It is Monday, October 13th in the year of our Lord, two-thousand twenty and five, and the Brigham Young University basketball team is not only ranked in the preseason AP top 25 -- they're knee-deep into the top 10. Somebody pinch me (but be gentle), because I was under the impression BYU hoops weren't allowed to scale to such heights.
It's been since Jimmer Fredette and his all-time great run through college hoops that we've seen BYU's logo grace the top 10. This year, we'll get to see a single digit alongside the stretch-Y when the season tips off, and that is something worth celebrating.
With the top NBA prospect (depending on who you ask, it might be Darryn Peterson or Mr. From-the-top-rope Nate Ament), AJ Dybantsa, suiting up for head coach Kevin Young and acting as recruiting fly paper for other highly-coveted talent like Rob Wright, Kennard Davis (who is making noise as potentially the Cougars' under-the-radar star), Nate Pickens, and more, listing out every intriguing talent on this year's roster would be to list out the entire roster. Nobody opens an article to read lists -- unless they're my lists, right guys?
BYU has survived a severe migration to the Big 12 Conference, consistently the strongest basketball league in recent history, and reached the NCAA Tournament on their first go-round. Then Mark Pope cashed his ticket to Lexington and left the program he built for greener (bluer?) pastures in Kentucky. BYU basketball took that gut-punch and responded with a haymaker. Kevin Young, the top assistant coach in the NBA, stepped in. One NBA lottery pick and a run to the Sweet 16 later, Brigham Young stands above Kentucky in the preseason AP Poll.
BREAKING: Preseason College Basketball AP Poll🏀https://t.co/pQTPvw4sEm pic.twitter.com/ovodzbD9dE
— On3 (@On3sports) October 13, 2025
8. BYU
9. Kentucky
This was not in my version of the script. Am I being written off the show?
So, the operative question: do preseason rankings matter? Even a little bit?
As far as accurately rating a basketball program? Not really. These rankings are a reflection of recruting rankings, returning production, and historical success. BYU's rung on the ladder can be attributed to the first two, with a sprinkling of the third.
But when it comes to anchoring bias and poll momentum throughout the year? Starting the season in the top 10 makes it difficult for voters to drop a team too far too soon. If BYU meets expectations, they're poised for a favorable spot in the eyes of the March Madness selection committee. In that respect, the rankings aren't entirely useless, though the basketball selection committee is much better at using non-eye test metrics to designate their bracket.
BYU basketball opens the season ranked eighth. With a high ranking comes equally high expectations. When you're standing in the top 10, your job is to aim for a Final Four appearance. Reaching that height would be a first for the program, but we may be saying that about many of this team's accomplishments in 2025-26.
It's a new era of basketball under the shadows of the Wasatch.