Even after back-to-back losing seasons, Utah's showing its national prestige, as they received 4 votes ESPN/USA Today preseason top-25. The only other Mountain West team to do better was BYU, last year's champion, with 12.
- North Carolina (739 votes)
- UCLA (734)
- Memphis (731)
- Kansas (669)
- Georgetown (625)
- Louisville (620)
- Tennessee (598)
- Michigan State (503)
- Indiana (479)
- Washington State (464)
- Duke (390)
- Marquette (381)
14. Gonzaga (252)
- Texas A&M (252)
- Texas (216)
- Arizona (205)
- USC (189)
- Arkansas (173)
- Pittsburgh (160)
- Stanford (158)
- Kentucky (155)
- So. Illinois (137)
- North Carolina State (119)
- Villanova (111)
Kansas State 94, Syracuse 69, Ohio State 65, Clemson 56, Connecticut 55, Butler 42, Davidson 39, Xavier 38, Alabama 31, Mississippi State 30, Florida 26, Wisconsin 21, Illinois 16, Washington 12, Brigham Young 12, Nevada 8, Bradley 7, Virginia 7, Virginia Commonwealth 5, Utah 4, Baylor 3, Old Dominion 3, Saint Joseph's 3, Fresno State 2, George Mason 2, Utah State 2, Notre Dame 1, California 1, Maryland 1.
Bolded teams are Utah's opponents this season. I marked Washington on the belief both the Utes and Huskies will win their first round game of the preseason NIT.