With the 2025-26 season only a few weeks away, ESPN has released its final preseason top 25, and Syracuse basketball will face seven teams that reside in these rankings, including one opponent twice.
That's eight games against ranked foes, which is slightly more than one-quarter of the Orange's 2025-26 regular-season schedule. Of course, the major top-25 polls will ebb and flow throughout the upcoming campaign.
At the same time, this final preseason top 25 from ESPN suggests that the 'Cuse will face a challenging docket, and also one that presents opportunities for Syracuse basketball to notch some wins over top-flight competition.
The Orange is trying to make a return to the NCAA Tournament at the end of the upcoming season following a four-year absence from March Madness. To do that, the 'Cuse must play tough opponents close, avoid getting blown out, and also triumph over at least a couple of ranked foes.
Here are the ranked opponents that Syracuse basketball will battle in ESPN's preseason top 25.
Houston, No. 3
Louisville, No. 6
Duke, No. 10
Tennessee, No. 18
Kansas, No. 22
N.C. State, No. 24
UNC, No. 25
The Orange plays these teams in 2025-26 as follows:
•Monday, Nov. 24, Syracuse basketball versus Houston in Las Vegas (Players Era Festival)
•Tuesday, Nov. 25, Syracuse basketball versus Kansas in Las Vegas (Players Era Festival)
•Tuesday, Dec. 2, Syracuse basketball versus Tennessee at the JMA Wireless Dome (ACC/SEC Challenge)
•Tuesday, Jan. 27, Syracuse basketball at N.C. State
•Monday, Feb. 2, Syracuse basketball at North Carolina
•Monday, Feb. 16, Syracuse basketball at Duke
•Saturday, Feb. 21, Syracuse basketball versus North Carolina at the JMA Wireless Dome
•Tuesday, March 3, Syracuse basketball at Louisville
In recent seasons, the Atlantic Coast Conference has seen its member schools fare well in the NCAA Tournament, but the conference as a whole is lagging behind other leagues in total bids to the Big Dance. For that reason, ACC officials decided to increase the number of non-conference games to 13, while decreasing the number of ACC contests to 18.
That Syracuse basketball will square off against several ranked opponents in the non-conference docket is a good thing, so long as the Orange wins at least one of those games, if not more.
In the ACC, at least as far as preseason projections go, the conference's top tier appears to include schools such as Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, N.C. State and perhaps Virginia. Syracuse basketball plays Duke, Louisville and N.C. State once each, on the road, so that's challenging. The Orange will get the Tar Heels at home and in Chapel Hill.