Memphis opens 2027 preseason KenPom at No. 85 as Tigers top the American conference

Memphis began its 2026-27 men’s basketball preseason in a confident position on one of the sport’s most watched analytic boards. In the release of the 2027 Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings, the Tigers debuted at No. 85 nationally, establishing themselves as the top team in the American Athletic Conference in the preseason ranking picture.

KenPom’s framework separates performance into offensive and defensive efficiency. Memphis is listed at No. 72 in offensive rating and No. 87 in defensive rating, a distribution that suggests the Tigers’ overall standing is being shaped by modest efficiency on both ends rather than a narrow, dominant strength. In practical terms, it positions Memphis as a team expected to be competitive, but still a work-in-progress relative to the national front-runners at this point in the evaluation cycle.

In conference context, Memphis’s No. 85 national placement matters because it sets an early benchmark for the AAC. Being the league’s highest-ranked team implies that, at least by KenPom’s preseason estimates, the AAC’s best path toward postseason quality may run through Memphis. For a conference that often relies on tournament seeding and at-large conversations, the early analytic pecking order can influence expectations for regular-season results and nonconference momentum.

The Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings are widely followed because they use efficiency-based inputs rather than raw outcomes like win-loss records. KenPom’s preseason ratings, as with any preseason model, are built around the information available before games begin, which typically includes prior-season results, returning production assumptions, and team tendencies. That means the preseason number is best read as a starting point, not a forecast, and it can be disrupted quickly by changes in personnel, lineup roles, pace, and shooting variance.

For Memphis, the specific offensive and defensive rankings hint at what coaches and analysts will likely watch early in the year. Offense ranked at No. 72 indicates the Tigers should have enough scoring efficiency to stay in games and capitalize on possessions. Defense ranked at No. 87 implies stops may be more situational, and that the team could be vulnerable if it misses on effort-based details like defensive rebounding, transition prevention, and forcing inefficient shot selection. Those are the kinds of factors that preseason models can only estimate before the team’s actual identity is tested on the floor.

As the season moves toward tipoff and into the first meaningful stretch of conference play, the key question will be whether Memphis’s preseason profile translates into improved overall efficiency. The most telling follow-up will come when updated KenPom ratings refresh after games begin, showing whether Memphis’s preseason No. 85 ceiling holds or adjusts upward or downward based on real results.

For now, the Tigers’ preseason status provides a measurable reference point: Memphis starts the year as the AAC’s best-ranked team and sits in the national top 100 in the Pomeroy model. Whether that position becomes a foundation for a postseason push, or instead proves to be a baseline that needs a leap, will show up in how the Tigers perform once the schedule starts producing data.