NCAA Basketball is officially back on November 25! After the 2019-20 campaign was cut short due to COVID-19, we look forward to seeing the first NCAA champion cut down the nets since Virginia defeated Texas Tech in 2019.
Vendetta writer Jeremy Rinaldi and I collaborated to bring you our college basketball preseason top 25 rankings. The rankings were based on the average of our preseason top 25 lists. Tiebreakers went to the team with the highest KenPom rating. The highest individual ranking for each school is found in parentheses after their name.
College Basketball Preseason Top 25
- Gonzaga Bulldogs (Highest Individual Ranking: 1)
- Baylor Bears (2)
- Villanova Wildcats (3)
- Iowa Hawkeyes (4)
- Illinois Fighting Illini (5)
- Kansas Jayhawks (7)
- Virginia Cavaliers (5)
- Duke Blue Devils (8)
- Creighton Bluejays (6)
- Wisconsin Badgers (9)
- Kentucky Wildcats (11)
- Tennessee Volunteers (11)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (13)
- West Virginia Mountaineers (12)
- Michigan State Spartans (13)
- Arizona State Sun Devils (15)
- North Carolina Tar Heels (16)
- Oregon Ducks (15)
- LSU Tigers (19)
- Louisville Cardinals (17)
- UCLA Bruins (18)
- Florida State Seminoles (20)
- Rutgers Scarlet Knights (20)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (21)
- Richmond Spiders (23)
Also Receiving Votes: Oklahoma State Cowboys (22), Texas Longhorns (23), Florida Gators (24), Arkansas Razorbacks (25), Seton Hall Pirates (25)
Gonzaga Begins the Season at No. 1
The Gonzaga Bulldogs come out on top of our first Top 25 of the season. Coach Mark Few returns many players who were looking to contend for the NCAA Championship last season. Baylor, also considered a top seed in last year’s tournament, returns four of five starters. Villanova should be contenders behind a deep roster and seasoned point guard Collin Gillespie. Iowa returns two All-Big Ten recipients in star forward Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp. Illinois rounds out the top five with two All-Big Ten players of their own in Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn.
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