Whenever the task of ranking the best college basketball programs of all-time comes up, I always remark that the first six are easy to name but more difficult to rank. After that, the debate about the remaining four schools to round out the top ten begins to rage. I generally throw Louisville in at No. 7, sometimes in spite of strong opposition.
Well, now I have a bit more ammunition to back up that claim, as the Associated Press has gone over each and every poll since 1949 and ranked the programs based on poll appearances. Despite being one of just two teams in the top 25 to have never been ranked No. 1 by the AP (No. 12 Maryland is the other), Louisville comes in at No. 7, just behind Indiana and just in front of Syracuse.
Here's how the entire top 25 looks:
|
RK |
Team |
App* |
Avg RK |
High RK |
| 1. | North Carolina | 746 | 6.84 | 1 |
| 2. | Kentucky | 723 | 6.63 | 1 |
| 3. | UCLA | 636 | 7.56 | 1 |
| 4. | Duke | 606 | 6.47 | 1 |
| 5. | Kansas | 565 | 8.12 | 1 |
| 6. | Indiana | 498 | 10.36 | 1 |
| 7. | Louisville | 480 | 11.58 | 2 |
| 8. | Syracuse | 431 | 12.53 | 1 |
| 9. | Arizona | 413 | 10.20 | 1 |
| 10. | Illinois | 407 | 10.78 | 1 |
| 11. | Cincinnati | 355 | 10.14 | 1 |
| 12. | Maryland | 351 | 11.68 | 2 |
| 13. | NC State | 324 | 11.16 | 1 |
| 14. | Georgetown | 319 | 11.64 | 1 |
| 15. | Marquette |
315 | 11.34 | 1 |
| 15. | Iowa |
315 | 13.23 | 1 |
| 17. | Michigan | 312 | 10.15 | 1 |
| 18. | Oklahoma | 293 | 12.51 | 1 |
| 19. | Notre Dame | 290 | 11.07 | 1 |
| 20. | Alabama | 286 | 13.52 | 1 |
| 21. | Michigan State | 284 | 11.55 | 1 |
| 22. | St. John's (NY) | 281 | 12.00 | 1 |
| 23. | Ohio State | 270 | 9.26 | 1 |
| 24. | Connecticut | 264 | 9.52 | 1 |
| 25. | Wake Forest | 258 | 13.12 | 1 |
Check out the AP Poll archive for more awesomeness along these lines.