Baylor beats No. 3 Illinois, the AP poll lands, and Duke wins 90-84 at Kansas

Baylor entered the week without a number beside its name. On Friday the Bears went to Champaign and beat No. 3 Illinois 95-91, five days after beating No. 1 Florida in overtime 1. Neither men's preseason poll ranks Baylor or lists it among the teams receiving votes 23.

The week also produced the board the exhibition season had been missing. The AP released its men's preseason poll on Oct. 19 and its women's poll the next day 24. This issue covers Oct. 19 through Oct. 25.

Baylor led for 39 of the 40 minutes and by 19 at halftime, 63-44, after making 11 threes before the break 1. Isaac Williams IV scored 28 points, a career high including exhibitions, and Kayden Mingo added 24 1. Brett Decker Jr. and Isaac Celiscar each had 15, and Baylor finished with a 47-38 rebounding edge 1.

Williams scored 16 straight Baylor points after entering at the 15:17 mark of the first half 1. Illinois got within three at 87-84 in the last four minutes, and Mingo's floater with 36 seconds to play pushed the lead back to six 1.

Illinois had opened third, behind Florida and Duke, in both polls released four days earlier 23. Baylor has now beaten the two teams the AP placed first and third, five days apart.

Florida took 47 of 59 first-place votes and 1,461 points in the men's poll, its first preseason No. 1 since 2006 2. Duke drew 10 first-place votes and Illinois two; those three were the only programs to receive one 2.

The top ten ran Florida, Duke, Illinois, UConn, Arizona, Michigan State, Texas, Tennessee, Virginia and Houston, with Louisville 11th, Arkansas 12th and St. John's 13th 2. Michigan opened 16th, Kansas 17th, Texas Tech 19th, UCLA 22nd and BYU 25th, and North Carolina sat outside the poll with 20 points 2.

The USA TODAY Sports coaches poll, out the same day, agreed on the top three and flipped the next two: Arizona fourth, UConn fifth 3.

The coaches put Houston eighth, Gonzaga 12th and Michigan 20th against the AP's 10th, 15th and 16th 23. Purdue sits 24th with the coaches and outside the AP 25 on 53 points; UCLA is 22nd with the AP and outside the coaches poll on 64 23.

Kansas at 17 and Texas Tech at 19 carried the same explanation: three players at each school still in eligibility limbo — Donovan Atwell, Darrion Williams and Jamichael Stillwell at Texas Tech, Trey Kaufman-Renn, Tre White and Melvin Council Jr. at Kansas 2.

Kaufman-Renn signed with Kansas hours before the poll was released 2.

South Carolina took 23 of 31 first-place votes and 764 points in the women's poll, its fifth preseason No. 1 in seven seasons 4. UConn was second with 746 points and six first-place votes, USC third with 668 and two, then Duke, Michigan, Texas, Louisville, Vanderbilt, LSU and Iowa 4.

Michigan's fifth was the highest preseason ranking in program history, and defending champion UCLA opened 11th 4. Nine Big Ten teams made the 25, the most by one conference, and NC State held the last place 4.

The AP's men's preseason All-America team, released Oct. 21, put Jeremy Fears Jr. of Michigan State one vote short of unanimous on 57 first-place votes, with Florida's Thomas Haugh next at 56 5. Tyler Tanner of Vanderbilt, David Mirkovic of Illinois and Motiejus Krivas of Arizona completed it, Krivas taking the final place on 17 votes ahead of Louisville's Flory Bidunga, UConn's Braylon Mullins and Duke's John Blackwell 5. All five return to the school they played for last season 5.

The women's team, announced the next day, was Sarah Strong of UConn, Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Madison Booker of Texas, Mikayla Blakes of Vanderbilt and JuJu Watkins of USC 6.

The SEC's coaches made South Carolina their pick for a sixth straight regular-season title, ahead of Texas, LSU, Vanderbilt and Kentucky 7. Their player of the year was Blakes, and their first team ran Booker, Blakes, Oklahoma's Aaliyah Chavez, Ole Miss's Talaysia Cooper, South Carolina's Joyce Edwards and Tessa Johnson, LSU's MiLaysia Fulwiley and Mikaylah Williams, Vanderbilt's Aubrey Galvan and Kentucky's Clara Strack 7.

Nine men's exhibition games in the window are worth keeping, eight between teams in the AP poll and one between rivals in Birmingham.

Duke won its two games by 39 and six. Against Tennessee, Patrick Ngongba II and Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje combined for 24 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in 39 combined minutes 8. At Kansas, Ngongba scored 28 on 9-of-12 shooting with 10 rebounds and John Blackwell added 23 9.

Tennessee shot 4-of-18 from three against Duke after 4-of-26 against Xavier, with Belmont transfer Tyler Lundblade out injured for both games 8. CBS Sports' David Cobb concluded from the exhibitions that Duke should be ranked above Florida 8.

St. John's led Texas by 18 at halftime, scored 56 points in the paint and turned 16 Longhorn turnovers into 20 points 10. Keyshawn Hall had 24, Tounde Yessoufou 23 and Ian Jackson 18 in front of 11,011 at the Garden 10.

Michigan shot 34 percent and 9-of-33 from three against Houston and was outrebounded 42-30 11. Roddy Gayle Jr. led the Wolverines with 14 points in his first game after being cleared for a fifth season 11.

Louisville's Jackson Shelstad scored 23 points at Allen Fieldhouse and made the free throws that sealed it, ending Kansas' run of 58 straight exhibition wins 12. Arkansas trailed 36-26, then outscored Gonzaga 24-3 over nine minutes; Billy Richmond III finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Braden Huff had 19 and 11 for Gonzaga 13. Alabama played without suspended guard Aden Holloway, and Amari Allen's 23 points included an and-one that broke an 80-80 tie 14.

UConn beat Texas 83-61 in Hartford on Oct. 19, breaking a 37-37 halftime tie with a 19-8 third quarter 15. Sarah Strong scored 27 and freshman Jovana Popovic 22 on 7-of-11 shooting with seven rebounds and five assists 15.

The Huskies closed their preseason with an 86-50 win over Army in Storrs on Oct. 25, outscoring the Black Knights 32-7 in the second quarter 16. Strong had 19, Allie Ziebell 13 off the bench and Popovic 10 16.

Texas beat defending champion UCLA 81-64 at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park on Oct. 25, leading 38-32 at halftime and outscoring the Bruins 43-32 after it 17. Madison Booker had 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Bryanna Preston 20 and Breya Cunningham 16 17. UCLA's 18 turnovers became 20 Texas points 17.

South Carolina played its first game at Colonial Life Arena and beat Benedict 113-34 on Oct. 23 18. Tessa Johnson and freshman Jerzy Robinson scored 17 each, Robinson added 11 rebounds, and Joyce Edwards had 15 on 6-of-8 shooting 18.

Kansas added the week's biggest name on Oct. 19, when Trey Kaufman-Renn enrolled and began practicing and took the roster spot of freshman guard Grant Mordini after Mordini's season-ending patellar tendon injury 19. Bill Self said he expected the transition to be quicker than most because of Kaufman-Renn's basketball IQ 19.

Kaufman-Renn played four seasons at Purdue after redshirting in 2021-22 and is seeking a sixth year of eligibility and a fifth season of competition; Minnesota drafted him 59th in June 19. He joins Tre White and Melvin Council Jr., both also seeking a fifth year 19.

In St. Louis, Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser granted Robbie Avila a temporary restraining order on Oct. 23 that lets Saint Louis place him on its 2026-27 roster 20. Avila is enrolled and averaged 12.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season, and he has another hearing on Nov. 4, two days after the Billikens open against Lehigh 20.

Dale Brown, the winningest coach in LSU basketball history, died Friday at 90, days short of his 91st birthday 21. Brown took LSU to two Final Fours, and his players included Shaquille O'Neal and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf 22.

The regular season begins Nov. 2, when Duke hosts Army and Baylor hosts Northwestern State 19. Three exhibitions remain: UConn hosts Purdue on Oct. 27, Arkansas hosts Memphis on Oct. 28, and Texas hosts Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 29 131723.

Efficiency ratings and conference standings arrive with the games: the first efficiency numbers come once results count, and the standings once league play begins in late December. Every score above is an exhibition score, and every ranking above was set before a game that counts.