AP Top 25: Florida No. 1 in final men’s basketball poll after championship run
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Florida is No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the 2024-25 season after winning the national championship.
The Gators (36-4) received all 61 first-place votes Tuesday, the second year the AP has released its last poll after the completion of the NCAA Tournament. Todd Golden’s team beat Houston 65-63 on Monday night to clinch the program’s third national title and first since Billy Donovan’s repeat titles in 2006 and 2007.
The win also lifted Florida to the top spot in the poll for the first time since the last four polls of the 2013-14 season.
“Obviously we have an incredibly talented group, one of the most talented groups individually in America,” Golden said after the title-clinching win. “I do think what separates us and has separated us all season long is our team talent, how our guys have played together and for each other all year. Because of that, we can call each other national champions for the rest of our lives.”
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Houston (35-5) remained at No. 2 after its first title-game appearance since 1984, capping a season that saw Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars reach the Final Four for the second time in five seasons and beat Duke (35-4) in the national semifinals with a shocking late comeback.
The Blue Devils — who were No. 1 in the last two polls before March Madness — were third in what amounted to a swap with the Gators as the only change to the top quartet. Auburn (32-6) stayed at No. 4 after falling to Florida in the Alamodome, rounding out only the second all-chalk Final Four of 1-seeds since seeding began in 1979.
Tennessee was fifth and Alabama sixth, joining Florida and Auburn as the headliners for the Southeastern Conference in a year in which the league regularly had the most AP Top 25 teams on the way to earning a record 14 tournament bids.
Michigan State was next at No. 7, followed by Texas Tech, which had Florida on the brink of defeat in the Elite Eight before Gators star Walter Clayton Jr. sparked a wild comeback. A Big Ten duo of Maryland and Michigan rounded out the top 10.
Purdue had the biggest jump, rising eight spots to No. 14 after a Sweet 16 loss to Houston on a last-second basket on a perfectly executed inbounds play. No. 12 Kentucky and No. 15 Arizona were next, each rising six spots after their own runs to the tournament’s second week.
In all, 12 teams moved up from the pre-tournament poll into their final position.
Louisville had the biggest tumble, falling 11 spots to No. 21 after the Cardinals entered March Madness ranked 10th but received only an 8-seed and suffered a first-round loss to Creighton. Fellow Atlantic Coast Conference program Clemson was next with a 10-spot tumble to No. 22 after a first-round loss to 12th-seeded McNeese.
No. 25 Memphis fell nine spots after being shorthanded in a loss to 12th-seeded Colorado State, while No. 11 St. John’s fell six spots after shooting 28% in its second-round loss to Arkansas.
In all, eight teams fell from the pre-tournament poll.
John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks checked in at No. 20 after reaching the Sweet 16, joining No. 18 Ole Miss as the final poll’s two additions. Like Arkansas, the Rebels upended a higher-seeded team (Iowa State) to reach the second weekend. Both were ranked previously this season.
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Missouri (No. 23) and Oregon (No. 25) fell out from the pre-tournament poll.
The SEC led the way with eight ranked teams, a haul that included No. 19 Texas A&M. The Big 12 and Big Ten were next with five ranked teams each, followed by the ACC with three. The West Coast Conference had two and the American Athletic Conference and Big East each had one.
Florida’s rise to No. 1 meant five different teams held the top spot of the AP Top 25 this season, starting with Kansas for the preseason and the first four weeks of the regular season. Tennessee followed for five weeks, then Auburn for eight and finally Duke for the last two pre-tournament polls. In all, 50 teams spent at least one week in the poll this season.
Here’s the full AP Top 25:
1. Florida
2. Houston
3. Duke
4. Auburn
5. Tennessee
6. Alabama
7. Michigan State
8. Texas Tech
9. Maryland
10. Michigan
11. St. John’s
12. Kentucky
13. BYU
14. Purdue
15. Arizona
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa State
18. Ole Miss
19. Texas A&M
20. Arkansas
21. Louisville
22. Clemson
23. Gonzaga
24. Saint Mary’s
25. Memphis
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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