The Associated Press Releases 2017-18 Preseason Basketball Top 25

Well, as if you needed confirmation that the 2017-18 season is going to be a bear in the Big East, you got it on Wednesday when the Associated Press released their preseason top 25 for men’s basketball.

Three Big East teams are ranked in the top 25, and two more are in the “also receiving votes” category. Villanova starts the season at #6, Xavier shows up at #17, and Seton Hall wrap up the ranked Marquette foes at #23. Providence (34 points) and Butler (13 points) earned votes, but will have to work their way into the top 25. PC is unofficially #30 in the country, while the Bulldogs are in the #34 hole.

Those five squads aren’t the only Marquette opponents earning votes to start the season. Depending on how MU’s first round game in the Maui Invitational goes, they could find themselves playing Wichita State in the second round, and the Shockers are #7 to start off the campaign. Purdue, which will be in the BMO Harris Bradley Center for MU’s second game of the season, are #20 in the preseason top 25, and with only SIU-Edwardsville and Chicago State before the trip northwest, the Boilermakers will almost assuredly still be ranked at gametime.

There’s two more foes, one definite, one possible, in the receiving votes department. There’s a chance that Marquette could see Michigan in their third and final Maui Invitational contest, and the Wolverines have six points in the first poll of the year. The other team also hails from the Big Ten, as Wisconsin picked up 14 points purely on reputation alone as the Badgers return just three players who played more than 250 minutes last season.

The 101st season of Marquette basketball gets started on Friday, November 10th, when the Golden Eagles host Mount St. Mary’s.

You can check out the full top 25 right here.