CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Virginia basketball will open the upcoming season ranked No. 9 in the nation. The preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll was released Monday and the Cavaliers are one of four ACC squads ranked in the top 15.

SEC preseason favorite Florida is the nation’s top ranked team going into the 2026-27 season, followed by Duke, Illinois, Connecticut and Arizona. Michigan State is at No. 6, followed by Texas and Tennessee, before UVA pops into the poll ninth.

Houston, Louisville, Arkansas, St. John’s, Miami and Gonzaga fill out the rest of the top 15. The final 10 teams in the poll are Michigan, Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Alabama, USC, UCLA, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and BYU.

Two other Commonwealth teams – VCU and Virginia Tech – appeared in the receiving votes category.

UVA, led by returners Thijs DeRidder, Chance Mallory and Sam Lewis, is scheduled to play seven games against teams in the preseason poll: Arkansas, Kentucky, Connecticut in non-conference games and Miami, Duke (twice) and Louisville in league play.

Last year, in its first season under coach Ryan Odom, Virginia went 30-6, including 15-3 in the ACC, before losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Tennessee. The Cavaliers finished at No. 17 in the final AP Top 25 poll of the season, and they were ranked as high as No. 9 last year, going into the NCAA Tournament, after entering the season unranked.

This year, the Cavaliers were picked to finish second in the league in its preseason poll. DeRidder was named the ACC’s Preseason Player of the Year and Mallory, the former St. Anne’s-Belfield star, made the second-team All-ACC preseason squad.

Odom’s team has a final preseason exhibition on Thursday at Villanova, before opening the regular season Nov. 3, at home, against Drexel.