Men's college basketball preseason AP poll: Florida edges Duke to start year at No. 1 for the first time in decades

Florida, for the first time in two decades, is starting the season on top.

The Gators were named the No. 1 team in the country in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll on Monday, just two weeks before the 2026-27 college basketball season kicks off.

It marks Florida's first time atop the preseason poll since 2006 and makes the Gators the early favorite to win what would be a second national championship in three seasons. The last time they opened at No. 1 in this poll was fresh off the first of what ended up being back-to-back titles.

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And, just like it was two decades ago, Florida is bringing back a significant chunk of its roster from last year's group that earned a top seed in the NCAA tournament. Thomas Haugh, who was widely projected to be a lottery pick, opted to skip the NBA Draft and return for one more season in what was a huge get for Todd Golden. He was joined by Alex Condon and starting center Reuben Chinyelu, who was the national Defensive Player of the Year. But the biggest boost perhaps comes from Denzel Aberdeen.

Aberdeen transferred in to play for Golden again this past spring from Kentucky, and earned a temporary injunction last month to be able to play a fifth season. Aberdeen was on Florida's national title team in 2025, too, so he knows the system well. The roster, especially with Aberdeen around, is deep.

But Duke is in a similar spot after just barely missing out on a trip to the Final Four last spring. Caleb Foster is coming back, and Jon Scheyer landed former Wisconsin star John Blackwell in the transfer market. Cayden Boozer and Pat Ngongba are back, and Duke is bringing in star freshman Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje and Cam Williams, who are the fourth- and fifth-ranked players in their recruiting class .

Scheyer has plenty of options at any given time, though Duke's run through the ACC won't be as easy as it has been in recent years. The league has five teams ranked in the preseason poll, including No. 9 Virginia, No. 11 Louisville and No. 14 Miami.

Illinois came in at No. 3, UConn will start at No. 4, and Arizona rounds out the top five.

Now, a lot is going to change over the next several months. The last team who opened the season in the top spot and then went on to win the national championship was North Carolina during the 2008-09 campaign. Purdue was the No. 1 team at this point last season, and the Boilermakers fell shy of making the Final Four.

But at least to start, Florida is leading the way.

What about the defending national champions?

Michigan is fresh off its first national championship in decades, though the program has gone through a lot of changes in the months since.

Perhaps most importantly, head coach Dusty May jumped ship for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA. He did so just before the NBA Draft, too, forcing the Wolverines to make a very late switch at the top. Michigan has since promoted assistant and former Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton to replace him.

Then last month, Michigan announced that star freshman Brandon McCoy Jr. would miss the entire 2026-27 season after he went down with an ACL injury in their exhibition game with Mega Superbet in Europe. McCoy, a five-star Rivals recruit, went down just 20 seconds into that contest.

It's not all bad news, though. Boynton is an experienced head coach who was on staff for their title run, and the Wolverines get Elliot Cadeau back. He averaged 10.5 points and 5.9 assists per game, but is the lone starter returning from their championship team. Kenny Noland has transferred in from Columbia, too, and Roddy Gayle Jr. is currently trying to earn a fifth year of eligibility. If Gayle is granted that and comes out on top of his legal battle, it would be a huge boost for the Wolverines.

Michigan will start out at No. 16 in the first poll. It'll open the year against Oakland on Nov. 2 before a contest with UConn in Boston just days later.

While things haven't been completely reset in Ann Arbor, this is far from the same group that won the national title last April.

1. Florida 2. Duke 3. Illinois 4. UConn 5. Arizona 6. Michigan State 7. Texas 8. Tennessee 9. Virginia 10. Houston 11. Louisville 12. Arkansas 13. St. John's 14. Miami 15. Gonzaga 16. Michigan 17. Kansas 18. Iowa State 19. Texas Tech 20. Alabama 21. USC 22. UCLA 23. Kentucky 24. Vanderbilt 25. BYU

Others receiving votes: Missouri 167, Nebraska 70, Purdue 53, Ohio State 39, North Carolina 20, TCU 17, Saint Louis 13, VCU 12, Iowa 12, Virginia Tech 10, Indiana 8, Texas A&M 6, Villanova 6, Auburn 4, Marquette 3, Nevada 2, Grand Canyon 2, Utah State 2, Santa Clara 1