Between impactful transfers and No. 1 high school recruits, BYU men's basketball's group of incoming players has given the Cougars the No. 2 recruiting class in the country.
But where does the national media rank BYU for the 2025-26 season?
With the combination of Richie Saunders, AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright lll, expectations are higher than they have ever been for the Cougars.
ESPN: No. 6
This ranking might be a little outdated, considering it was made before BYU got the commitment of Southern Illinois transfer Kennard Davis Jr, who averaged 16.3 points per game last season.
The only five teams above BYU are Houston, Purdue, Texas Tech, Louisville and UConn.
Jeff Borzello highlighted the trio of Saunders, Dybantsa and Wright lll, saying "that trio should be one of the country's most explosive on the offensive end."
CBS Sports: No. 5
The highest of any of the preseason rankings so far, BYU comes in at No. 5 on CBS Sports' list, behind Houston, St. John's, Purdue and UConn.
BYU has only been ranked six times in the preseason poll, the highest being in 1979 when it came in at No. 15. Landing a top-5 spot would be historic for the program.
Fox Sports: No. 17
Unfortunately for Cougar fans, John Fanta didn't give a reasoning for this exceptionally low ranking. No. 17 is by far the lowest of any major outlet at this point.
ESPN Bracketology: 2-seed
This shouldn't come as a surprise considering BYU's No. 6 ranking in ESPN's top 25. The "worldwide leader in sports" is high on the Cougars heading into next season.
BYU's highest seed in the tournament was in 2011, when it earned a 3-seed behind the play of national player of the year, Jimmer Fredette.
Cougar faithful would more than welcome a chance to play St. John's for a trip to the Final Four.
National Consensus
With the exception of one analyst, BYU seems to a be a consensus top-10 — borderline top-5 — team. Offensively, it is going to be hard to stop the Cougars' talent.
Combining the current preseason expectations and the history of BYU's men's basketball program, anything less than a 4-seed in the NCAA tournament would be seen as a disappointment.