The official start of the 2024-25 men's college basketball season is only a little over a week away, and now that enough time has passed since the AP Top 25 preseason poll was released that any reaction couldn't possibly be misconstrued as an overreaction, it's time to break down five of the biggest surprises from the first Associated Press poll of the year.

Two-time defending champion UConn Huskies are NOT #1

Last October, the Associated Press ranked UConn 6th in the Top 25 preseason poll, and as you know, that turned out to be a big mistake. Dan Hurley's squad would go on to finish the season 37-3, win the Big East regular season AND tournament titles, rampage through all six of their NCAA Tournament opponents, and win their second consecutive National Title.

You would've thought that these very same Associated Press voters would've learned their lesson, but that just wasn't the case. Sure, the Huskies will bring in four new starters after Stephon Castle, Donovan Clingan, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer were all selected in the NBA Draft. But earlier this spring, Dan Hurley noted that the 2024-25 Huskies may be his most talented team yet, and as we all know, the two-time championship winning coach has proven to be a man of his word.

Alex Karaban's last minute decision to return, coupled with a solid transfer portal haul, four bench returnees and three incoming top-100 freshmen should've been enough for the Huskies to enter the season, just as they should've last year, as the #1 team in the country. In time, they'll occupy that top spot once again and the Associated Press will have another preseason blunder to look back on.

Duke's highly-touted freshman class left out of top 5

The last time that Duke entered the season with a freshman class this celebrated was in 2018, when Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish arrived in Durham. As a result, Coach K's squad was ranked #4 in the 2018-19 AP Top 25 preseason poll, which is about where you would've expected the Blue Devils to be ranked this year, considering as things stand right now, Duke has the third-best odds to win the 2025 National Title, per MGM Sportsbook.

AP voters clearly don't feel as strongly about Duke's chances as the folks in Vegas do, as the Cooper Flagg, Kon Kneuppel, Khaman Maluach and the Blue Devils are ranked 7th coming into the season. But this may have less to do with Duke, and more to do with a larger trend I've noticed with the poll...

Big 12 has more team in Top 25 than ACC, Big East combined

While UConn (#3), Duke (#7), North Carolina (#9), Creighton (#15) and Marquette (#18) give the ACC and Big East a combined five teams in the AP Top 25, the Big 12 by itself has six schools that have cracked the Top 25:

Kansas (#1)

Houston (#4)

Iowa State (#5)

Baylor (#8)

Arizona (#10)

Cincinnati (#20)

And the Big 12's poll domination doesn't stop there. Another four teams from the Big 12 -- Texas Tech, Kansas State, BYU and Arizona State -- all received at least one vote. Interestingly, the Big 12 hasn't put a team in the Final Four since Kansas won the National Title in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Last year, no Big 12 teams even made it to the Elite Eight.

Rutgers makes preseason poll appearance for only 2nd time this century

Given the talent that Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey possess, it's understandable why the excitement level in Piscataway would be at an all-time high, but I didn't realize the excitement would extend outside of New Jersey as well. It's not as if Rutgers returns a great deal of production from last year's team -- a team that went 15-17, by the way -- and as we saw with Duke's preseason ranking, it's not like the voters are getting too caught up in the hype of a freshman class.

And remember, this isn't a power conference program that has a long track record of success. We're talking about Rutgers here, and for as well-respected as Steve Pikiell may be, the Scarlet Knights are still just barely over .500 in his eight year tenure with the school.

Gonzaga is the only mid-major in AP Top 25

Perhaps this is less of a surprise, and more of a personal disappointment. As someone who has long advocated for non-power conference teams to get more love than they typically do, I was hopeful that Gonzaga -- practically a major program playing in a mid-major conference -- wouldn't be the only team outside of the ACC/Big East/Big 12/Big Ten/SEC conglomerate to get a spot in the AP Top 25 preseason poll. Alas, it's just the Zags.

There were a handful of intriguing mid-majors who received votes, however. McNeese State, Boise State, Saint Louis, VCU and Saint Mary's all received at least five voting points.