Gators top last AP poll; UH, Duke, Auburn follow
The Florida Gators are No. 1 in the final Associated Press Top 25 males’s college basketball survey of the 2024-25 season after winning the national championship.Florida (36-4)got all
61 first-place votes Tuesday, the 2nd year the AP has actually launched its last poll after the conclusion of the NCAA tournament. Todd Golden’s team beat Houston 65-63 on Monday night to clinch the program’s third national title and initially given that Billy Donovan’s repeat titles in 2006 and 2007. The win likewise lifted the Gators to the leading area in the poll for the very first
time since the last four polls of the 2013-14 season.Editor’s Picks 1 Associated”Certainly we have an exceptionally gifted group, one of the most skilled groups separately in America,”
Golden stated after the title-clinching win. “I do believe what separates us and has actually separated all of us season long is our team talent, how our guys have actually played together and for each other all year. Since of that, we can call each other nationwide champs for the rest of our lives.”Houston(35-5) stayed at No. 2 after its very first title-game appearance since 1984, capping a season that saw Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars reach the Final 4 for the second time in 5 seasons and beat Duke(35-4 )in the national semifinals with a stunning late comeback.Team Record Pts.1. Florida( 61)36-4 1525 2. Houston 35-5 1464 3. Duke 35-4 1402 4. Auburn 32-6 1343 5. Tennessee 30-8 1220 6. Alabama 28-9 1198 7. Michigan State 30-7 1188 8. Texas Tech 28-9 1140 9.
| Maryland 27-9 923 10. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan 27-10 873 11. St. | John | ‘s 31-5 862 | |||
| 12. Kentucky 24-12 744 13. | BYU 26-10 712 14. Purdue 24-12 704 15. | Arizona 24-13 639 16. Wisconsin 27-10 542 17 | . Iowa State 25-10 512 | 18. Mississippi 24-12 424 19 | . Texas A&M |
| 23-11 358 20 | . Arkansas | 22-14 321 21. Louisville 27-8 | 309 22. Clemson 27-7 | ||
| 265 23. Gonzaga | 26-9 | 250 24. Saint Mary’s 29-6 186 | 25. Memphis 29-6 137 Heaven Devils | — who were No. | 1 in the last two surveys before |
| March Insanity– | were | third in what totaled up to a swap with the | Gators as the only change to the leading quartet. Auburn(32-6)remained at No. 4 after | ||
| being up to Florida in the Alamodome, rounding out only | |||||
| the second all-chalk Final Four of | 1-seeds given that seeding began in | 1979. | Florida’s increase | ||
| to No. 1 implied 5 different groups held | the | ||||
| top area of the AP | Top 25 | this season, starting with Kansas for the preseason and the first 4 weeks of the routine season. Tennessee followed for five weeks, then Auburn for | |||
| eight and finally Duke | for the last 2 pre-tournament polls.In all | , 50 groups invested at | least one week in the AP survey this season.Tennessee was | 5th and Alabama sixth in the final poll, signing up with Florida and Auburn as the headliners for the Southeastern Conference in a | |
| year in which | the league | regularly had the most AP |
Top 25 groups en route to earning a record 14 NCAA competition bids.Michigan State was next at No. 7, followed by Texas Tech, which had Florida on the verge of defeat in the Elite Eight before Gators star Walter Clayton Jr. triggered a wild resurgence. A Huge 10 duo of Maryland and Michigan completed the leading 10. Purdue had the most significant jump, rising eight areas to
No. 14 after a Sweet 16 loss to Houston on a last-second basket on a perfectly performed inbounds play. No. 12 Kentucky and No. 15 Arizona were next, each rising six spots after their own go to the competition’s 2nd week.In all, 12 teams moved up from the pre-tournament poll into their last position.Louisville had the greatest 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 9 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.WHO’S IN; WHO’S OUT John Calipari’s Razorbacks checked in at No. 20 after reaching the Sweet 16
, joining No. 18 Ole Miss as the last survey’s 2 additions. Like Arkansas, the Rebels overthrew a higher-seeded team( Iowa State)to reach the 2nd weekend. Both were ranked formerly this season.Missouri(No. 23 )and Oregon (No. 25)fell out from the pre-tournament poll.CONFERENCE view The SEC blazed a trail with eight
ranked groups, a haul that consisted of No. 19 Texas A&M. The Huge 12 and Big Ten were next with 5 ranked groups each, followed by the ACC with 3. The West Coast Conference had two and the American Athletic Conference and Big East each had one.