Men’s Basketball Just Outside AP Preseason Top-25 Poll

With just over two weeks to go until the 2020-21 college basketball season begins, the AP Poll released its preseason Top-25, and while your Fighting Tigers of LSU weren’t included, they were pretty darn close.

LSU just missed the cut into the preseason Top 25 poll, settling as the unranked school receiving the most votes. So for all intents and purposes let’s call LSU the No. 26 team in the nation.

Gonzaga opens the year as the nation’s No. 1 team with Baylor, Villanova, Virginia and Iowa rounding out the top five. Only two SEC schools are ranked in the preseason poll, Kentucky at No. 10 and Tennessee at No. 12.

The SEC had three others teams besides LSU receiving votes. Florida, Alabama and Auburn all received consideration from voters.

LSU’s season begins November 25 in a multi-team event in Lincoln, Nebraska. LSU will play three games in a four-day span but have yet to have the opponents announced.

The rest of the preseason Top-25 is as follows

1. Gonzaga
2. Baylor
3. Villanova
4. Virginia
5. Iowa
6. Kansas
7. Wisconsin
8. Illinois
9. Duke
10. Kentucky
11. Creighton
12. Tennessee
13. Michigan State
14. Texas Tech
15. West Virginia
16. North Carolina
17. Houston
18. Arizona State
19. Texas
20. Oregon
21. Florida State
22. UCLA
23. Ohio State
24. Rutgers
25. Michigan