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The Indiana men's basketball program enters a 2022-23 season with extremely high internal expectations -- and throughout the offseason and now preseason, those expectations have been echoed nationally.

On Monday, the preseason AP Top 25 Poll was released and Indiana enters the season ranked No. 13 .

This is the first time Indiana has been ranked in the AP Preseason poll since the 2016-17 season. The Hoosiers have been ranked in the top-25 just once since then, getting up to No. 21 in the country during the 2018-19 season.

In year two under Mike Woodson, Indiana returns four starters and brings in a top-15 recruiting class, including two five-star prospects.

A 21-win team last year and Big Ten Tournament semifinalists, Indiana also made it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016. While it was the 'First Four', Indiana took down Wyoming to get a win in the NCAA Tournament before falling to St. Mary's in the Round of 64.

"Expectations are always going to be high," Woodson said at IU media day. "When I came in here and took the job, expectations were high. This program is built that way, and it should be that way. It's what it is, man. I'm not going to run from it, and I'm not going to let my players run from it. There's a lot of big things that's got to happen this year for our ballclub, and I'm going to try to coach them up and push them in that direction."

Part of the reason for the high expectations is the core group that returns for Indiana. Not only do starters Xavier Johnson, Race Thompson and Miller Kopp come back, so does All-American forward Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Jackson-Davis enters this season as one of the top players in the country and has been named Big Ten Player of the Year by one media outlet ahead of this year. He was also a unanimous selection for First Team All-Big Ten as well.

"I think that's the last legacy to build here. Being part of a great team," Jackson-Davis said at Big Ten Media Day. "I don't want to be remembered as someone who was a great player but part of a mediocre team. That's the last thing. I want to be able to say we did something special in '22-'23."

While expectations are high, Indiana hasn't advanced past the second round of the NCAA Tournament one time since the 2013-14 season. So while the potential is real for Indiana, expectations also have to be realistic.

"I think the second weekend is the expectation," Rivals national recruiting director Rob Cassidy said earlier this summer. "But looking at Big Ten play, being in that top three and be in the hunt to win the regular season title . . . It's so hard to hold schools and set expectations to tournament success because it's so much to luck of the draw."

Overall, Indiana will be tested and tested early. Its non-conference schedule includes away games at No. 5 Kansas and Xavier, a home game against No. 1 North Carolina and then a neutral site game against No. 17 Arizona, among others. The gauntlet of the Big Ten will also be a good way to measure Indiana's potential success come March.

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