too seriously.

The only real problem with preseason polls is that people don't change their polls enough when actual data starts coming in, they're way too committed to "win means you stay/move up, loss means you move down."

But the main reason I don't mind them is there's not really a good alternative unless you're going to wait until January to do any polls. Even if you wait until a month into the season, everyone's rankings at that point will still be largely based on how good they expected certain teams to be coming into the season.

Athanasius said:

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Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

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What about a Lunardi 2026 bracketology?

I saw this and thought it was crazy before the season even started.

NCAA Bracketology: 2026 March Madness men's field predictions https://share.google/lg03OLBMnXkcYM6mN

A bit above .500, and improvement throughout the year.

I'll be giddy for a few games if we can shoot.

give us the 11 seed West and run to E8

brunsie said:

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Athanasius said:

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Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

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What about a Lunardi 2026 bracketology?

I saw this and thought it was crazy before the season even started.

NCAA Bracketology: 2026 March Madness men's field predictions https://share.google/lg03OLBMnXkcYM6mN

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The fact that Joe Lunardi gets a yearly salary to shuffle 64 team names on a hypothetical tournament ladder weekly is mind-boggling.

That guy should pinch himself every morning. Joe has the best job in the world.

Athanasius said:

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Very few things in the world are more useless than a pre-season NCAA basketball poll.

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NCAA football pole for one!! It was insanely bad

I would argue that preseason polls (basketball and football in particular) are extremely useful to specific groups. While they typically cause bickering, sadness, and over-inflated expectations amongst fans, they are crucial to TV execs. Is the casual CBB fan going to tune in to an unranked L'Ville - St. John's game in November? Probably not. But if it's touted as a top 15 matchup at MSG it draws more eyeballs. Whether you agree with them, like them, hate them, or dismiss them, you can't say they're completely irrelevant.