Alabama rises to No. 17 in AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll
Alabama head coach Nate Oats discusses a call with a referee during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arkansas Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
The Alabama men’s basketball team has risen eight places to No. 17 in the latest AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll.
The Crimson Tide had been No. 25 in the previous poll, but then beat then-No. 20 Arkansas in overtime and LSU. Alabama has won its last six games. It had the biggest jump this week.
There are five SEC teams in this week’s poll.
Elsewhere, Duke’s win against Michigan has propelled the Blue Devils to a familiar perch: No. 1. The Blue Devils climbed two spots to top the poll, marking the 148th appearance at No. 1 to add to what was already the record for any program. Duke (25-2) claimed 56 of 61 first-place votes to supplant Michigan (25-2) after Saturday’s 68-63 win against the Wolverines in Washington.
That win came in a matchup of the top two teams in the NCAA men’s selection committee’s preliminary top 16 seeds for March Madness, released hours before the game. The Blue Devils enter this week with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins, along with nine wins against AP Top 25 teams.
And now the latest such win has pushed the Blue Devils back to a No. 1 ranking for the second straight season under fourth-year coach Jon Scheyer. Last year’s Final Four team sat atop the last two polls entering the NCAA Tournament, the first time Duke had reached No. 1 since Scheyer took over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski in 2022.
Arizona rose two spots to No. 2 after beating BYU and winning at Houston, and secured the other five first-place votes. Michigan fell to No. 3 as its first appearance at No. 1 since January 2013 turned into a one-week stay, followed by a pair of Big 12 teams in Iowa State and Houston.
UConn fell one spot to No. 6 after a week that included a home loss to Creighton, while reigning national champion Florida leapt five spots to No. 7 to return to the top 10 for the first time since late November. The Gators were ranked No. 3 in the preseason and spent a week among the unranked in early January. They have won seven straight and 12 of 13.
Purdue, Gonzaga and Illinois rounded out the top 10.
AP Top 25 Men’s College Basketball Poll (first-place votes in parentheses, SEC teams in bold):
- Duke (56)
- Arizona (5)
- Michigan
- Iowa State
- Houston
- UConn
- Florida
- Purdue
- Gonzaga
- Illinois
- Virginia
- Nebraska
- Michigan State
- Kansas
- St. John’s
- Texas Tech
- Alabama
- North Carolina
- BYU
- Arkansas
- Miami (Ohio)
- Tennessee
- Saint Louis
- Louisville
- Vanderbilt
Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 47, Saint Mary’s 30, Villanova 15, Miami 10, Utah St. 8, NC State 7, SMU 4, Texas A&M 3, Iowa 3, UCF 3, High Point 2, Stephen F Austin 2, Navy 1.
The selection committee had Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the No. 1 seeds in Saturday’s reveal of the preliminary top 16 seeds. The Cyclones edged UConn and Houston for the fourth 1-seed, with the Huskies’ loss to Creighton and then Iowa State’s head-to-head win against Houston to start last week swinging the vote to T.J. Otzelberger’s squad.
Monday’s poll largely aligns with the committee’s reveal, starting with the same four teams at the top in a shuffled order — with Iowa State moving up two spots even after Saturday’s loss at now-No. 19 BYU.
In addition, the AP Top 25 and committee align on 15 teams being ranked among those top 16 seeds. The outlier is St. John’s at No. 15 in the AP poll, taking a slot that went to Vanderbilt — with the Commodores seeded 15th overall by the committee Saturday but sliding to No. 25 in Monday’s poll.
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