The first of the 2024-25 college basketball national polls has been released. There were three Big East teams ranked in the top 25 in the Associated Press preseason poll. Two-time defending national champion UConn led the way at No. 3. No. 15 Creighton and No. 18 Marquette also finished in the top 20. St. John’s finished just 11 points behind No. 25 Rutgers with Providence being the only other Big East team to receive votes in the AP poll.
Kansas leads the way in the preseason men's college basketball AP Poll 👀 pic.twitter.com/edyg8YBL6F
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 14, 2024
Kansas and Alabama finished ahead of the Huskies in the first Associated Press poll of the 2024-25 season. Kansas, Alabama, and UConn received 55 of the 60 first-place votes.
Some Big East teams are playing against fellow Division I teams in open scrimmages after getting NCAA waivers. UConn is the first to hit the court with a game against Rhode Island on Monday. The regular season begins with eight Big East teams in action on Nov. 4.
National Poll Has Reigning Champion UConn In the Top Five
When the 2023-24 national polls came out, UConn was not the preseason favorite even after winning the national title. Kansas received 69 out of 95 combined first-place votes to finish atop both the Associated Press and Coaches Top 25 polls. UConn was fifth in the Coaches poll and sixth in the AP poll. It wasn’t until Week 11 that UConn moved into the top spot in both national polls. However, it was a much different story at the end of the season. UConn was the top-ranked team after winning another national title.
Alex Karaban is the only returning starter for UConn. The Huskies do return four players who averaged at least 10 minutes per game a season ago.
Will The Blue Jays Soar In the 2024-25 Season?
Even though Creighton saw its top two scorers (Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander) head off to the NBA, the Blue Jays were picked at No. 15 in the AP poll. Creighton finished the 2023-24 season at No. 10 in the Coaches poll and came in 13th in the AP poll. Ryan Kalkbrenner leads the list of returnees for a Creighton team that is coming off a 25-10 season. He could help Creighton move up early in the season in the national poll.
Marquette Has Some Work to Do
Marquette came in at No. 5 in the 2023-24 AP preseason poll, one position ahead of UConn to be the top Big East team in that poll. In a vote by the coaches, the Golden Eagles were seventh. Marquette finished at No. 11 in both national polls after going 27-10 and falling to North Carolina State in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. It is a different scenario heading into the upcoming season.
Marquette saw point guard Tyler Kolek and forward Oso Ighodaro selected in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Leading scorer Kam Jones is back to lead the Golden Eagles. That led to Marquette beginning this season at No. 18. The Golden Eagles open the season on Nov. 4 against Stony Brook.
A Tough Break For Xavier
Xavier was coming off a 16-18 season so debuting in the top 25 in the preseason national poll might have been asking a bit much. The voting was done before some huge injury news came out. Xavier suffered a huge loss when senior center Lassina Traore suffered a season-ending injury. That will leave the Musketeers without a key big man and one of the top-rated incoming transfers in the Big East.
Traore averaged a double-double in each of the last two seasons at Long Beach State. He was expected to play a key role for the Musketeers this season. Xavier coach Sean Miller announced the news on social media on Monday as Traore suffered the injury in practice last week.
Last Wednesday, Lassina Traore suffered a season ending knee injury in our practice.
Lassina was a starter on this year’s team. He had a great summer and preseason, where he improved his game as much as any player in our program. He emerged to be our team’s best rebounder, low…
— Sean Miller (@CoachMillerXU) October 14, 2024
The Musketeers do have 6-foot-11 John Hugley IV and 6-foot-9 Zach Freemantle returning as top frontcourt options. Traore would have provided a defensive anchor that would have made life easier for Freemantle, one of the top returning players in the Big East.
