Big 12 Makes History With Five Top-10 Teams as AP Men's Basketball Preseason Poll Revealed

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POSTED: October 14, 2024 -- 5:45 p.m. CT

A Conference-record six Big 12 teams were ranked, including three of the top five teams and five of the top 10 teams, in the initial AP Top 25 Men’s Basketball Poll for the 2024-25 season. The Big 12 is the first conference to have at least five teams in the preseason top 10 in the history of the poll, which began releasing a preseason poll in 1961-62.

Kansas was voted as preseason No. 1 for the second consecutive year and third time in the past six years. The Jayhawks, who were picked first in the Big 12 by the league’s coaches, begin the year in the pole position for the fifth time in school history.

Houston, the 2024 Big 12 regular season champion, nabbed its third consecutive preseason Top 10 ranking, checking in at No. 4. Including the regular season, it is the 86th straight poll that has included the Cougars, which is the nation’s longest active streak.

Iowa State, who won the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in 2024, checks in at No. 5, making the Big 12 the first league to begin the year with 60% of the top five since the Big Ten in 2012-13. It is the first time since 2015-16 that the Big 12 has had three in the top five in any poll, regular season or preseason, and the third time in the Conference’s history.

Baylor begins the season at No. 8 and Arizona opens at No. 10 to complete the quintet of teams in the top 10. It is only the fifth time in poll history that any league has had five in top 10 at any point in the season and first time since the 2010-11 season.

Cincinnati has a preseason ranking for the first time since 2017 and returns to the AP Top 25 at any point of the year for the first time since 2018-19. Six teams mark the most for the Big 12 in the preseason poll. Four additional Big 12 teams received votes—Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona State.

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