HOUSTON -- Notre Dame upset Villanova on Sunday in what amounted to the official launch of the 2026-27 college basketball season -- but things will really get started Monday with the reigning national champion (Michigan), the preseason No. 1 (Florida) and 18 other teams in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 scheduled to play, among them Houston. That's where I'll be late Monday -- inside the Fertitta Center here on this Big 12 campus, where the Cougars will host La Salle in a game scheduled to tip at 9 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network and streaming on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App.
Houston is 15th in this final version of the preseason Top 25 And 1 and will be attempting to make an eighth straight trip to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament next March after not making it at all for 35 straight years before Kelvin Sampson took over. He's orchestrated an incredible rebuild. The only change from Version 29 of the Top 25 And 1 that I published last month and this final update before ranked teams have records is that I've added Texas Tech and inserted the Red Raiders at No. 17.
As you might know, Grant McCasland's roster has been in constant flux for much of the all season. I never really knew what to do with the Red Raiders. But the way I'm trying to approach the start of this season (after the most unusual offseason in the history of the sport) is to simply assume everybody committed to a program and enrolled will eventually play.
When I look at Texas Tech through that lens, and account for the eventual return of 2025 Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin, I just decided it would be silly to not have the Red Raiders in the final preseason Top 25 And 1. Texas Tech opens the season Monday against Jackson State. The Red Raiders' first real test will come a week from Tuesday when they face Illinois.
Florida remains and begins the 2026-27 season at No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 after returning six of the top seven scorers from a team that won the SEC by multiple games and secured a No. 1 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Gators open their season Monday against Miami in the only game on the schedule between two teams both ranked in the top 20 of the Top 25 And 1. The Hurricanes are 19th in the Top 25 And 1.
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