The preseason AP Top 25 polls for men’s and women’s college basketball, the longest-running polls of their kind, will be released the weeks of Oct. 21 and 28.
The next men’s preseason poll will be revealed on Monday, Oct. 21, while the men’s all-America team — a tradition dating back to 1948 — will be released the next day on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The women’s preseason poll will come out on Wednesday, Oct. 30, with the women’s all-America team to be unveiled on Thursday, Oct. 31.
All will be announced at 12 noon ET each day, released directly to customers on AP lines, as well as posted on the AP News app, along with analysis and additional coverage.
The Associated Press has released a men’s preseason poll every year since 1962 and a women’s poll since 1977, which also was the first AP women’s basketball poll. The first AP men’s basketball poll was on Jan. 20, 1949, and since then one has been released every week of every regular season.
“The AP Top 25 serves an important role each season, providing a collective perspective from among the sport’s top media experts that’s unique to men’s and women’s basketball,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s director of vertical products. “It’s AP’s honor and privilege to maintain this longstanding tradition.”
More than 60 sports writers and broadcasters of AP-affiliated media from around the country help determine the teams that appear in the polls. All voters have extensive backgrounds in covering college basketball. The team rankings are decided by a points system based on how each voter ranks college basketball’s best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. The rankings are set by listing the teams’ point totals from highest to lowest.
The mathematical formula is the same as the one used for the AP Top 25 college football poll and the AP Pro 32 rankings for NFL teams.
AP customers can leverage the popularity of the AP polls to grow digital traffic and new revenue through AP’s locally branded College Basketball Digital News Experience. Follow the poll and related sports coverage on Facebook and Twitter.
Contact
For media inquiries:
Lauren Easton
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
leaston@ap.org
Patrick Maks
Senior Communications Associate
The Associated Press
212-621-7536
pmaks@ap.org
For sponsorship or revenue opportunities:
Barry Bedlan
Director of Vertical Products
The Associated Press
972-677-2270
bbedlan@ap.org
