College basketball’s long-awaited preseason AP poll was released on Monday, Oct. 19.
After an eventful offseason with the transfer portal and the NCAA implementing the new “five in five” rule, there are plenty of teams loaded with talent going into the 2026-27 college basketball season. However, with only 25 spots, there were bound to be some talented teams on the outside looking in.
In particular, these three teams deserved a spot and could make voters look foolish by the end of the season.
Missouri Was the First Team Out and Has the Roster to Prove It
The Tigers were actually the first team out in the others’ receiving votes category. But they definitely should have been in the Top 25.
Dennis Gates’ squad enters this season with an intriguing group of transfers. Additionally, they return several key pieces from last year’s NCAA tournament squad.
Missouri arguably got its best news of this week, as Mark Mitchell was granted a temporary injunction, which for now makes him eligible to compete this season. Mitchell was outstanding for the Tigers last season, as he led the team in points, rebounds, and assists, en route to being named second-team All-SEC.
Shawn Phillips Jr. also received a fifth year of eligibility on his lawsuit that was granted in early July. He was a key player on the interior for Mizzou last year, starting in all 31 games he played in. He led the team in field goal percentage and averaged 7.6 points and 5.1 rebounds while also leading the team in blocks.
As rare as it is in the new era of college basketball, Missouri has three of its starters returning for this season: Mitchell, Phillips, and Trent Pierce. Pierce was third on the team in minutes per game last season and in points per game at 10.4 points per contest. He is also an excellent shooter, shooting 38.4 percent from three on nearly five attempts per game at 6-foot-10.
The Portal Gave Mizzou the Pieces to Challenge Florida
In terms of new additions, incoming five-star freshman guard Jason Crowe Jr. is the program’s second-highest ranked recruit in the 247 Sports era. He also ranks as the fifth-best player in the 2026 class.
Gates was also able to bring in some high-quality transfer talent, most notably prying Bryson Tiller away from the rival Kansas Jayhawks. He started in 31 of 35 games on a very good Kansas team last season as a freshman.
The Tigers will also look to get solid contributions from BYU transfer guard Kennard Davis, Providence transfer wing Jamier Jones, and Tennessee transfer big man Jaylen Carey. All three made solid contributions to quality power-conference teams last season.
This could be Missouri’s best roster in years. The Tigers feature an impressive mix of size, shooting, ability, and plenty of experience. There’s a valid argument for Mizzou being the SEC’s second-best team behind Florida.
Michael Malone’s First UNC Team Is Built Through the Portal
It’s a new era of North Carolina basketball this season with the hiring of former NBA championship-winning head coach Michael Malone. He replaces Hubert Davis, whom UNC fired after five seasons as head coach.
The Tar Heels were decent last season; they did ultimately lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to No. 11 seed VCU. That was enough for them to want to look in another direction to lead the program.
Malone’s first UNC team will have a lot of fresh faces on it. But he and his staff did a great job rebuilding a team that looks like it could be very good in his first season. The Tar Heels will have three very talented guards, all of whom came via the transfer portal.
Utah transfer Terrence Brown was one of the most underrated scorers in the country last season, averaging 19.9 points per game against Big 12 competition. Additionally, former top-30 recruit Matt Able transfers in from in-state rival NC State, where he had a big role as a freshman. And 6-foot-9 Virginia Tech transfer Neoklis Avdalas is another young, high-upside player that the Tar Heels brought in.
The Tar Heels’ most important player this season could very well be five-star international recruit Sayon Keita. He comes over from Barcelona, and he’s been getting a couple of first-round projections in 2027 NBA mock drafts.
What UNC’s roster lacks in experience, they make up for in talent. If Malone is able to get all his new pieces to mesh together, North Carolina could surprise a lot of people.
Counting Out Matt Painter’s Purdue Is Always a Mistake
It’s very hard to believe, but AP voters left Matt Painter’s Purdue squad out of the preseason poll.
Did Purdue lose a lot of talent from last season’s Elite Eight team? Sure. They will be without all three members of that talented trio they had last season that consisted of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufmann-Renn. However, there’s almost nobody better at replacing star players than Painter, as he has consistently built competitive teams year in and year out.
The Boilermakers will be banking on their young players to step up and be able to handle bigger roles. Junior guard CJ Cox is the lone starter back for this season and is primed for a breakout season in the Big Ten. Cox is an athletic three-level scorer who shot nearly 40% from three last season. It will be intriguing to see what he can do as potentially Purdue’s number one scoring option.
Omer Mayer and Gicarri Harris are two other returning guards who played 39 games for the Boilers last season. Both are former four-star recruits and are highly regarded three-point shooters.
7-foot-4 center Daniel Jacobsen will be the team’s primary interior scoring option. He didn’t get a ton of playing time last season but was impressive when he was on the floor. The former four-star recruit shot 64.6% from the field, averaging over a block a game in 12.9 minutes.
Per usual, Purdue didn’t bring in too many transfers. Princeton transfer forward Caden Pearce will have a big role as a former Ivy League Player of the Year.
Even while losing a lot of talent from last year, Purdue still has plenty of pieces to compete for the top of the Big Ten. By the end of the season, it will be hard to count Purdue out as a Top 25 team heading into conference play.
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