Who’s the No. 1 team in the history of college basketball? The AP poll says it’s Kentucky.
The greatest tradition in the history of college basketball.
That’s the title that Kentucky has adopted for itself.
According to a review of every Associated Press poll, it’s no empty boast.
The AP announced Wednesday that — on the 75th anniversary of its national rankings — the Kentucky Wildcats are the team that deserves the all-time No. 1 standing.
The first AP poll was released in January 1949 — with the Saint Louis Billikens taking the No. 1 spot in that initial ranking — and a review of every poll since then revealed that the Wildcats had accumulated the highest number of votes over the last three quarters of a century of college basketball.
“When I got here, it was just knowing that it matters in this state. The fans are incredibly engaged. There were people who knew more about our recruiting than I did. That’s when you realize this is different,” John Calipari said in the AP’s story revealing the results.
North Carolina ended up at No. 2 in the study, followed by Duke, Kansas and UCLA.
“They all have an awesome following. They all recruit excellence. But it all goes back to the players,” said St. John’s coach Rick Pitino, who won national titles at both Kentucky and Louisville, which was No. 6 on the all-time list. “At Kentucky, every year you can get a great player, from Dan Issel and Pat Riley on down.”
Arizona, Indiana, Syracuse and Michigan State rounded out the all-time top 10.
The AP made clear that this exercise was not intended to “crown the greatest college basketball program” — noting the different ways of measuring such a title.
“Rather, the AP’s all-time Top 25 is a measure of sustained excellence as reflected by generations of voters, men and women who have covered the sport and attempted to order the most deserving teams on their weekly ballots,” wrote the AP’s Dave Skretta.
Kentucky has appeared in more than 75% of the AP polls over its 75-year history, according to the review. The Wildcats were ranked No. 1 for the first time in the second month of the poll — topping the list in early February 1949 — and they’ve played a total of 252 games as the nation’s top-ranked team, most recently at the beginning of the 2019-20 season.
The Wildcats have also held the No. 1 ranking in 24 different seasons under six head coaches: Adolph Rupp (1948-49, 1950-51, 1951-52, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1958-59, 1963-64, 1965-66 and 1969-70), Joe B. Hall (1977-78, 1980-81 and 1983-84), Eddie Sutton (1987-88), Rick Pitino (1992-93, 1993-94 and 1995-96), Tubby Smith (2002-03) and John Calipari (2009-10, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2019-20).
UK is ranked No. 6 in this week’s poll.
“I think the poll got it right,” said ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, a longtime AP voter, of the all-time study. “The voters take it seriously and make sure the most deserving teams are ranked. There’s a reason those teams are called the blue bloods, and this lends credence to that.”
This story was originally published January 10, 2024 at 12:42 PM.
