The Associated Press for the first time will release end-of-season Top 25 polls for men’s and women’s basketball following the NCAA Tournament championship games.
The final Top 25 poll for women’s basketball will be released on April 8, after the women’s NCAA championship game on April 7, and the final men’s poll will be released April 9, after the men’s NCAA championship game on April 8.
Up until this season, the last AP Top 25 poll was announced after the end of the regular season, after the final conference tournament championships and Selection Sunday. The final poll had not factored in performances from the NCAA Tournament.
“While the tournaments decide the national champions, they don’t determine where all the other teams stack up following the post-season action,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s director of sports products. “We believe the end-of-season poll will help satisfy fan demands, play into off-season conversations, and, frankly, give some teams bragging rights over others.”
The final rankings will be distributed to AP customers as well as featured on APNews.com and AP’s social media accounts, including @AP_Top25 on X, formerly Twitter.
In addition to the new end-of-season poll, AP also will announce its All-America teams, Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year for the season for both men’s and women’s basketball in the days leading up to each Final Four. These are longstanding traditions for AP with the first men’s All-America team named in 1948, and the first women’s team named in 1995. The individual awards date back to 1960 for men and 1995 for women.
The award winners are selected by the same panels of sports writers and broadcasters from around the country that vote on the AP Top 25 polls for each sport. The men’s poll has more than 60 voters while the women’s poll has more than 30. All voters have an extensive background 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.
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Contact
For media inquiries:
Nicole Meir
Media Relations Manager
The Associated Press
212-621-7536
nmeir@ap.org
For sponsorship or revenue opportunities:
Barry Bedlan
Global Director, Text, Data and New Market Products
The Associated Press
bbedlan@ap.org
