Kentucky is the all-time No. 1 team through 75 storied years of AP Top 25 college basketball polls
Kentucky has been crowned the all-time No. 1 team after a review of 75 years of AP Top 25 polls for men's college basketball
Sustained excellence is difficult to achieve in any sport.
It takes hiring the right coaches, year after year. A constant stream of great players to replace those that depart. It takes luck, to be sure, but also passionate fans, elite facilities, proper marketing and the flexibility to adapt to the times.
In college basketball, those that get the mixture right just might land atop the AP Top 25.
Since The Associated Press began ranking teams in January 1949, when Saint Louis was installed at No. 1, many schools have laid claim to the crown. Some fell by the wayside, replaced by others that climbed the venerable poll. But through the vast changes that have have transformed college basketball, and more than 1,200 polls that have tried to make sense of it all, one thing has remained constant: Kentucky is usually somewhere near the top.
