Michigan State coach Tom Izzo reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball exhibition game Thursday in East Lansing. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

The Associated Press Top 25 preseason men’s college basketball rankings put Purdue at No. 1, marking the first time in school history that the Boilermakers begin the season in the top spot.

Michigan is ranked seventh, while Michigan State comes in at No. 22. Wisconsin holds the No. 24 position.

Purdue is coming off a 24-win season and a Sweet 16 berth, where the Boilermakers fell to Houston. Returning players include All-American guard Braden Smith and All-Big Ten forward Trey Kaufman-Renn, who averaged 20.1 points per game.

No. 7 Michigan (27-10, 14-6 Big Ten)

Dusty May turned over most of the roster for his second season after a successful debut, extending the program’s Sweet 16 streak to six years after winning the Big Ten Tournament. He replaced eight departed players and one of the new arrivals is perhaps the top player in the transfer portal, former UAB star Yaxel Lendeborg, who is a preseason All-America player.

Michigan center Aday Mara (15) searches for a pass during the first half of an exhibition game against St. John's University on Saturday in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Players to watch

The 6-foot-9, 240-pound Lendeborg can score, rebound and defend well enough to be regarded as one of the top players in college basketball. Point guard Elliot Cadeau led North Carolina in assists the previous two years and started 68 games over two seasons. Guard Roddy Gayle averaged nearly 10 points a game last year after transferring from Ohio State and has 107 games of experience, including 71 starts.

Departures and arrivals

Lendeborg averaged 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds last season. He was a two-time first-team All-American Athletic Conference pick and two-time AAC defensive player of the year. Morez Johnson Jr., 6-9, 255-pound forward, averaged seven points and seven rebounds in 17-plus minutes last season for Illinois. Aday Mara, a 7-3 Spaniard, transferred from UCLA. Guard Trey McKenney, who won Michigan’s Mr. Basketball award last year, was the nation’s 21st-ranked recruit. Danny Wolf, Vladislav Goldin and Phat Phat Brooks departed as did Scottie Pippen’s son, Justin, after coming off the bench as a seldom-used freshman.

Top games

This photo combination shows Wisconsin guard John Blackwell in Indianapolis on March 14 and Wisconsin's Nolan Winter on Dec. 10 in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, Craig Pessman)

Michigan opens the season Monday at home against Oakland. The Wolverines are in the Players Era Championship, which also includes No. 2 Houston and No. 5 St. John’s. Home games include No. 22 Wisconsin (Jan. 10) and No. 22 Michigan State (March 8) in the regular season finale. Road games include the rival Spartans (Jan. 30), No. 1 Purdue (Feb. 17) and No. 17 Illinois (Feb. 27). A matchup with No. 6 Duke on Feb. 21 in Washington breaks up the Big Ten schedule.

Facts and figures

Michigan has its highest preseason ranking since it was No. 6 in 2021 and is a popular pick to finish second in the Big Ten behind the top-ranked Boilermakers. … Lendeborg joined Larry Bird (Indiana State) as the only players to have 600 points, 400 rebounds and 150 assists in a college basketball season. … The Wolverines will raise Trey Burke’s No. 3 to the rafters at Crisler Center on Jan. 23 against Ohio State.

No. 22 Michigan State (30-7, 17-3 Big Ten)

The Spartans are coming off a surprising season, winning the conference by three games and reaching the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight. They will shoot to do it again under Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo in his 31st season. Michigan State is the fifth-highest ranked Big Ten team in the AP Top 25, modest expectations for a team that lost several players from last year.

Players to watch

Coen Carr is one of the best athletes in basketball. Point guard Jeremy Fears Jr., a redshirt sophomore, and senior big men Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper have a lot of experience. Sophomore guard Kur Teng is a pivotal player because of his 3-point shooting.

Departures and arrivals

Guards Trey Fort (Samford), Divine Ugochukwu (Miami) and Denham Wojcik (Harvard) were added from the portal. The 6-foot-4 Fort averaged 14.6 points last season as a second-team All-Southern Conference player. Highly touted freshmen Jordan Scott and Cam Ward are expected to be in the rotation. A lot was last from last year’s team, including Jase Richardson, who entered the draft. Three players transferred (Tre Holloman, Xavier Booker and Gehrig Normand) and three key players (Jaden Akins, Szymon Zapala and Frankie Fidler) were out of eligibility. Transfer Kaleb Glenn, who played at Florida Atlantic last season, had a season-ending knee injury.

Top games

The Spartans open against Colgate at home Monday. Home games also include No. 14 Arkansas (Nov. 8), No. 6 Duke (Dec. 6), No. 7 Michigan (Jan. 30), No. 17 Illinois (Feb. 7) and No. 12 UCLA (Feb. 17). They play on the road against No. 24 Wisconsin (Feb. 13), No. 1 Purdue (Feb. 26) and the rival Wolverines (March 8) to close the regular season. No. 9 Kentucky (Nov. 18) in New York and No. 25 North Carolina (Nov. 27) in Fort Myers, Florida, are neutral-site games.

Facts and figures

Michigan State was picked to finish sixth in the Big Ten last year and went on to win the conference for an 11th time under Izzo, whose team reached the Elite Eight for the 11th time. … The Spartans have played in 27 straight NCAA Tournaments, tied with North Carolina (1975-2001) for the second longest behind Kansas’ active run of 35 in a row.

No. 24 Wisconsin (27-10, 13-7 Big Ten)

Wisconsin believes it can improve upon last season’s results despite losing Associated Press All-America second-team selection John Tonje, who scored 19.6 points per game in his lone season with the Badgers before going to the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The Badgers return two of their top four scorers in 6-foot-4 guard John Blackwell – a preseason all-Big Ten selection – and 7-footer Nolan Winter. They also added five transfers and four freshmen.

Players to watch

Blackwell had 15.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season and was particularly productive in the postseason. He scored 19 points in Wisconsin’s NCAA Tournament first-round victory over Montana and had 21 in its second-round loss to BYU.

Winter collected a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game last season and also averaged 9.4 points. He made 71.5% of his field-goal attempts from two-point range.

San Diego State transfer Nick Boyd, who started 37 games on Florida Atlantic’s 2023 Final Four team, figures to take over as point guard. He led SDSU in points (13.4) and assists (3.9) last season.

Departures and arrivals

Tonje leaves after scoring 19.6 points per game and having three games with at least 30 points against top-10 opponents last season. Other departing starters from last season include Steven Crowl (9.9 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Max Klesmit (9.2 ppg). Transfers Austin Rapp and Andrew Rohde also could move right into the starting lineup. Rapp had 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game for Portland last season as the West Coast Conference freshman of the year. Rohde had 9.3 points per game for Virginia last season and ranked seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference with 4.3 assists per game. Aleksas Beliauskas, a 6-10 freshman forward from Lithuania, should boost the frontcourt.

Top games

Wisconsin faces No. 8 BYU at Salt Lake City on Nov. 21 in a rematch of the Badgers’ 91-89 NCAA Tournament loss. Top 25 matchups on the Big Ten schedule include two games with No. 1 Purdue (Jan. 3 at home and March 7 on the road), home games with No. 12 UCLA on Jan. 6 and No. 13 Michigan State on Feb. 13 plus trips to No. 7 Michigan on Jan. 10 and No. 17 Illinois on Feb. 10.

Facts and figures

Wisconsin has played in 25 of the last 27 NCAA Tournaments but hasn’t advanced to a Sweet 16 since 2017. … This is the first time since 2020-21 that Wisconsin has been in the preseason AP Top 25. … Wisconsin set a school record by making 366 3-point baskets last season. The Badgers had an adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 122.9, their second-highest mark since KenPom began tracking that statistic in 1999.