In the initial AP Top 25 Men’s Basketball Poll for the 2024-25 season, a record six Big 12 teams were ranked, with three in the top five and five in the top ten. This marks the first time any conference has had at least five teams in the preseason top 10 since the poll began in 1961-62.
Kansas is preseason No. 1 for the second consecutive year and third time in six years, while Houston, last season’s regular-season champion, is ranked No. 4, extending its streak in the polls to 86. Iowa State, last year’s Big 12 Championship winner, follows at No. 5, making the Big 12 the first conference since 2012-13 to have 60% of the top five.
Baylor is ranked No. 8 and Arizona at No. 10 completes the top ten lineup. This is only the fifth instance in poll history of any conference placing five teams in the top 10 and the first since the 2010-11 season.
Cincinnati returns to the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2017, marking the Big 12’s highest preseason presence with six ranked teams. Additionally, Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU, and Arizona State received votes.
