There’s not much in the state of Arizona that unites basketball coaches more than something that benefits the athletes and brings attention to the talent in the state.
In recent years, basketball has grown to becoming one of the premier sports in a state that for a long time was mostly known for baseball and softball and more recently football.
Entering the 2025-26 season, the state of Arizona has two programs ranked inside the top 10 nationally by MaxPreps and features two more ranked in the top 75.
To go along with the team recognition, the state also has multiple five star prospects and close to double digit four star prospects as well.
That leads us to what comes next.
In less than a week, the AIA season tips off and with it comes expectations bestowed upon programs by members of the media and fans alike. But how often are those expectations relative to what the coaches that see these programs and dissect them day in and day out think?
In terms of boys basketball after speaking with media members and coaches alike, a coaches poll is something that hasn’t been put together before, until now.
Coaches Poll Format
21 coaches from throughout the state between the 2A-6A level participated in this poll.
The coaches filled out a ballot that asked them to rank their top 10 teams in the state regardless of conference as well as the top 10 teams in the conference they participate in.
Four total 2A and 3A coaches participated, which is why their conference rankings aren’t listed below as Arizona Varsity felt that not enough coaches were represented to reflect a true ranking for their respective conference.
Each coach that chose to participate requested to stay anonymous.
Overall Top 10
It’s a new era in 2025-26 as for the first time in five years, there appears to be a new king on the horizon in Arizona high school basketball as Perry narrowly misses the top 10 following the graduation of Koa Peat and the transfer of Bruce Branch III.
Millennium and Sunnyslope enter the year as the two favorites and just like the media, the coaches are evenly split amongst the two region rivals who’ll play each other twice in the regular season.
The bottom half of the top 10 showcases a hotly contested battle as seven points separates No. 6 Higley from No. 9 Central with Highland and Brophy in between.
6A Top 10
The 6A rankings fall very similar to how the overall top 10 rankings came together. Two programs that missed the cut in the overall top 10 slide into the No. 9 and No. 10 positions here in Perry and Liberty.
Something to note is that although 6A had less voters than the 5A conference, it had the most amount of teams receiving votes.
5A Top 10
The defending champions enter the year No. 1 overall in 5A but right behind them is a team that made the Elite Eight of the open division in 2024-25. 5A if at least one team makes the open could be the most entertaining race for the top spot as close to a dozen programs have a chance to make a run towards a championship.
4A Top 10
4A had an equal amount of coaches voting in the poll as 6A did, however there was continuity amongst the voters as they felt fairly confident in the top 10 in some order, with only two additional programs receiving votes.
The most notable part of this poll is that four out of the top five teams all are within the same region, the 4A Desert Sky.
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