Is BYU basketball an AP Top 25 team entering the season? Here’s what voters think

The BYU Cougars men’s basketball program is in an interesting position heading into the 2024-25 season.

On one hand, there hasn’t been as much excitement surrounding the program as there is now in quite some time.

New head coach Kevin Young brings almost a decade of NBA coaching experience to Provo, he has hired a staff that will bring a big variety of attributes to the table, and he has been able to recruit some high-level freshmen prospects and transfer players.

That said, there is so much newness that there’s uncertainty about how it will all come together.

As such, perhaps it should come as little surprise that the Cougars were not ranked in the first Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season released Monday morning, but they did receive 14 votes.

That number effectively ranks them No. 35 in the country.

BYU was picked by Big 12 coaches to finish ninth in the conference this season, and there are eight teams ahead of them in Monday’s poll.

Conference foe Kansas is ranked No. 1, and five teams total from the Big 12 are in the top 10 alone. Houston is No. 4, Iowa State is No. 5, Baylor is No. 8 and newcomer Arizona is No. 10.

According to veteran college basketball reporter Matt Norlander, the five Big 12 teams is the most a single conference has ever had in the top 10 of a preseason poll.

Cincinnati comes in at No. 20, while Texas Tech and Kansas State received 58 and 30 votes, respectively. For reference, Illinois received the most votes among unranked teams, garnering 92.

Alabama and two-time defending champion UConn round out the top five, while Gonzaga, Duke and North Carolina round out the top 10.

Kentucky, where former Cougars coach Mark Pope now coaches, is ranked No. 23 in Monday’s poll. According to ESPN, that’s the lowest the Wildcats have been ranked in the preseason poll since 2008, before John Calipari became head coach.

Calipari, whom Pope replaced, is now at Arkansas, and the Razorbacks are ranked No. 16. According to ESPN, this is the fourth different-ranked program Calipari has been the head coach of, a new record.

The Cougars will hold an exhibition game on Oct. 30 at the Marriott Center against Colorado Christian that will be open to the public, and they officially open the season Nov. 5 at the Marriott Center against Central Arkansas.