College basketball rankings: Preseason Top 25

College basketball rankings: Preseason Top 25 – Michigan State No. 1, ACC is loaded

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 31: Michigan State players and coach Tom Izzo at the end of the Div 1 Men's championship - elite eight game between Duke and Michigan State, on March 31, 2019, at Capital One Arena, in Washington D.C. (Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 29: Head Coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels yells at players during the third round against the Auburn Tigers at the 2019 NCAA Photos via Getty Images Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ben Solomon/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) /

Preseason Top 25 college basketball rankings have Michigan State at No. 1 while the ACC remains absolutely loaded with three in the top 10.

Look, let’s be honest: the preseason polls are definitely worth even less than the paper they are printed on. There’s a reason the games are played, and college basketball is no exception, with how a team looks in November often having little to no impact on how the unit plays in February and March.

The real value in the preseason rankings is to give a lay of the land of the college basketball world, and allow those of us who have been busy keeping up with the happenings on the football field (both college and pro) to get a refresher on which teams should be interesting once the action on the hardwood tips off in earnest in the coming weeks.

The latest crop of fabulous freshmen has started to get into practices with their schools, so the journey to see who can even dream of filling Zion Williamson‘s shoes as America’s next sensation will be worth tracking as well. The usual suspects (Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina) have a fair share of superb young talent while others (Michigan State, Kansas, Louisville) have an intriguing mix of upperclassmen and rising youngsters.

Let’s not waste any more time and dive into our Top 25 rankings, beginning with the bottom five teams, including a Final Four entrant from a year ago.