We're preseason Number ... 19
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2025-26 Preseason AP Men’s Basketball poll The men’s college basketball season officially starts Nov. 3.
- Purdue
- Houston
- Florida
- UConn
- St. John’s
- Duke
- Michigan
- BYU
- Kentucky
- Texas Tech
- Louisville
- UCLA
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Alabama
- Iowa State
- Illinois
- Tennessee
- Kansas
- Auburn
- Gonzaga
- Michigan State
- Creighton
- Wisconsin
- North Carolina
Others receiving votes: NC State 101, Oregon 98, San Diego State 74, Texas 35, Ohio State 23, Kansas State 13, Mississippi 11, USC 10, Missouri 8, Washington 7, Vanderbilt 7, Iowa 6, Boise State 4, Mississippi State 3, VCU 2, Virginia 2, Saint Mary’s 2, Indiana 1, Oklahoma 1, Baylor 1
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OH it’s going to feel awesome to be the Hunter instead of the Hunted. Let them go ahead and sleep on us- — -I dare them , I think there is a big mis conception about our team this year across the Nation --but I’ll wait till later , and watch it play out , I think we are going - - -TO --BE- —JUST-- -FINE — ----ROCK CHALK BABY
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I’m more excited for this season than I was for last season. I was pretty sure we had no nba guys and we were running back a core that still had horrible fit problems. We got the potential #1 pick on our team this year and a bunch of athletes. Tons to be positive about
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We are picked as the 6th best team in the Big XII this year, preseason. It should be interesting to see how that plays out.
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@rcjhdraft going to have some depth off the bench this Season too without a lot of fall off
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This season can’t be as bad as the last can it? Lots of question marks but if the top recruit in the country plays like it we’ll win some games.
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I’m looking forward to watching the group come together. Hopefully they gel and it’s fun to watch as opposed to the show we’ve been treated to lately.
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Should be a very different style of basketball. I expect to see more defensive pressure and a much faster pace on offense. Probably lots of mistakes with so many new guys, but if they correct those as the season progresses should be a fun team to watch come March.
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I have no idea what to expect from this year, but it’s a fresh start for the fanbase. New leaders, new coaches, new start. Love Harris & Adams to pieces but it was time. Hunter imo was a paper tiger and that’s the concern with high profile transfers with no NBA future.
I think they are fairly ranked for now. I think the variance is rather wide in either direction of where they could be at season’s end.
How much does Peterson change the game for you? He has the chance to be the best player on the court every time he laces them up. Once we see it in action, it will be interesting to project just how good he makes us.
I would say after Peterson every position is a bit of an unknown. Flory should take a leap, if he doesn’t the ceiling is low. It sounds like we recruited the portal better in terms of fit and hit on Council/White. Dawson is a TBD based on what we’ve heard but should be good enough.
I think the major concern is just how many 1st year players will have to play meaningful roles. Rosario, Tiller, Mbiya, Calderon could all be in your top 8. Tiller and Jackson are recovering from serious leg injuries and have missed a lot of development time.
I’m very interested to see how Self handles a lot of things. Who’s the 5th starter- Dawson or Rosario. Who’s the backup big- Mbiya or Tiller. Who plays the 4 when White sits- Rosario or Tiller/Calderon. I still would have preferred a veteran mature big on this squad but hopefully they are right on Mbiya and Tiller being ready. What will we get out of Jackson returning from injury. Big question marks on him and where he fits in the rotation. We should be more athletic and with the height/length of everyone be a terror defensively.
I’m excited for the season. We have a potential generational talent leading and that’s going to be fun to watch.
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Ngala, Dawson, Allen, White, Calderon, Rosario, Evers, Council, Thengvall, Cross, Mbiya, Tiller
Bidunga, Peterson, Jackson, McDowell
Two lists of names. I had to look up the names of the guys on the first list to see who was on the team this year. Couldn’t have named any of them. 2nd list I knew.
Conclusion: I hate college basketball and what it’s become. I hate the NCAA for letting it become this. I have zero clue how this team is gonna be because I’ve seen three of them play basketball. That’s it.
Here’s what else I hate: ACC Network, ESPN+, ESPN, TNT, (TruTV, HBOMax(?)) ESPN2, ESPN+, Peacock, Fox, FS1, ABC, CBS. Those are channels you’ll need to have if you want to see every game this year. Peacock is horrible for sports. Can’t pause, rewind live games. Can’t start game from beginning if you miss the beginning, got to wait like hours to watch replay. ESPN+ works relatively well compared to them. But everything else is viewable through most cable/dish packages. Only have a digital antenna? Well 6 or 7 games will be over the air, all during the conference season.
But glad the season is upon us despite my grumpiness.
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@wissox ok mc crankypants… we have been talking extensively about a lot of these guys. And when have you ever known the name of the walkons?
Things change. Hating change is a little bit pissing into the wind unfortch. Not everything can be as immutable as good ol KU buckets!
Hang in there.
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@wissox sadly I agree, I have just not been able to get excited about basketball these last few seasons. As @approxinfinity said we have to get with the times I guess but I’ve missed more KU basketball games the last 3 years than I did from 96-22. I loved watch guys develop and be here. Crazy to see us preseason 6th in the conference, that maybe the lowest we have been picked in the B12 days. Gosh we have fallen so far sad to see.
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@kjayhawks we did win a natty 3 years ago. May have fallen far but not for long.
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@approxinfinity closer to 4 years than 3 at this point but I hope you are right. Self has gotten some big names to sign here just not sure he’s coaching style matches that. For us to be special this season it’s as simple as Peterson has to be one of the best CBB OAD of all time up there with likes of Melo, Zion, AD and Durant.
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I agree that we need DP to be great but I wouldn’t reduce the team to one player. Flory, White, Elmarko, Rosario, Dawson, and Council will all impact how good our team is.
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@Jhawk69 vey true I’m just hopeful we have a guy that can hit a 3 pointer with no one within 10 feet of him. We have missed that so much the few years. Teams only had to pack the paint to stop Hunter. The last two is the only time I’d ever be down with challenging the KU BB team to game of horse.
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“Things change. Hating change is a little bit pissing into the wind unfortch. Not everything can be as immutable as good ol KU buckets!
“@approxinfinity you talk funny
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@approxinfinity said in We're preseason Number ... 19:
@wissox ok mc crankypants… we have been talking extensively about a lot of these guys. And when have you ever known the name of the walkons?
Things change. Hating change is a little bit pissing into the wind unfortch. Not everything can be as immutable as good ol KU buckets!
Hang in there.
Very little player analysis. No new threads started for the individual 2026 recruits even through they’re highly regarded. It seems the current landscape has dimmed our love of college basketball to the point no one really cares. Or the smart folks have left us. lol probably the latter.
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I’m grumpy too, I just tend to keep it to myself at this point. There are so many new names and unknowns, even for KU this is an unprecedented year where only 1 starter/rotation player returns that even played from last year’s team. It is crazy times, and we don’t have to like the current landscape.
We lived through the golden era of College Basketball and now that’s over with IMO. What’s here now is difficult, to say the least. I wonder what young fans think growing up in this era of the last 5 years or so as opposed a lot of us that enjoyed life before NIL and heavy transfers.
The NCAA has never been our friend & look at all the examples from just the Self era of their incompetence so it only made sense once they got caught with their pants down, they decided not to put them back on.
