Oregon was the 2024 Pac-12 Tournament champion and a double-overtime loss to Creighton away from advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
But national men’s college basketball media views Dana Altman’s rebuilt Ducks as no more than a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big Ten.
Oregon didn’t make The Associated Press top-25 preseason poll that was announced Monday morning, though the Ducks did get 12 points — ninth-most among teams from the Big Ten.
Conference teams in the top 25 were No. 14 Purdue, No. 17 Indiana, No. 22 UCLA and No. 25 Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights received 102 points, 10 more than Illinois, the first team left out of the rankings.
Also receiving votes were Michigan State and Ohio State (29 points each), Michigan (19), Wisconsin (5) and Maryland (1).
Kansas will open the season at No. 1, followed by No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 UConn — the reigning national champions — No. 4 Houston and No. 5 Iowa State.
Oregon was picked to finish sixth in the conference in a preseason poll of media members who cover the Big Ten. The Ducks open the season on Nov. 4 against UC Riverside at Matthew Knight Arena.
Chris Hansen covers University of Oregon football, men’s basketball, track and field, cross country and softball for The Register-Guard. You can reach him at chansen@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @chansen_RG.
