Wisconsin basketball receives votes in Associated Press preseason rankings

Wisconsin’s men’s basketball program received five votes in the Associated Press’ preseason men’s college basketball rankings on Monday.

Just a few weeks after being awarded the No. 12 spot in the Big Ten men’s basketball preseason poll, the Badgers landed well outside the AP’s top 25 hierarchy ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.

The outlet placed Kansas in the No. 1 spot, Alabama at No. 2, defending national champion UConn at No. 3, Houston at No. 4 and Iowa State at No. 5.

Big Ten rivals Purdue (No. 14), Indiana (No. 17) and Rutgers (No. 25) landed within the AP’s initial list. Illinois received 92 votes, Michigan State and Ohio earned 29, Michigan pocketed 19, Oregon notched 12 and Maryland secured one. Wisconsin’s five votes were the 20th-most among unranked teams in this year’s installation of the preseason rankings.

Here is a full look at the AP’s preseason top 25.

Despite amassing a 22-14 mark a season ago and earning a No. 5 seed in the 2024 NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, this marks the third consecutive season Wisconsin falls outside the preseason top 25.

This year’s team will welcome a cohort of new faces. True freshman point guard Daniel Freitag will immediately join the rotation alongside transfers John Tonje, Xavier Amos and Camren Hunter. Former point guard Chucky Hepburn (transfer), scoring machine AJ Storr (transfer) and mainstay Tyler Wahl (graduation) will not return to the Kohl Center this season.

Wisconsin will begin its 2024 season against Holy Cross on Nov. 4 at the Kohl Center.

Story originally appeared on Badgers Wire