College basketball AP Preseason Top 25: 3 takeaways as Kansas claims top spot
By Ethan Lee
Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are sitting comfortably at the top of the AP’s preseason top 25 rankings for the 2018-2019 season.
As we get close in on the upcoming 2018-2019 NCAA basketball season, the preseason AP top 25 rankings have finally been released. It shouldn’t really surprise anyone to see Kansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Duke, and Virginia round out the top five in this list. They’re perennial powerhouses and have reloaded for another great team this season.
From there, Tennessee, Nevada, North Carolina, Villanova, and Michigan State round out the top ten according to the AP. Here’s what the entire preseason poll looks like going into the 2018-2019 men’s basketball season.
College basketball preseason AP Top 25
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Gonzaga
- Duke
- Virginia
- Tennessee
- Nevada
- North Carolina
- Villanova
- Michigan State
- Auburn
- Kansas State
- West Virginia
- Oregon
- Virginia Tech
- Syracuse
- Florida State
- Mississippi State
- Michigan
- TCU
- UCLA
- Clemson
- LSU
- Purdue
- Washington
Kansas is great but their history as a preseason No. 1 isn’t
This is not the first time that the Kansas Jayhawks have claimed the No. 1 spot in the preseason AP poll under Bill Self’s guidance. As ESPN points out, this has happened twice before, once back in 2004-2005 and then again in 2009-2010. Neither of those seasons ended out the way that the Jayhawks had in mind. Kansas underperformed in both of those years.
Kansas tops the preseason AP Poll for the third time in school history, all coming under Bill Self.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 22, 2018
The previous two times it started the season as No. 1, it failed to advance past the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/1EQ9G0ZIiD
Right now, the Jayhawks are deserving of the No. 1 ranking. They’re a great team that is loaded with talent and coached by a legend. This is a team that was the best in the Big 12 last season and they lost to the eventual national champs in Villanova in the Final Four. This team has a lot of potential. The Jayhawks will need to play up to that potential this season.
ACC leads all conferences, SEC a close second
The ACC is leading the way for the number of teams ranked so far with seven. Just behind them sits the SEC with five teams ranked at the moment. Both of these conferences have plenty of great teams and all of these teams currently deserve to be ranked in the preseason. There are no real issues with any teams in the ACC being ranked where they are at the moment, but some will likely question LSU’s ranking.
The LSU Tigers are probably going to be improved from where they were a year ago, but they’ll need to be notably improved to deserve this spot. LSU ended the year in the NIT, had an 18-15 overall record, and just 3 wins on the road. This team is incredibly talented and Tremont Waters is becoming a star, but because of how the Tigers finished the season in 2017-2018, people are going to question them and subsequently the SEC.
How is Arizona not ranked?!
A huge omission on the part of the AP was the fact that the Arizona Wildcats are not ranked going into this year. This team won the Pac-12 last season and then followed that up by winning the Pac-12 tournament. The Wildcats were ultimately bounced from the NCAA Tournament early on, but they proved that they could play at a high-level last season. In addition to Arizona, there are a couple of other teams that probably deserve some more recognition. Marquette, Loyola, Indiana, and Florida all received votes and all have what it takes to end up in the top 25 this year.