Purdue Ranked in Preseason AP Basketball Poll For School-Record Fifth Straight Year
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — For the fifth straight year, Purdue owns a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason basketball poll that was released Monday. That streak is a first in school history.
Matt Painter's Boilermakers are ranked No. 23 this year. They had 230 points in the poll, and were in the bottom five along with No. 21 Arizona, No. 22 LSU, No. 24 Auburn and No. 25 VCU.
Purdue will see several of these top-25 teams during the course of the season, including No. 1-ranked Michigan State, No. 7 Maryland, No. 11 Virginia, No. 18 Ohio State and No. 25 VCU. Purdue opponents not in the top-25 but receiving votes include Tennessee (28; possible), Marquette (29), Florida State (30; possible), Illinois (33) and Michigan (43).
None of the other eight Big Ten teams received a vote.
Tennessee and Florida State are possible opponents because they are in Purdue's holiday tournament field on Thanksgiving weekend in Destin, Fla. Purdue will play one of the two of them for sure.
There were four Big Ten teams in the poll, tied for the most with the ACC and SEC. Michigan State was the prohibitive favorite, earning 60 of the 65 first-place votes. No 2. Kentucky had two votes, and No. 3 Kansas had three. Purdue plays Michigan State on Jan. 12 in West Lafayette.
Purdue, one of only four teams to make four straight Sweet Sixteens in the NCAA Tournament, was ranked No.23 in the 2015-16 season, No. 15 in 2016-17, No. 20 in 2017-18 and No. 24 a year ago. Purdue was ranked No. 13 in the final AP poll a year ago, prior to the tournament starting.
Purdue is one of only eight teams to be ranked in all of the past five AP preseason polls. The Boilermakers open the regular season Nov. 6 against Green Bay at Mackey Arena.
