Men's College Basketball: Preseason Poll and Title Odds
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00:00The month of October, man, in the sports calendar, there is just so much going on.
00:09We've talked MLB playoff action, a new week in the NFL after week six comes to a close.
00:15College football news and more college football early line handicaps in our number three.
00:21How about the men's college basketball AP top 25 preseason poll released yesterday,
00:28three weeks before the college hoop season gets underway for a second consecutive year.
00:35Kansas to top the country in the preseason AP poll. Kansas last year, though, after being
00:42ranked preseason number one, 23 and 11, just 10 and eight in the big 12 and bounced from
00:49the second round of the NCAA tournament. Fifth time for KU being ranked number one,
00:56fourth most ever in the history of college basketball behind UNC Duke and Kentucky.
01:03A lot of big 12, Joe, in the top five, three of the top five teams, including Houston and Iowa
01:09State, half of the top 10 from the big 12. A lot of reactions to delve into here in the
01:15preseason AP top 25. What was your main takeaway? Well, yeah, I mean, you mentioned a big 12,
01:22but about nine SEC teams ranked in the top 25 as well. Bama, Auburn, Tennessee, A&M, Arkansas,
01:31ironically enough, all ranked ahead of Texas, which is interesting. And by the way,
01:37I didn't say Kentucky, right? You got Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, all set to be pretty good.
01:43Boy, there's a lot of basketball between the big 12 and the SEC. These are some quality teams.
01:48But of course, it's Cooper Flagg and Duke. I am most interested in watching this year here,
01:54Ben, who I think coming in at what, number seven? That's a little underrated as far as I'm
02:00concerned. Yeah, that's underrated. Listen, Cooper Flagg is that guy,
02:05the already perceived number one pick in the 2025 NBA draft. Five of the top 18 recruits
02:13in the 2024 class, all playing this year for John Shire and Duke. The Blue Devils are absolutely
02:21loaded and highly touted. Easy then to hate, but that just is my perspective. And that's the
02:27biggest difference, Joe, from the AP top 25 and the AP and the college basketball national
02:35championship odds. Duke is the preseason favorite at plus 950 and yet checks in at number seven
02:42in the AP poll. How about that guy? Dan Hurley and his Connecticut Huskies, the two-time reigning
02:48champions in the sport. They check in at number three, looking to do something in men's college
02:54hoops. We have not seen since 1973 when John Wooden would walk in Westwood. That is a three-time
03:02back-to-back-to-back national champ. UConn, 11-1, fourth-best price entering this season.
03:10Joe, we have reached a stage in our lives where Alabama basketball is ranked ahead of Alabama
03:18football currently, either in where things stood or even in the preseason polls. The Crimson Tide,
03:25number two, with all that Nate Oates returns. Mark Sears is back in Tuscaloosa. It is the highest
03:33Alabama has been ranked in the men's basketball AP top 25 in the preseason. Previous high was
03:39number seven way back in 1990-91, nearly three and a half decades ago. Listen, you know that
03:48there's not going to be a shortage of three-point shots there with Alabama, but can we all just
03:54discuss the elephant in the room? Calipari at Arkansas this year should be extremely interesting
04:02here, Ben, don't you think? Especially all the recruits he brought over from Kentucky. This
04:08should be an interesting year. The strength of the SEC, nine SEC programs, as Joe alluded to,
04:14in the AP top 25, the most of any league in the country. Arkansas is 16, Kentucky is 23,
04:23with Mark Pope taking the reins for Big Blue Nation in Lexington. How about that team at
04:29the bottom of the list? Your family, your religion, and Rutgers basketball, a new era in Piscataway
04:37with Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, two of the three best recruits nationally in this class of 24,
04:46now take over a promising program on the banks of the Raritan. Joe Perdue no longer has Zach
04:53Itty, the highest ranked Big Ten team, but not in the top 10. How about that for the Big Ten? Indiana
05:00ranked in the preseason poll for the first time in a couple of years. Should be a good year in
05:06Bloomington. UCLA, a new Big Ten team, rounds out those four Big Ten programs in the top 25.
05:13Again, college basketball gets underway in now less than three weeks. Three weeks
05:18from yesterday, our number three on the other side here on TEL.