Coaches Poll top 25: Houston Cougars No. 4 in preseason men's basketball rankings
The Big 12 continues to dominate preseason men's basketball rankings.
And the Houston Cougars are near the top of the heap.
The 2024-25 preseason USA Today Coaches Poll was released Wednesday morning and five Big 12 teams are in the top nine. Kansas is ranked No. 1, followed by Houston at No. 4, Iowa State at No. 6, Baylor at No. 8 and Arizona at No. 9.
Cincinnati is the final Big 12 team ranked at No. 20, and three more Big 12 teams received votes: Texas Tech (60), BYU (16) and Kansas State (11).
The SEC has the most ranked teams with nine.
Here's the complete preseason USA Today men's basketball coaches poll:
USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25
Oct. 23, 2024
- Kansas (15)
- Alabama (6)
- UConn (6)
- Houston (4)
- Duke
- Iowa State
- Gonzaga
- Baylor
- Arizona
- North Carolina
- Auburn
- Tennessee
- Purdue
- Creighton
- Texas A&M
- Arkansas
- Marquette
- Indiana
- Texas
- Cincinnati
- Florida
- UCLA
- Kentucky
- Illinois
- Ole Miss
Others receiving votes (2023-24 record in parentheses):Texas Tech (23-11) 60; Rutgers (15-17) 57; St. John's (20-13) 42; Xavier (16-18) 26; Michigan State (20-15) 25; Brigham Young (23-11) 16; Oregon (24-12) 16; Kansas State (19-15) 11; Boise State (22-11) 9; Saint Mary's (26-8) 9; Clemson (24-12) 8; Dayton (25-8) 7; Ohio State (22-14) 7; Maryland (16-17) 4; Grand Canyon (30-5) 3; Mississippi State (21-14) 2; Princeton (24-5) 2; San Diego State (26-11) 2; Virginia (23-11) 2; Wake Forest (21-14 ); Wisconsin (22-14)
More Houston & Big 12 Analysis
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.