Who’s No. 1 all-time in college basketball? SEC fans won’t be surprised
For those who claim allegiance to the Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers or any other SEC basketball program, the result of a study released Wednesday shouldn’t be surprising.
The Associated Press went through its all-time basketball rankings, crunching 68 years’ worth of numbers to come up with an all-time top 100.
The result? Kentucky, with 124 all-time No. 1 rankings and appearances in 75 percent of the polls, is the all-time leader.
BREAKING: AP ranks all-time top 100 basketball teams based on weekly polls; No. 1 all-time is Kentucky. #APTop100 https://t.co/qjarpNU2Yy pic.twitter.com/f7bBgxbdTC
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) March 29, 2017
“Credit goes to (Adolph) Rupp for starting the fever with two straight titles in the 1940s and four overall during a time when all of the programs were beginning to develop,” former Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall, who took the Wildcats to three Final Fours in 12 years, told the AP. “The fact that he laid such a solid foundation, and that four of us have followed him and won championships indicates how he built a program that has endured over time.”
North Carolina, Duke and UCLA, the other programs with more than 100 weeks at the No. 1 spot, claimed the next three spots. Also in the top 10: Kansas, Indiana, Louisville, Arizona, Syracuse and Cincinnati.
Notre Dame and N.C. State are the only other ACC teams to crack the top 25, coming in at 18th and 21st, respectively. Florida (tied for 27th), Missouri (29th), Alabama (30th) and Arkansas (31st) just missed the all-time top 25.
As for which school is tops in the Peach State, that distinction goes to the program that enjoyed much of its success during the Bobby Cremins era, Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets come in at 45th. Georgia squeezes into the top 100 at 92nd.
This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Who’s No. 1 all-time in college basketball? SEC fans won’t be surprised."