There is nothing that says the college basketball season is almost here more than the AP Top 25 being released. The first day of the season begins on November 13, with many schools playing exhibition games before that date.
As for the Top 25, the North Carolina Tar Heels sit at the top spot after receiving the most first place votes with 35. They are followed by the Kentucky Wildcats, Maryland Terrapins, Kansas Jayhawks, and the defending National Champion Duke Blue Devils, in that order. This top five isn't all too surprising as these teams are all prominent college basketball powers and should all be in the running for a national title.
The rest of the top ten shakes out with the Virginia Cavaliers, Iowa State Cyclones, Oklahoma Sooners, Gonzaga Bulldogs and Wichita State Shockers. All five of these teams will be solid teams in the upcoming season and have been around the block the past few seasons playing competitive basketball.
11-15: Villanova Wildcats, Arizona Wildcats, Michigan State Spartans, California Golden Bears and Indiana Hoosiers.
16-20: Utah Utes, Wisconsin Badgers, Vanderbilt Commodores, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Connecticut Huskies.
21-25: LSU Tigers, Baylor Bears, Purdue Boilermakers, Butler Bulldogs and Michigan Wolverines.
As for the conference breakdown, the Big Ten has the most representatives with six teams, followed by the ACC and Big 12 with four teams. The Big East has two teams, the SEC along with the Pac-12 have three teams, while the AAC, MVC, and WCC each have one representative in the preseason rankings.
The state of Indiana is run by basketball, and in the preseason rankings the state has the most teams in the first edition of the rankings with four. Those teams include Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue and Butler. No other state has more than two teams.