BATON ROUGE – The LSU men’s basketball team received its first Associated Press media ranking since the end of the 2009 season when it was voted in at No. 21 in the preseason poll announced on Monday.
The Tigers were last ranked in the AP poll at No. 19 in the final regular season poll of 2009.
The poll appearance marks the 196th time LSU has been ranked in the AP poll since the Tigers were first ranked on Dec. 16, 1952. LSU has appeared in 17.6 percent of the 1,108 polls from 1949 through the preseason poll of 2016.
LSU is one of three SEC teams in the preseason poll for this season with Kentucky at No. 2 and Vanderbilt at No. 18.
LSU could play up to seven games with teams ranked or receiving votes in the preseason poll – 2 against No. 2 Kentucky, 1 each against No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 18 Vanderbilt, and two against Texas A&M (receiving votes). LSU could play another vote-getting on the second day of the Legends Classic, NC State.
LSU was last ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since the start of the 2006-07 season and for the 11th time since 1978-79 when LSU under Coach Dale Brown was ranked for second straight years to start the season.
LSU was ranked in its last AP appearance for the final five polls of the SEC Championship season in 2009.
The Tigers play a free exhibition game in the Maravich Center at 7 p.m. against Southwest Baptist. The game will be broadcast on the LSU Sports Radio Network (Eagle 98.1 FM in Baton Rouge) and streamed live on SECN+ and on the Watch ESPN app.
LSU opens the 2015-16 regular season on Friday, Nov. 13 against McNeese State at 8 p.m. at the Maravich Center. That game will be televised on ESPNU.
Season tickets remain on sale as well as non-conference single game, mini-plans and group tickets at LSUtix.net. For further updates on LSU Basketball go to www.Facebook.com/LSUBasketball and @LSUBasketball.
AP Preseason Top 25
Rank, Team (First-Place Votes), Points
1, North Carolina (35), 1,566
2, Kentucky (10), 1,520
3, Maryland (14), 1,487
4, Kansas (5), 1,410
5, Duke, 1,350
6, Virginia (1), 1,347
7, Iowa State, 1,185
8, Oklahoma, 1,088
9, Gonzaga, 1,047
10, Wichita State, 1,032
11, Villanova, 1,013
12, Arizona, 917
13, Michigan State, 838
14, California, 757
15, Indiana, 755
16, Utah, 499
17, Wisconsin, 433
18, Vanderbilt, 393
19, Notre Dame, 360
20, Connecticut, 307
21, LSU, 268
22, Baylor, 265
23, Purdue, 236
24, Butler, 223
25, Michigan, 126