According to the AP college basketball polls, where do all of the teams historically rank? Here are the top basketball programs of all-time utilizing the AP’s final rankings.
AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: Greatest Program Of All-Time
AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
College Football AP Greatest Programs of All-Time
The AP’s top 25 poll is better known for its football rankings, but it’s been among the most consistently reliably systems for basketball, too. The football side started in 1936, basketball in the 1948-1949 season.
No other rankings are as good when it comes to providing a college basketball historical snapshot.
According to the AP final rankings for each season, how and where did all the college basketball teams rank since they all started? What did the voters think over the years?
Just like we do for the football rankings, take all the AP final rankings and use our simple scoring system – the final AP No. 1 in each season gets 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom.
Now, with that said, there’s one massive difference between football and basketball.
It’s a glitch, and there’s no way around it. Unlike football – at least since 1968 – the AP comes out with its final basketball rankings at the end of the regular season and not after the whole season is over. So the NCAA Tournament doesn’t factor in to almost all of the year’s AP college basketball rankings.
The AP has always named a college football national champion, and that mattered in the old poll-and-bowl days. But then came the BCS – and it still matted to a certain extent – and now we have the College Football Playoff to define a national champion. That’s not the deal for basketball.
You can look at this two different ways.
On one side, that makes these rankings a true representation of how good the basketball teams were in each season. To be blunt, the NCAA Tournament – which didn’t officially become the dominant force over the NIT until 1971 – is a gimmick. A team can finish seventh in its conference, get hot for two weekends, and it’s deep in the mix for the national title.
Story continues
On the other side, the 1988 NCAA Tournament champion Kansas Jayhawks weren’t in the final AP Top 25. The 1985 Villanova Wildcats weren’t ranked, and the 1983 NC State Wolfpack were 16th. So those teams – and others – get little to no credit in the rankings below, proving that determining a national title based on the opinion of judges probably isn’t the best way to go.
So there are a bunch of structural inconsistencies, but …
Based on the final AP college basketball rankings from the 1948-1949 season through to the end of the 2021-2022 regular season, who earned the most all-time recognition from the AP voters?
AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
College Football AP Greatest Programs of All-Time
@ColFootballNews
AP Poll: 1949 to 2022 Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1 Kentucky 1082
2 North Carolina 944
3 Duke 921
4 Kansas 857
5 UCLA 732
6 Louisville 518
7 Arizona 475
8 Indiana 458
9 Michigan State 416
10 Ohio State 415
11 Syracuse 403
12 Cincinnati 400
13 Michigan 398
14 Illinois 394
15 Villanova 387
16 Notre Dame 358
17 Purdue 324
18 Maryland 314
19 Marquette 311
20 Georgetown 286
21 Gonzaga 285
22 Oklahoma 283
T23 Utah 271
T23 UConn 271
T23 Arkansas 271
AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
College Football AP Greatest Programs of All-Time
NEXT: AP Rankings: Greatest College Basketball Programs of All-Time 26 to 140
AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: Greatest Programs of All-Time: 26 to 167
26 NC State 266
27 Iowa 255
28 Kansas State 251
29 UNLV 248
T30 Oklahoma State 240
T30 Virginia 240
T30 West Virginia 240
33 St. John’s 232
34 Memphis 228
T35 Bradley 214
T35 Wake Forest 214
37 Alabama 207
38 DePaul 197
39 Missouri 193
40 Wisconsin 190
41 Pitt 189
42 Houston 184
43 Florida 179
T44 Tennessee 178
T44 Texas 160
46 Florida State 159
T46 LSU 157
T46 San Francisco 157
49 Stanford 151
50 Minnesota 150
AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings | 1950s | 1960s
1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
College Football AP Greatest Programs of All-Time
51 Western Kentucky 147
52 Mississippi State 140
53 Temple 132
54 Vanderbilt 130
55 Duquesne 128
T56 BYU 124
T56 Oregon State 124
58 Saint Louis 123
T59 Dayton 122
T59 Baylor 122
61 La Salle 121
62 Wichita State 115
63 New Mexico 114
64 South Carolina 112
64 USC 112
T66 Xavier 110
T66 Auburn 110
68 Seton Hall 108
69 Washington 106
70 Iowa State 105
T71 Georgia Tech 104
T71 St. Bonaventure 104
T73 Arizona State 98
T73 Providence 98
75 Boston College 96
76 St. Joseph’s 95
77 Holy Cross 93
78 Loyola-Chicago 92
79 Davidson 89
80 Texas Tech 87
81 Penn 85
T82 Oregon 83
T82 UMass 83
84 Miami 81
85 Long Beach State 77
86 Seattle 71
87 San Diego State 67
88 SMU 66
89 Cal 65
90 UTEP 62
91 Princeton 61
T92 Colorado 58
T92 Creighton 58
T94 Butler 57
T94 Drake 57
96 Tulsa 56
97 Louisiana Tech 55
98 New Mexico State 50
99 Clemson 46
100 Columbia 42
T101 Oklahoma City 41
T101 Wyoming 41
103 George Washington 38
T104 Jacksonville 37
T104 Utah State 37
T106 Bowling Green 34
T106 Washington State 34
T108 Santa Clara 33
T108 Texas A&M 33
110 NYU 31
T111 Rutgers 30
T111 Murray State 30
T113 Georgia 28
T113 TCU 28
115 Saint Mary’s 26
T116 Indiana State 25
T116 Nevada 25
T116 Ole Miss 25
116 Penn State 25
T120 Detroit 22
121 College of Charleston 20
T122 Nebraska 19
T122 New Orleans 19
T122 Niagara 19
T122 Toledo 19
T126 Idaho 18
T126 Oral Roberts 18
T126 VCU 18
T129 Fordham 17
T129 Tulane 17
T131 Loyola Marymount 16
T131 Western Michigan 16
T133 Fresno State 15
T133 Northern Iowa 15
T133 Southern Illinois 15
T133 Virginia Tech 15
T133 Yale 15
138 Marshall 14
139 Long Island 13
T140 Buffalo 11
T140 Charlotte 11
T140 Chattanooga 11
T143 Idaho State 10
T143 UAB 10
T145 East Tennessee State 9
T145 Navy 9
T145 San Jose State 9
T145 Weber State 9
T149 Ball State 8
T149 Rutgers 8
T149 Siena 8
T152 Austin Peay 7
T152 Centenary 7
T152 Hamline 7
T152 Miami University 7
T152 Wofford 7
T157 Canisius 6
T157 Pepperdine 6
T157 SW Missouri State 6
T157 Texas State 6
T157 VMI 6
T162 Pacific 4
T162 Winthrop 4
164 Boise State 3
T165 Richmond 2
T165 Colorado State 2
T167 Hawaii 1
T167 Southern Miss 1
AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings | 1950s | 1960s
1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s
College Football AP Greatest Programs of All-Time
Story originally appeared on College Football News
