PROVO — BYU men’s basketball’s two-game exhibition slate that begins Saturday at Nebraska will start as a rare top-10 team.
The Cougars were ranked No. 8 nationally in the Associated Press preseason top 25, their highest preseason ranking in program history and highest overall ranking since Jimmer Fredette helped climb as high as No. 3 in 2011.
That was the last time BYU was ranked in the preseason, coming in at No. 24. But led by projected No. 1 NBA draft pick AJ Dybantsa and returning senior Richie Saunders, the Cougars earned 1,078 points from the national media panel to climb into one of the top-25 positions for just the sixth time in program history.
The previous best? No. 15, a preseason mark attained in 1979-80 when Danny Ainge, Devin Durrant, Fred Roberts and Greg Kite helped the Cougars to a 24-5 record that included a WAC championship and. No. 12 finish in the final AP poll under coach Frank Arnold.
Purdue topped the AP’s preseason poll for the first time in program history, collecting 35 of 61 first-place votes to rise 13 spots from the end of the 2024-25 campaign. Houston (16), defending national champion Florida (16) and UConn (2) also received first-place votes, while St. John’s rounded out the top five.
The Cougars are the second-highest ranked team from the Big 12, and two spots ahead of No. 10 Texas Tech and five up on No. 13 Arizona. Iowa State was 16th, while No. 19 Kansas starts at coach Bill Self’s lowest preseason starting point since the reigning champs opened the 2008-09 season at No. 24.
The Big 12 tied the SEC and Big Ten with six bids each, which marks 72% of the top 25. The ACC and Big East each had three ranked teams, followed by No. 21 Gonzaga out of the West Coast Conference.
The Big 12 was the only league with three top-10 teams.
Cougar backfield earns Big 12 honors
BYU running back LJ Martin was named Big 12 co-offensive player of the week after the junior from El Paso, Texas, ran for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown in a 33-27 double-overtime win over Arizona.
Martin’s 6.5 yard-per-carry average came against an Arizona defense that previously ranked No. 25 nationally in run defense, a group that had yet to surrender more than 63 yards by a single running back all season and just 97.6 rushing yards per game.
He wasn’t the only one. Freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier added 89 yards on 22 carries, including the game-tying touchdown plunge with 19 seconds remaining and the go-ahead score in double overtime of the win.
Bachmeier was named Big 12 freshman of the week Monday for the third consecutive week, and fourth time of his college career.
Contributing: Associated Press