Through the transfer portal and early entrants in the NBA draft, most men’s college basketball teams have constant roster turnover, even the schools with large budgets. That’s not the case, though, with Florida, which on Monday was ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press’ preseason top 25 poll.
The Gators return four starters from last season’s team that finished 27-8, won the Southeastern Conference regular season title and received a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing in the second round to Iowa. They even have four players still on the roster who competed in UF’s 2025 national title game victory over Houston.
As such, it was not surprising that Florida received 47 of the 59 first-place votes in the poll. It is just the second time the Gators have been No. 1 in the preseason. They were also first heading into the 2006-07 season and ended up winning their second consecutive national title. No. 2 Duke (10) and No. 3 Illinois (2) secured the other first-place votes in Monday’s poll.
Florida has the nation’s best frontcourt in Thomas Haugh, a 6-foot-9 forward who averaged 17.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game last season and could have been a first round pick if he declared for the NBA draft; Alex Condon, a 6-foot-11 forward who started on the national title team and averaged 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last season; and Rueben Chinyelu, a 6-foot-10 center who also started on the championship team two years ago and averaged 10.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game last season.
The Gators also feature Boogie Fland, a 6-foot-3 guard who started last season and averaged 11.6 points and 3.5 assists per game after transferring from Arkansas, and Denzel Aberdeen, a 6-foot-5 guard who played his first three seasons at Florida before spending last season at Kentucky. At UF two years ago, Aberdeen averaged 7.7 points per game as a top reserve.
UF isn’t taking it easy with its nonconference schedule. The Gators open on Nov. 2 against No. 14 Miami in Tampa, Fla. They are also playing in the Players Era event in Las Vegas next month, which has several ranked teams. Florida hosts Duke in the SEC-ACC Challenge on Dec. 1, as well.
Although Duke lost forward Cameron Boozer, the national player of the year and No. 3 pick in the NBA draft, the Blue Devils have four of their top six scorers back from last season’s team that went 35-3 and won 24 of 25 games before losing to UConn by one point in the Elite Eight. Center Patrick Ngongba and guards Dame Sarr and Caleb Foster are returners who started most of the season, while guard Cayden Boozer, Cameron’s twin, averaged 7.7 points and 3.0 assists in 22.8 minutes per game and started each of Duke’s games in March during the Atlantic Coast Conference and NCAA tournaments.
Duke also has a top transfer class, led by John Blackwell, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 19.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season at Wisconsin. And they have a talented group of freshmen, including Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, a 7-foot-2 freshman who turned 17 in May. In July, Boumtje Boumtje led Team USA to the FIBA U17 title, averaging nearly 20 points and 11 rebounds in just 22.8 minutes per game. Boumtje Boumtje is too young to enter next year’s NBA draft, but he could be the No. 1 pick in 2028, per ESPN analyst Jeremy Woo.
While Duke is in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll for the 19th consecutive season, Illinois is in the top 10 for just the second time since 2004. The Illini were No. 8 entering the 2020-21 season. They have never been No. 1 in the preseason poll but have been No. 2 once (in 2001) and No. 3 two times (1984 and this year).
Illinois returns five major contributors from last season’s team that finished 28-9 and made the Final Four for the first time in 21 years. Andrei Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 guard, and David Mirkovic, a 6-foot-9 forward, each averaged 13.5 points per game a year ago, while twin centers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic averaged 10.4 points and 6.4 points per game, respectively. Jake Davis, a 6-foot-6 forward who started the final 19 games of last season, is also back. The Illini added several freshmen and transfers, as well, including Stefan Vaaks, a 6-foot-7 guard who averaged 15.8 points per game at Providence last season.
The other top 10 teams are No. 4 UConn, No. 5 Arizona, No. 6 Michigan State, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 Virginia and No. 10 Houston. The top five teams are from different conferences, with Florida (SEC), Duke (ACC), Illinois (Big Ten), UConn (Big East) and Arizona (Big 12).
The SEC has seven programs in the top 25, more than any league. The Big 12 is next with six teams, followed by the Big Ten with five and the ACC with four. The remaining ranked teams are UConn and No. 13 St. John’s of the Big East and No. 15 Gonzaga, which is in its first season in the Pac-12 Conference. Gonzaga is ranked in the preseason AP poll for the 17th consecutive year. The Bulldogs have qualified for the past 27 NCAA tournaments, only trailing Kansas (35 straight appearances) and Michigan State (28). Kansas is No. 17 in this year’s preseason poll, although the Jayhawks on Monday announced they had signed former Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn, who played four years with the Boilermakers after redshirting in the 2021-22 season. Kaufman-Renn last month received a temporary restraining order allowing him to play, but his eligibility could change during the season.
Michigan, the reigning national champion, is No. 16. Elliot Cadeau, a 6-foot-1 senior point guard, is the only returning starter, but the Wolverines added a few top transfers, including J.P. Estrella (Tennessee), Moustapha Thaim (Cincinnati) and Jalen Reed (LSU). Those players stuck with Michigan even after coach Dusty May left to become the Dallas Mavericks’ coach in late June. Michigan promoted assistant Mike Boynton to replace May, although Boynton only has a two-year contract.
Michigan has a difficult nonconference schedule, including playing UConn in Boston on Nov. 6 and facing three other Big East programs in November in Marquette, Villanova and Creighton. The Creighton game is part of the Players Era event during which UM will face other top programs.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com