Iowa unranked in preseason AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll

THE Iowa Hawkeyes enter the 2024-25 campaign unnoticed.

Iowa men’s basketball begins the season unranked in the AP Preseason Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll. This is consistent with other Hawkeyes preseason projections.

Iowa was picked 11th in the Big Ten men’s basketball preseason media poll.

Four Big Ten teams made their way into the preseason rankings, led by reigning Big Ten regular season champion Purdue at No. 14 nationally.

Indiana at No. 17, UCLA at No. 22 and Rutgers at No. 25 are making their way into the preseason AP Top 25 poll.

Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Wisconsin and Maryland make up the contingent of Big Ten teams receiving votes in the pre-season AP Top 25 poll. season.

Kansas leads the way as the preseason No. 1 team. The Jayhawks received 30 first-place votes. The rest of the top five includes No. 2 Alabama, two-time defending champion and No. 3 UConn, No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Iowa State.

Iowa returns Member of the preseason All-Big Ten team Payton Sandfort. The 6-foot-8, 215-pound senior averaged 16.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 37.9 percent from 3-point range and 91, 1% from the free throw line last season.

The Hawkeyes also bring back sophomore big man Owen Freeman. Freeman averaged 10.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.2 assists per game while shooting 61.4% from the field and 66.1% from the free throw line . He scored in double figures in 18 games, had 11 games with three or more blocks and had five double-doubles.

The rest of Iowa’s core includes sophomore guard Brock Harding, junior guard Josh Dix, graduate guard Drew Thelwell, sophomore forwards Seydou Traore and Pryce Sandfort and sophomore forward Ladji Dembele, among others.

Here’s a look at the complete preseason AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball poll.

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES:

Illinois 92, St. John’s 91, Xavier 73, Texas Tech 58, Wake Forest 37, Kansas State 30, Michigan State 29, Ohio State 29, Michigan 19, BYU 14, Oregon 12, McNeese State 11, Miami 11, Boise State 9, Saint Louis 9, Clemson 9, Providence 9, Mississippi State 6, VCU 6, Wisconsin 5, Saint Mary’s 5, Louisville 4, UAB 4, Arkansas Little Rock 3, Grand Canyon 3, Arizona State 2, San Diego State 2, Princeton 2, High Point 1, Maryland 1.

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The story was originally published on Hawkeyes Wire