Purdue claimed the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 men’s preseason college basketball for the first time on Monday. Coach Matt Painter’s Boilermakers, who ranked No. 1 at some point during three of the past four regular seasons, received 35 of 61 first-place votes. Following Purdue are last year’s NCAA Tournament runner-up Houston (16 votes) and defending national champion Florida (eight). UConn ranks No. 4 and received the other two votes. “We are obviously excited to get the season going and being ranked No. 1 in the preseason is a great indicator of what we feel this team can accomplish,” Painter said, per the AP. “But the goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the year. We’re thrilled that people think this highly of our team, but there is a long ways to go and a lot of work to do to reach that goal in April.” Purdue, which finished 24-12 and lost to Houston on a last-second basket in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in March, opens the season against Evansville on Nov. 4 in West Lafayette,
