The Big Ten Conference has not crowned a national champion in college basketball since 2000. Will 2025-26 be the year that streak ends, with the conference finally clearing the hurdle to win the NCAA men's tournament?

That storyline and narrative got some added fuel to the fire with the release of the preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll on Wednesday, Oct. 22 which tabbed Matt Painter and Purdue, led by unanimous preseason All-American Braden Smith, as the No. 1 team in the land.

Three Power Four conferences — the Big Ten, SEC and Big 12 — finished tied for the most selections to the preseason Coaches Poll at six apiece. The SEC and Big 12 are early contenders for the deepest conferences in the country, as both conferences have a combined 13 spots in the top 25 on KenPom. Emanuel Sharp and Houston led the Big 12 at No. 2 in the poll, while defending national champion Florida, which return much of its key players from last season, leads the SEC at No. 3 in the poll.

The Big East has two teams in the top 10 with UConn and St. John's, who have renewed their rivalry a bit over the last few seasons with Dan Hurley and Rick Pitino, respectively. The Huskies, who return Solo Ball and Alex Karaban, are ranked at No. 4 in the poll. The Red Storm, who swarmed the transfer portal this offseason, are at No. 6.

The season gets underway on Monday, Nov. 3 with a headliner between No. 2 Florida vs. No. 13 Arizona in Las Vegas in the Hall of Fame Series. The Gators-Wildcats matchup, a potential NCAA Tournament matchup, is just one of a plethora of marquee non-conference games that will take place throughout the season, which includes the annual Champions Classic, Alabama-St. John's at Madison Square Garden (Nov. 8), BYU-UConn at TD Gardens in Boston (Nov. 15) and the Players Era Festival during Feast Week in Las Vegas (Nov. 24-Nov. 26).

With all that offseason chatter said, here's a look at the preseason Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 look like:

Preseason men's college basketball rankings

First-place votes are in parentheses

USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

  1. Purdue (18)
  2. Houston (12)
  3. Florida (1)
  4. UConn
  5. Duke
  6. St. John's
  7. Michigan
  8. BYU
  9. Kentucky
  10. Louisville
  11. Texas Tech
  12. UCLA
  13. Arizona
  14. Illinois
  15. Arkansas
  16. Alabama
  17. Tennessee
  18. Iowa State
  19. Kansas
  20. Gonzaga
  21. Michigan State
  22. Auburn
  23. Creighton
  24. Wisconsin
  25. North Carolina

Others receiving votes: North Carolina State 33; Oregon 26; Ohio State 15; San Diego State 15; Baylor 13; Virginia 11; Vanderbilt 10; Southern California 7; Texas 6; Missouri 5; Villanova 5; Mississippi 4; Cincinnati 3; Iowa 3; Saint Mary's 3; Washington 3; Virginia Commonwealth 2; Boise State 1; Kansas State 1; Oklahoma State 1.

AP Top 25

  1. Purdue (35)
  2. Houston (16)
  3. Florida (8)
  4. UConn (2)
  5. St. John's
  6. Duke
  7. Michigan
  8. BYU
  9. Kentucky
  10. Texas Tech
  11. Louisville
  12. UCLA
  13. Arizona
  14. Arkansas
  15. Alabama
  16. Iowa State
  17. Illinois
  18. Tennessee
  19. Kansas
  20. Auburn
  21. Gonzaga
  22. Michigan State
  23. Creighton
  24. Wisconsin
  25. North Carolina

Others receiving votes: NC State 101; Oregon 98; San Diego State 74; Texas 35; Ohio State 23; Kansas State 13; Ole Miss 11; USC 10; Missouri 8; Washington 7; Vanderbilt 7; Iowa 6; Boise State 4; Mississippi State 3; VCU 2, Virginia 2; Saint Mary's 2; Indiana 1; Oklahoma 1; Baylor 1.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Men's college basketball rankings: Preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, AP Top 25

Reporting by John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY

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