Mizzou Men's Basketball Will Face 10 Teams in AP Preseason Poll

Missouri men's basketball didn't receive a spot on the AP poll as expected, but its schedule looks even tougher after the rankings were released Monday morning.

Missouri Guard Tamar Bates looks to pass during a college basketball game against Ole Miss at Mizzou Arena on Mar. 2, 2024, in Columbia, Mo. / Abigail Landwehr/Columbia Daily Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK

To no one's surprise, Missouri men's basketball didn't make an appearance in the preseason AP poll after its 8-24 record (0-18 in the Southeastern Conference) last season. 

The Tigers will have a long way to work themselves up to getting a spot back in the top 25, and they'll have plenty of opportunity to accomplish that in a brutal SEC schedule. They'll face off against 10 teams that made the list, with the only exception from the conference being No. 1 Kansas.  

Even beyond the top 25, Missouri will also have to go up against No. 26 Illinois ahead of conference play, just barely missing the cut. It'll barely get any breaks in the schedule past December, and that'll be a challenge for coach Dennis Gates and his roster to overcome. 

The SEC making up 36% of the top 25 says a lot about how talented the conference is — enhanced with the additions of No. 19 Texas this year. The Tigers have been selected as the No. 13 team in the conference by SEC media, only ahead of LSU, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt.

With a strong freshman and transfer class, Missouri does have a chance to make a significant jump from a season ago, even if the outlook from the outside isn't high.

"Our goal is to compete for a conference championship," Gates said at Media Day. "It's not going to be easy, but what we're doing now is building sort of like the infrastructure to build upon what our expectations, what our goals are."

This is the first step of Missouri getting back to championship contention, but it won't have an easy path to get there on the 2024-25 calendar. 

2024-25 Preseason AP Top 25 Poll

Rank, Team, Points, First-Place Votes in Parentheses, Mizzou Opponents Bolded

1. Kansas, 1449 (30)
2. Alabama, 1428 (14)
3. UConn, 1345 (11)
4. Houston, 1343 (4)
5. Iowa State, 1177
6. Gonzaga, 1157 (1)
7. Duke, 1154
8. Baylor, 1109
9. North Carolina, 1037
10. Arizona, 905
11. Auburn, 901
12. Tennessee, 775
13. Texas A&M, 737
14. Purdue, 678
15. Creighton, 631
16. Arkansas, 625
17. Indiana, 492
18. Marquette, 484
19. Texas, 332
20. Cincinnati, 271
21. Florida, 249
22. UCLA, 210
23. Kentucky, 191
24. Ole Miss, 132
25. Rutgers, 102

Other Receiving Votes: Illinois 92, St. John's 91, Xavier 73, Texas Tech 58, Wake Forest 37, Kansas St 30, Michigan St. 29, Ohio St. 29, Michigan 19, BYU 14, Oregon 12, McNeese St. 11, Miami 11, Boise St. 9, Saint Louis 9, Clemson 9, Providence 9, Mississippi St. 6, VCU 6, Wisconsin 5, Saint Mary's 5, Louisville 4, UAB 4, Ark Little Rock 3, Grand Canyon 3, Arizona St 2, San Diego St. 2, Princeton 2, High Point 1, Maryland 1.