College Basketball Preseason Top 25 Poll

With the season about to tip-off, we're ranking our top 25 teams in all the college basketball landscape. We'll be looking at all returning players, transfers and freshman additions for each team. Which team will make it out of March on top?

1. Purdue this is a team filled with a returning roster that consistently held a top 10 KenPom offense all last season along with many returning members that played in the National Title game two seasons ago. With Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer arguably the best and most experienced back court in the country paired up with Trey Kaufman-Renn as a big this team deserves the preseason number 1 spot. They return 7 players this season including four starters.

2. Louisville - a team filled with star guards Ryan Conwell, Adrian Wooley and Isaac McKneely who can shoot from deep at a high percentage. In this guard bunch they also have a potential top 3 NBA Draft pick in Mikel brown Jr. Guards Conwell, Wooley and McKneely all shot above 40% from three last season on their respective teams. They also return both starting bigs in J’Vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor which will greatly help them maintain their KenPom top 25 defensive ranking. 

3. UConn - with returning stars including Alex Karaban who played a huge role in both championship seasons and Solo Ball who emerged as a top scoring option last season, UConn looks to no doubt be in the top of the mix. In the transfer portal they were able to get Silar Demary Jr. who has very similar gameplay to Tristen Newton who had led this group to a title just two years ago. Demary Jr. will offer UConn much more offensive power at the guard position than with Hassan Diarra. UConn was a top 15 KenPom offense last season and they do look to take a step forward this time around. Defensively they may still have to improve as the season progresses but offensively and coaching wise its going to be very tough to beat UConn in March. 

4. Texas Tech - returning Big 12 Player of the Year J.T. Toppin and Christian Anderson who helped lead this team to the Elite 8 headline this team making the top 5 rankings. With LeJuan Watts transferring to help fill in the spot for Darion Williams, they added a similar sized forward that helped them make a huge run in March last season. Departing senior Chance McMillian is going to be tough to replace but transfer Donavan Atwell who shot 40% from three can help this team maintain a top 5 KenPom offense which they consistently held last year. With such tremendous offense and experience, this program looks to build on a very successful March Madness run from just months ago. 

5. BYU - Pairing potential #1 overall NBA draft pick A.J. Dybantsa with sharpshooter Richie Saunders could give this program the most dangerous scoring pair in the country. This team has multiple high level transfers including Robert Wright III and Kennard Davis Jr. to pair with talents such as Dawson Baker to help bolster this team to an even higher KenPom offense which ranked 9th last season. It will be very hard to stop this teams elite offense for any defense this year. This may be the deepest team in the country. 

6. Florida - The defending champion Gators are returning the majority of their front court but losing three elite guards who helped bring them that title last season. They were able to get transfers Xavian Lee and Boogie Fland who were absolutely great at their respective programs but do not have much March Madness experience at all and are much more undersized than their guards from last year. Can they keep the same top 10 KenPom offense and defense from last season? It may be a lot tougher than a lot of people expect. 

7. Houston - The national runners up return Emmanuel Sharp, Joseph Tugler and Milos Uzan but lose L.J. Cryer and J’Wan Roberts. They are hoping a few highly touted freshman are able to fill in the void left by Cryer and Roberts but it may be more of a challenge as both players have had tremendous March Madness experience and replacing them will not be so easy. We expect Houston to maintain their elite defense prowess but offensively will it be enough?

8. Alabama - The Crimson Tide are returning three key guards from last season's team which ranked top 5 in KenPom offense in Aden Holloway, Labaron Philon and Latrell Wrightsell Jr, have a 5 five star recruit just a season ago in Jalil Bethea and an incoming 17ppg 7-footer in Noah Williamson. With this much offensive firepower I expect this team to be able to compete with any team despite losing key players from last season and previous years Final Four run.

9. Kentucky - A team that's invested millions on this year's roster headlined by returner Otega Oweh. They’ve added players such as Denzel Aberdeen and Jayden Quaintance but lost key contributors such as Koby Brea and Lamont Butler. Can this team maintain their top 10 KenPom offense last season and improve defensively from their 51st ranked KenPom defense? They surely invested a whole lot hoping to do so. 

10. Tennessee - With Ja’Kobi Gillespie joining who has March Madness experience and shoots at a 40% three point mark, this squad has a leader alongside Amaree Abram who also shot close to 40% from deep. These two guards will likely make a huge difference offensively than last season with Zakai Ziegler and Jordan Gainey shooting closer to 30% from range. They also add  5-star recruit Nate Ament who can potentially be another sharpshooter alongside their experienced guars. This team has been in the top 5 KenPom defense for five straight seasons so being elite on that end is almost expected. Look for Tennessee to be a true contender to make the Final Four. 

11. Auburn - Tahaad Pettiford is that great to lead this team potentially on another deep run in March. With the addition of Keyshawn Hall, a big who shot at a much higher percentage from deep than the previous years fours and fives, this duo can be one of the best in the country. There is a large turnover from last seasons final four team but adding KeShawn Murphy, Kevin Overton and Elyjah Freeman alongside their likely leading scorers can boost this Auburn team to potentially be in top 10 KenPom offense again this season. 

12. Duke -  a team that’s getting another group of highly touted freshmen including Cameron and Cayden Boozer, Nikolas Khamenia and Sebastian Wilkins. They’ll pair with returners from last years Final Four team including Isiah Evans and Caleb Foster to try get back into a top 10 KenPom Offense and Defense that they were able to maintain last season. They look to make another run come March.  

13. UCLA - With Tyler Bilodeau, Eric Dailey Jr., Skyy Clark amongst other returning players from last season pairing with all Conference talent Donavan Dent, this team looks to build on last years second round tournament exit. They have plenty of shooting and an already established defense to hopefully climb in KenPom rankings. 

14. Michigan - with highly touted transfer Yaxel Lendeborg and other experienced players in March including Elliot Cadeau and Morez Johnson Jr., this team looks to build on last seasons March Madness Sweet 16 run. They did so with a KenPom offensive ranking of 43 and still were able to win multiple games in the tourney. 

15. Illinois - this team looks to grow on their 14th ranked KenPom offense last season with returners Tomislav Ivisic, experience guard Kylan Boswell and transfers Andrej Stojakovic and Zvonimir Ivisic. Over the past two seasons they were able to win big in March but can they do so again with key departures including Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Reily? 

16. St. Johns - a team that had the 2nd ranked KenPom defense and 68th KenPo ranked offense last season who showed struggle offensively in the tournament returns second leading scorer Zuby Ejiofor and has added shooting with Byrce Hopkins and Oziyah Sellers. This team looks to improve offensively and move past the second round of the tournament. 

17. Creighton - this team has four players who average over 14 ppg at their prior programs headlined by Owen Freeman and Josh Dix coming from Iowa, a top 20 KenPom offense last season. This team could really be make a run come March and surprise people. 

18. Iowa State - they’ve had tremendous success the past few seasons through their elite defense which ranked 1st just a few years ago. They return bigs Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic to pair with returning guard Tamin Lipsey and incoming transfers Dominick Nelson and Mason Williams to try and get back to having a top 10 KenPom defense. Its hard to leave Iowa State out of the conversation. 

19. Kansas State - adding the AAC player of the year in PJ Haggerty, the country’s leading player in three pointers made in Abdi Bashir Jr., a player who has March Madness experience in Nate Johnson and a number of other highly sought after transfers gives this team enough to make a potential run in March. They’re only a few seasons removed from an Elite 8 appearance and arguably have an even more equipped team this time around. 

20. Gonzaga - a team that was 6th in KenPom offense last season does have a lot of exiting players from last season but return key players including leading scorer Graham Ike. They also return big Braden Huff and added players Adam Miller, a greatly improved 3 point shooter and Jalen Warley to this seasons team. Can they continue their 26 year streak of winning at least one game in the tournament?  

21. Arkansas - they were an overtime win away from reaching the Elite 8 last season with the KenPom ranked 64th offense, they return key players from that run D.J. Wagner, Karter Knox and Trevon Brazile. Key transfers Malique Ewin and Nick Pringle look to help this offense get into the top 50 while maintaining their top 15 KenPom defensive ranking. 

22. Wisconsin - with returners including second leading scorer John Blackwell and transfers Austin Rapp and Nick Boyd who helped FAU reach the Final Four, this team had lots of experience to make a run in March. They had a top 15 KenPom offense last season and hope to build on last seasons offensive success. They lost a two point game to BYU last year, a team who was that great offensively. 

23. N.C. State - with key additions including Darrion Williams, a player who helped lead Texas Tech to a top 5 KenPom ranked offense and run to the Elite 8 and Tre Holloman who helped Michigan State to an Elite 8 run with a top 5 KenPom ranked defense, this team looks to potentially be the best team in North Carolina and make a run in the ACC and during the tournament. 

24. Oregon - returning their top 2 scorers from last seasons 2nd round team in Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, they look to make a bigger run come March this time around. They have a tough non-conference schedule which could greatly prepare them for Big 10 play. 

25. Texas - a team that has five different players who averaged 10 ppg or more last season for their program look to have enough inside/outside scoring to make it to the tournament and make a run.