| Rank | Team | Comments | Prior | |
| 1 |  | North Carolina | Last year's winners start off as this year's favorites. UNC has holes to fill, but a great incoming class will fill the holes. | |
| 2 |  | Connecticut | With keeper Andre Blake and forwards Mamadou Doudou Diouf and Carlos Alvarez, this could be Uconn's year. | |
| 3 |  | UCLA | UCLA should cruise to another conference title and could make a nice great run in the NCAA Tournament. | |
| 4 |  | Maryland | Casey Townsend may be gone, but Patrick Mullins and John Stertzer are capable of picking up the slack. | |
| 5 |  | Louisville | The Cardinals have a little rebuilding to do up front, but a tough schedule will have this team ready for NCAAs. | |
| 6 |  | Creighton | Creighton will have to fill some holes on the defensive end to have another great campaign like they did in 2011. | |
| 7 |  | New Mexico | UNM returns nearly everybody to a team that did not lose a game in 2011. Unfished business awaits in the NCAAs. | |
| 8 |  | Akron | Darren Mattocks is gone, but few teams in the nation can match the talent in the Zips midfield. | |
| 9 |  | UCSB | The Gauchos will have to fight off UC Irvine, but another Big West title should be in store for UCSB. | |
| 10 |  | Indiana | Indiana will reload on defense and look for an even bigger year out of sophomore striker Eriq Zavaleta. | |
| 11 |  | Charlotte | Charlotte will probably win the A-10 one last time before heading off to Conference USA in 2013. | |
| 12 |  | St. John's | St. John's has to carry momentum from their great Big East year back for another season if they want NCAA revenge. | |
| 13 |  | Virginia | Virginia has some reloading to do this year, but the NCAA Tournament streak will not come to an end. | |
| 14 |  | Old Dominion | Yannick Smith is a great forward, as his 16 goals last year would indicate, and keeper Victor Francoz is underappreciated. | |
| 15 |  | Wake Forest | Wake Forest returns just about everybody to a team that was pretty good in 2011. In 2012 they will be even better. | |
| 16 |  | Ohio State | Ohio State has some holes to fill, most notably in goal, but Coach John Bluem has a talented squad in 2012. | |
| 17 |  | Duke | The Blue Devils will have to find a way to win without Andrew Wenger, but they have the weapons to do it. | |
| 18 |  | Georgetown | Georgetown should be much better this year with the return of a talented, experienced roster led by Steve Neumann. | |
| 19 |  | UAB | Coach Mike Getman has some work to do before his Blazers are ready to win a C-USA title, but never sleep on UAB. | |
| 20 |  | Northern Illinois | The Huskies may not be able to knock Akron off of their MAC perch, but they can make a quality tournament run. | |
| 21 |  | James Madison | Coach Tom Martin knows how to win games and he has the record to prove it, but he needs a new keeper this year. | |
| 22 |  | Washington | Washington has the talent to reach the NCAA Tournament, but they still have to pull it all together for a whole season. | |
| 23 |  | UCF | UCF will look for one more Conference USA title before they head off to the Big East for the 2013 campaign. | |
| 24 |  | UC Irvine | The Anteaters seem to end their seasons earlier than expected. This could be the year for a big tournament run. | |
| 25 |  | Northwestern | The Big Ten will not look past NW this year. The target is now on the Wildcats and repeating will prove to be difficult. | |
Men's Soccer 2012 Preseason Top 25
Mon, 07/23/2012
