Men's Basketball Ranked 14th in Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll
10/23/2024 12:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bluejays host No. 13 Purdue on Saturday in a charity exhibition game.
OMAHA, Neb. --Â The Creighton University men's basketball team has earned the No. 14 spot in the preseason USA Today Coaches poll that was released on Wednesday.
The Bluejays are one of three BIG EAST Conference teams represented, joining No. 3 Connecticut and No. 17 Marquette. Creighton will face all of those teams twice and also play against No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Alabama and No. 15 Texas A&M. CU could also play No. 4 Houston in Las Vegas on Nov. 30. Other opponents that dot the Bluejay schedule and are receiving votes include St. John's, Xavier, San Diego State and potential foe Rutgers.
Kansas earned the top spot in the poll, earning 15-of-31 first-place votes to edge out Alabama by 25 points. The rest of the top-five consisted of Connecticut, Houston and Duke. Creighton earned 342 points in the poll to rank 14th, just behind Purdue's 390 and just ahead of Texas A&M's 332.
This year's preseason hype is CU's seventh preseason ranking from the coaches in the last 19 seasons, and eighth occurrence all-time. CU was previously tabbed 19th in the preseason poll in 1962-63, 23rd in both 2006-07 and 2016-17, 15th in 2012-13, 11th in 2020-21, ninth in 2022-23 and eighth in 2023-24. Creighton is one of 14 schools to be ranked in the preseason Coaches poll each of the last three seasons, joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and UCLA.
This is the 170th time in program history that Creighton has been ranked in the Coaches poll, and 128th week under the direction of Greg McDermott. Creighton is 207-84 all-time when ranked in the Coaches poll, including a 156-64 mark under McDermott. Of Creighton's 18 different teams to be ranked in the Coaches poll, 10 have been mentored by McDermott. Creighton's best ranking ever in the Coaches poll is No. 5, done the week of Jan. 4, 2021.
A spot in the top 25 of the preseason poll is no guarantee of success. Nine teams ranked in the preseason last year were not in the rankings at year's end (No. 4 Michigan State, No. 9 Florida Atlantic, No. 13 Miami (Fla.), No. 14 Arkansas, No. 18 Texas, No. 19 Texas A&M, No. 20 Villanova, No. 22 USC and No. 25 UCLA). In the previous seven seasons, 69 of the 175 ranked teams (39.4 percent) from the preseason were not ranked in the year-end poll.
Creighton was also ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll released last Monday by the Associated Press.
The Bluejays are scheduled to open the 2024-25 season on Oct. 26 with a charity exhibition game vs. Purdue (No. 13 in the coaches poll; No. 14 in the AP poll) that will benefit the United Way of the Midlands' Disaster Relief Fund. Creighton then tips off the regular-season on Nov. 6 vs. UTRGV.
Single-game tickets for Creighton home games are now on sale via GoCreighton.com/buy, Ticketmaster or the box offices at D.J. Sokol Arena or CHI Health Center Omaha.
USA TODAY SPORTS PRESEASON MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES POLL - 10/23/2023
The USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 men's basketball poll, with team's RECORDS FROM LAST YEAR in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year's final poll and first-place votes received.
Others receiving votes:Â Texas Tech (23-11) 60; Rutgers (15-17) 57; St. John's (20-13) 42; Xavier (16-18) 26; Michigan State (20-15) 25; Brigham Young (23-11) 16; Oregon (24-12) 16; Kansas State (19-15) 11; Boise State (22-11) 9; Saint Mary's (26-8) 9; Clemson (24-12) 8; Dayton (25-8) 7; Ohio State (22-14) 7; Maryland (16-17) 4; Grand Canyon (30-5) 3; Mississippi State (21-14) 2; Princeton (24-5) 2; San Diego State (26-11) 2; Virginia (23-11) 2; Wake Forest (21-14) 2; Wisconsin (22-14) 1.
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The Bluejays are one of three BIG EAST Conference teams represented, joining No. 3 Connecticut and No. 17 Marquette. Creighton will face all of those teams twice and also play against No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Alabama and No. 15 Texas A&M. CU could also play No. 4 Houston in Las Vegas on Nov. 30. Other opponents that dot the Bluejay schedule and are receiving votes include St. John's, Xavier, San Diego State and potential foe Rutgers.
Kansas earned the top spot in the poll, earning 15-of-31 first-place votes to edge out Alabama by 25 points. The rest of the top-five consisted of Connecticut, Houston and Duke. Creighton earned 342 points in the poll to rank 14th, just behind Purdue's 390 and just ahead of Texas A&M's 332.
This year's preseason hype is CU's seventh preseason ranking from the coaches in the last 19 seasons, and eighth occurrence all-time. CU was previously tabbed 19th in the preseason poll in 1962-63, 23rd in both 2006-07 and 2016-17, 15th in 2012-13, 11th in 2020-21, ninth in 2022-23 and eighth in 2023-24. Creighton is one of 14 schools to be ranked in the preseason Coaches poll each of the last three seasons, joining Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and UCLA.
This is the 170th time in program history that Creighton has been ranked in the Coaches poll, and 128th week under the direction of Greg McDermott. Creighton is 207-84 all-time when ranked in the Coaches poll, including a 156-64 mark under McDermott. Of Creighton's 18 different teams to be ranked in the Coaches poll, 10 have been mentored by McDermott. Creighton's best ranking ever in the Coaches poll is No. 5, done the week of Jan. 4, 2021.
A spot in the top 25 of the preseason poll is no guarantee of success. Nine teams ranked in the preseason last year were not in the rankings at year's end (No. 4 Michigan State, No. 9 Florida Atlantic, No. 13 Miami (Fla.), No. 14 Arkansas, No. 18 Texas, No. 19 Texas A&M, No. 20 Villanova, No. 22 USC and No. 25 UCLA). In the previous seven seasons, 69 of the 175 ranked teams (39.4 percent) from the preseason were not ranked in the year-end poll.
Creighton was also ranked No. 15 in the preseason poll released last Monday by the Associated Press.
The Bluejays are scheduled to open the 2024-25 season on Oct. 26 with a charity exhibition game vs. Purdue (No. 13 in the coaches poll; No. 14 in the AP poll) that will benefit the United Way of the Midlands' Disaster Relief Fund. Creighton then tips off the regular-season on Nov. 6 vs. UTRGV.
Single-game tickets for Creighton home games are now on sale via GoCreighton.com/buy, Ticketmaster or the box offices at D.J. Sokol Arena or CHI Health Center Omaha.
USA TODAY SPORTS PRESEASON MEN'S BASKETBALL COACHES POLL - 10/23/2023
The USA TODAY Sports preseason Top 25 men's basketball poll, with team's RECORDS FROM LAST YEAR in parentheses, total points based on 25 for first place through one point for 25th, ranking in last year's final poll and first-place votes received.
| Rank | School (record) | Points | Last year's final ranking | First-place votes |
| 1 | Kansas (23-11) | 743 | 21 | 15 |
| 2 | Alabama (25-12) | 718 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | Connecticut (37-3) | 717 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | Houston (32-5) | 698 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | Duke (27-9) | 625 | 9 | 0 |
| 6 | Iowa State (29-8) | 591 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | Gonzaga (27-8) | 575 | 16 | 0 |
| 8 | Baylor (24-11) | 545 | 14 | 0 |
| 9 | Arizona (27-9) | 510 | 12 | 0 |
| 10 | North Carolina (29-8) | 498 | 6 | 0 |
| 11 | Auburn (27-8) | 465 | 17 | 0 |
| 12 | Tennessee (27-9) | 437 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 | Purdue (34-5) | 390 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | Creighton (25-10) | 342 | 10 | 0 |
| 15 | Texas A&M (21-15) | 332 | NR | 0 |
| 16 | Arkansas (16-17) | 272 | NR | 0 |
| 17 | Marquette (27-10) | 268 | 11 | 0 |
| 18 | Indiana (19-14) | 208 | NR | 0 |
| 19 | Texas (21-13) | 166 | NR | 0 |
| 20 | Cincinnati (22-15) | 163 | NR | 0 |
| 21 | Florida (24-12) | 130 | NR | 0 |
| 22 | UCLA (16-17) | 123 | NR | 0 |
| 23 | Kentucky (23-10) | 95 | 19 | 0 |
| 24 | Illinois (29-9) | 87 | 7 | 0 |
| 25 | Mississippi (20-12) | 66 | NR | 0 |
Others receiving votes:Â Texas Tech (23-11) 60; Rutgers (15-17) 57; St. John's (20-13) 42; Xavier (16-18) 26; Michigan State (20-15) 25; Brigham Young (23-11) 16; Oregon (24-12) 16; Kansas State (19-15) 11; Boise State (22-11) 9; Saint Mary's (26-8) 9; Clemson (24-12) 8; Dayton (25-8) 7; Ohio State (22-14) 7; Maryland (16-17) 4; Grand Canyon (30-5) 3; Mississippi State (21-14) 2; Princeton (24-5) 2; San Diego State (26-11) 2; Virginia (23-11) 2; Wake Forest (21-14) 2; Wisconsin (22-14) 1.
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