Photo: AP
AP Top 100
The Associated Press, which has been ranking college basketball teams since January 1949, has released a list of the Top 100 college basketball programs of all-time.
Over 68 years and more than 1,100 polls, a total of 200 schools have been ranked and 59 of them have been ranked No. 1.
To determine the all-time Top 100, the AP formula counted poll appearances (one point each) to mark consistency and No. 1 rankings (two points each) to acknowledge elite programs. Keep in mind that AP doesn’t release a poll after the NCAA Tournament, so eventual national champions are not factored into these rankings. Instead, this lists focuses more on those programs that consistently appear in the poll and/or at the top during the regular seasons.
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No.1 Kentucky Wildcats
75.37% of all polls
Jan. 18, 1949 (first-ever poll)
124
1950s, appeared in 89.63% of polls, but 1990s were close with 89.33%.
1960s, appeared in 59.59% of polls.
The Wildcats have missed appearing at least once in the poll for only three seasons during the 68-year history of the AP poll, the fewest poll-less seasons of any program. Those seasons were 1952-1953, 1988-1989, and 1989-1990.
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No.2 North Carolina Tarheels
76.68% of all polls
Jan. 25, 1953
110
1980s, appeared in 98.19% of polls.
1960s, appeared in 42.96% of polls.
The Tar Heels have appeared in more AP polls than any other program. UNC also has made the poll at least once each season since 1966-1967, the longest streak of any program at 51 years. What’s even more impressive is the streak started back when the poll only had 10 teams.
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No.3 Duke Blue Devils
67.6% of all polls
Dec. 10, 1951
129
2000s, appeared in 98.95% of polls, but on pace to top that in the 2010s.
1970s, appeared in 17.86% of polls.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils have been ranked more times than any other team under the same coach. He has led them to nearly 80 percent of the program’s poll appearances. To top that off, Duke has been left out of only four weekly polls since the start of the 1996-1997 season, the highest percentage of any program over that span.
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No. 4 UCLA Bruins
Total appearances: 60.17% of all polls
March 8, 1949
134, most of any program.
1970s, appeared in 100% of polls, only program with a perfect percentage over an entire decade.
1980s, appeared in 39.76% of polls.
The Bruins didn’t miss a single poll for 221 weeks, starting with the preseason 1966-1967 poll and ending with the fifth poll of the 1979-1980 season, the longest consecutive streak of any program.
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No. 5 Kansas Jayhawks
63.49% of all polls
March 7, 1950
65
1990s, appeared in 91.57% of polls, but also hasn’t missed a poll yet in the 2010s.
1960s, appeared in 30.14% of polls.
The Jayhawks have appeared in every poll since Feb. 2, 2009, the nation’s longest active streak. Since taking over as KU’s head coach in 2003, Bill Self’s teams have appeared in the poll more than 90 percent of the time.
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No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers
48.38% of all polls
Jan. 5, 1950
54
1990s, appeared in 71.35% of polls.
1960s, appeared in 15.75% of polls.
The Hoosiers’ longest stretch of consecutive weeks in the poll was 73, running from the 1990-1991 to 1994-1995 seasons.
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No. 7 Louisville Cardinals
54.41% of all polls
Jan. 17, 1950
2
1970s, appeared in 75.60% of polls, but so far on pace to top that in the 2010s.
1960s, appeared in 26.03% of polls.
While appearing in more than half of the polls to date, the Cardinals only reached No. 1 twice – on March 16, 2009, and Jan. 14, 2013. In fact, Louisville was ranked in 520 polls before landing a No. 1, the longest drought of any team that has appeared in the poll.
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No. 8 Arizona Wildcats
45.41% of all polls
Feb. 7, 1950
37
1990s, appeared in 99.44% of polls, missing only one weekly poll during the decade..
1960s, didn’t appear in a single poll.
The Wildcats didn’t appear in a single AP poll over a 22-season period that started with 1951-52 and ended when ranked again in the 1973-1974 season, the longest poll drought of any team in the All-Time Top 10.
Photo: Dennis Nett/The Post-Standard
No. 9 Syracuse Orange
47.77% of all polls
Dec. 25, 1951
17
1990s, appeared in 76.97% of polls.
1960s, appeared in only 2.05% of polls.
The Orangemen appeared in the AP poll only 17 times before Jim Boeheim was promoted to head coach in 1976. Since then, Syracuse has appeared more than 500 times and at least once every season since 1982-1983.
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No. 10 Cincinnati Bearcats
35.81% of all polls
Jan. 18, 1949 (first-ever poll)
45
1990s, appeared in 61.25% of polls.
1980s, didn’t appear in a single poll during the decade.
The Bearcats are the top “mid-major” appearing more times than any other program not currently in a Power 5 conference.
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No. 11 Illinois Fighting Illini
38.86% of all polls
Jan. 18, 1949 (first-ever poll)
17
1950s, appeared in 65.93% of polls, but 2000s was a close second, making 65.79% of polls
1970s, appeared in 10.12% of polls.
The Illini’s most successful run was from 2000-2001 to 2005-2006, when the team missed only eight weekly polls and the program collected most of its No. 1 rankings.
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No. 12 Ohio State Buckeyes
33.1% of all polls
Feb. 8, 1949
37
1960s, appeared in 45.21% of polls, but so far on pace to top that in the 2010s.
1950s, appeared in 17.04% of polls.
Nearly 40 percent of the Buckeyes’ poll appearances have come since Tom Matta’s arrival as head coach in 2004.
Photo: AP
No. 13 Michigan State Spartans
35.98% of all polls
Jan. 1, 1952
11
2000s, appeared in 71.58% of polls, but so far on pace to top that in the 2010s.
1960s, appeared in 2.74% of polls.
Two-thirds of the Spartans’ total poll appearances have come since Tom Izzo was promoted to head coach in 1995. Before Izzo, their appearances were spotty at best.
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No. 14 Michigan Wolverines
33.1% of all polls
Preseason 1963-1964 poll
22
1990s, appeared in 65.73% of polls.
1950s, didn’t appear in a single poll during the decade.
Since its first poll appearance, Michigan each decade gradually grew its percentage of poll appearances before a seven-year drought that started with the 1998-1999 season and then was followed by only eight poll appearances between 2005-2006 and 2010-2011.
Photo: AP
No. 15 Georgetown Hoyas
34.67% of all polls
Jan. 13, 1953
12
1980s, appeared in 83.13% of polls.
1960s, didn’t appear in a single poll during the decade.
After making their first appearance in the Jan. 13, 1953, poll, the Hoyas didn’t appear again for 25 seasons. Not until January 1978. After that, they were ranked at least once for the next 19 seasons, all under John Thompson’s coaching tenure.
Photo: AP
No. 16 Connecticut Huskies
30.04% of all polls
Jan. 26, 1954
29
2000s, appeared in 75.79% of polls.
1960s and 1970s, didn’t appear in a single poll during those two decades.
After making their first two appearances during the 1953-1954 season, the Huskies only appeared two more times in the poll (both in 1980-1981) over the next 35 years. Since 1988-1989, coach Jim Calhoun’s third season, they’ve been ranked at least once every season except one.
Photo: AP
No. 17 Maryland Terrapins
34.93% of all polls
Jan. 29, 1954
0
2000s, appeared in 75.79% of polls.
1960s, appeared in only one poll.
The Terrapins have the claim of being ranked the most without ever being No. 1. In six different seasons, including four straight in the mid-1970s, Maryland reached No. 2 at least once, but just hasn’t managed to get enough votes to take the top spot.
Photo: AP
No. 18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
32.49% of all polls
Jan. 31, 1950
5
1970s, appeared in 72.62% of polls.
1990s, appeared in only two polls.
The Irish haven’t had a season where they’ve appeared in every week’s poll since 1985-1986, the longest drought of its kind among the teams in the All-Time Top 25.
Photo: AP
No. 19 Villanova Wildcats
30.57% of all polls
Jan. 18, 1949 (first-ever poll)
11
1960s, appeared in 29.45% of polls, but will top this in the 2010s as it already has appeared in more than two-thirds of the polls so far this decade.
1970s, appeared in 13.69% of polls.
For every decade of the poll, Villanova consistently appeared in about 25 percent of the polls outside of its worst decade, the 1970s, and obviously it’s higher percentage of appearances in recent seasons. Eight of the program’s 11 appearances at No. 1 came in 2016-2017.
Photo: AP
No. 20 Oklahoma Sooners
31% of all polls
Feb. 15, 1949
8
2000s, appeared in 66.84% of polls.
1960s, didn’t appear in a single poll during the decade.
The Sooners’ first season to have appeared in every week’s poll didn’t come until 1984-1985. Since then, OU repeated the feat eight times, with the most recent being the 2015-2016 season.
Photo: AP
No. 21 Marquette Golden Eagles
31.44% of all polls
Jan. 18, 1955
3, twice during 1970-1971 and once in 1977-1978.
1970s, appeared in every poll except one or 99.4% of polls.
1980s, appeared in 3.01% of polls.
The Golden Eagles were certainly golden in the ‘70s when they appeared in the poll for 166 consecutive weeks and recorded nearly half of their poll appearances in history as well as all three times at No. 1. Only two seasons since then have they been ranked in every week’s poll – 2002-2003 and 2011-2012.
Photo: AP
No. 21 North Carolina State Wolfpack
29.69% of all polls
Jan. 25, 1949
13
1950s, appeared in 80% of polls.
1960s, appeared in 2.05% of polls.
The Wolf Pack’s dominance came in the first 11 seasons of the poll, from 1949-1959, when they recorded one-third of the program’s poll appearances, led by coach Everett Case. Their last season to appear in each week’s poll was 1988-1989.
Photo: AP
No. 23 Iowa Hawkeyes
29.78% of all polls
Jan. 1, 1952
1
1980s, appeared in 68.67% of polls.
1970s, appeared in 8.33% of polls.
The Hawkeyes have been ranked No. 1 only once. That came in the Jan. 20, 1987, poll during the first season with Tom Davis as head coach. He would lead the team to 51 consecutive poll appearances over his first three seasons, the longest poll streak in school history.
Photo: AP
No. 24 Purdue Boilermakers
29.61% of all polls
Jan. 11, 1955
0
1980s, appeared in 53.37% of polls.
1950s, appeared in 3.7% of polls.
The Boilermakers come and go. Since 1980, they’ve appeared in all the weekly polls for at least one season per decade while also missing the poll altogether at least three other seasons per decade. They are second to only Maryland for the most poll appearances without being No. 1. They’ve reached No. 2 in 10 polls.
Photo: AP
No. 25 UNLV Runnin' Rebels
22.45% of all polls
Preseason 1973-1974 poll
32
1980s, appeared in 65.06% of polls.
1950s and 1960s, didn’t appear in any polls both decades.
The Runnin’ Rebels made their poll debut on the eve of Jerry Tarkanian’s first season at UNLV. The towel-biting coach would lead the program to all 32 of its No. 1 rankings and 207 poll appearances, more than 80% of the school’s total, over the next 19 seasons.
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