MILWAUKEE – Under a week from the Milwaukee men's basketball team tipping off the 2024-25 season, the Panthers have earned the No. 18 ranking in CollegeInsider.com Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 which was released late yesterday.
 
The ranking marks the first time that Milwaukee has been in the preseason edition list by CollegeInsider.com since prior to the start of the 2014-15 campaign – a season in which the team was coming off its most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The past few months have seen the MKE program atop many of the early rankings, including taking the top spot in the Under Armour Horizon League preseason poll for the first time in 18 years. National organizations are taking notice as well, with respected polls such as Lindy's (No. 1), Blue Ribbon Yearbook (No. 1), Mid-Major Madness (No. 1), HoriZone (No. 2), Mid-Major Basketball (No. 1), among others, to all be considering the Panthers the team to beat in the league this season.
 
The Panthers went 20-15 a winter ago, riding a late-season surge to a memorable postseason run that came up just one game short of the NCAA Tournament after falling in the championship game.
 
Milwaukee again added more entries to the record book, establishing new marks in total points (2,782), field goals made (980), field goals attempted (2,198), three-point field goals attempted (861), total rebounds (1,364), and offensive rebounds (473), while adding runner-up entries in rebound average (39.0 rpg) and blocked shots (155). Plus, the offense finished with a scoring average of 79.5 points per game – the highest for a Milwaukee team since 1992-93.
 
The team will open the season next Monday against Lakeland at the Klotsche Center, set for a 6 p.m. tipoff.
 
Gonzaga tops the mid-major poll and is followed by Grand Canyon, Princeton, Bradley, and Saint Mary's to round out the top five.

Horizon League foe Purdue Fort Wayne is No. 21, while Northern Kentucky (23) and Oakland (23) received votes in the poll.

 
CollegeInsider.com 2024-25 Preseason Mid-Major Top 25 Poll
1. Gonzaga, 775
2. Grand Canyon, 682
3. Princeton, 641
4. Bradley, 634
5. Saint Mary's, 630
6. Vermont, 534
7. Northern Iowa, 530
8. Santa Clara, 478
9. High Point, 447
10. McNeese, 423
11. Ohio, 414
12. UC Irvine, 411
13. Yale, 403
14. San Francisco, 333
15. Louisiana Tech, 284
16. Towson, 263
17. Arkansas State, 239
18. Milwaukee, 206
19. Toledo, 164
20. Samford, 160
21. Purdue Fort Wayne, 157
22. Kansas City, 153
23. Little Rock, 128
24. Lipscomb, 92
25. Western Kentucky, 88
 
Others Receiving Votes: Charleston 83, Liberty 81, UC Santa Barbara 72, Akron 51, Norfolk State 47, Kent State 46, James Madison 39, Colgate 34, Appalachian State 29, Wofford 26, Sam Houston 24, Northern Kentucky 23, Oakland 23, Seattle 23, Montana 21, Murray State 21, ETSU 19, Grambling 19, Troy 19, Drake 18, Quinnipiac 18, UT Arlington 15, UNCW 11, Furman 10, South Dakota State 10, Chattanooga 8, Harvard 8, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 7, UC Davis 6, Howard 6, UMass Lowell 5, Weber State 5, Winthrop 5, Middle Tennessee 3, Austin Peay 2, Central Connecticut 1, Indiana State 1, North Alabama 1.