BYU earns its highest preseason ranking ever in AP college basketball top 25 poll

Kevin Young’s program will start the 2025-26 season as a top-10 team.

BYU came in at No. 8 in the preseason Associated Press men’s basketball top 25 rankings, which were released Monday.

That is the highest the Cougars have ever been ranked in the preseason poll. It’s just the seventh time BYU has found itself ranked in the preseason top 25.

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The last time the Cougars were ranked in an AP preseason poll was ahead of the 2010-11 season, when BYU came in at No. 24.

BYU’s previous high in a preseason ranking was No. 12 ahead of the 1972-73 season, according to College Poll Archive.

The Cougars finished last season ranked No. 13 in the final AP poll, after going 26-10, tying for third in the Big 12 regular season standings and reaching the Sweet 16 in Young’s first year as coach.

Expectations were raised for this year with BYU landing the program’s highest-ever recruit, AJ Dybantsa, combined with a standout recruiting class, a transfer class that includes Rob Wright III and a group of returning talent headlined by All-Big 12 performer Richie Saunders.

The Cougars open the season Nov. 3 against Villanova at the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, as part of the Hall of Fame series that spotlights some of the nation’s top college programs in neutral-site events.

Which Big 12 teams made the preseason AP college basketball top 25?

Counting BYU, there are six Big 12 teams in the preseason AP rankings.

Defending national runners-up Houston is the top Big 12 team in the poll at No. 2. Texas Tech joins Houston and BYU in the top 10 at No. 10.

There are three other Big 12 teams in the top 20 as well, with Arizona at No. 13, Iowa State at No. 16 and Kansas at No. 19.

Which BYU nonconference opponents are in the preseason AP top 25?

The Cougars will take on a challenging nonconference schedule that features two teams in the preseason top 25 and another, No. 25 North Carolina, that BYU will face in an exhibition game at the Delta Center on Oct. 24.

The Cougars will take on No. 4 UConn on Nov. 15 at TD Garden, home of the NBA’s Boston Celtics. The next week, BYU will play No. 24 Wisconsin on Nov. 21 at the Delta Center.

The Cougars beat the Badgers in a 91-89 thriller in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament last season. That win advanced BYU to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 14 years.