AP Poll College Basketball Rankings Final Top 25: 1970 to 1979

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1970 to 1979

According to the final AP rankings, how do the programs rank all-time, by decade, and by era? Which ones were the best over the 1970s?

Take all the AP final rankings and use our CFN scoring system – the AP final No. 1 team gets 25 points, the No. 2 team 24, No. 3 23, and so on down to the bottom.

As acknowledged from the beginning, there are massive inconsistencies and glitches over the years because the final rankings come out at the end of the regular season and before the NCAA Tournament – except for 1974 and 1975.

Overall, though, this is one of the more representative decades of the bunch. UCLA was the dominant program in the 1960s, but Kentucky got the credit overall in the rankings. The Bruins were easily the stars of the 1970s, with some interesting out-of-the-norm programs rocking the overall top 25.

Scroll down for the year-by-year rankings.

AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s
1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

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NCAA Basketball National Champions
1970 UCLA, 1971 UCLA, 1972 UCLA, 1973 UCLA, 1974 NC State, 1975 UCLA, 1976 Indiana, 1977 Marquette, 1978 Kentucky, 1979 Michigan State

AP Poll: 1970 to 1979 Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings

1 UCLA 241

2 Marquette 197

3 North Carolina 149

4 Notre Dame 141

5 Kentucky 132

6 Indiana 107

7 Maryland 88

8 Penn 85

9 NC State 84

10 Louisville 81

11 Long Beach State 77

12 Syracuse 70

13 Michigan 69

14 South Carolina 67

15 Alabama 63

16 Kansas 57

17 UNLV 54

18 San Francisco 53

19 DePaul 52

20 Arkansas 50

21 Providence 46

22 Michigan State 45

22 Minnesota 45

24 Western Kentucky 43

25 Florida State 42

Others Receiving Votes (Points): Houston 39, Kansas State 38, Jacksonville 37, Louisiana Tech (SW Louisiana) 37, USC 36, Utah 35, Duke 34, Tennessee 33, Drake 30, Rutgers 30, Arizona State 28, Cincinnati 27, Memphis State 27, Purdue 26, Indiana State 25, Iowa 25, BYU 23, Missouri 23, Ohio State 23, St. Bonaventure 23, Detroit 22, New Mexico State 21, LSU 19, Oral Roberts 18, Villanova 18, Fordham 17, Wake Forest 17, Marshall 14, New Mexico 14, Princeton 14, Virginia 14, Vanderbilt 13, Arizona 11, Davidson 11, Duquesne 11, Oklahoma 10, Pitt 10, Texas Tech 10, Utah State 10, Charlotte 9, Niagara 9, St. John’s 9, Texas 9, Oregon State 8, Austin Peay 7, Centenary 7, Miami University 7, Toledo 7, Dayton 6, Pepperdine 6, VMI 6 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1979 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Michigan State

1 UCLA 241

2 Marquette 197

3 North Carolina 149

4 Notre Dame 141

5 Kentucky 132

6 Indiana 107

7 Maryland 88

8 Penn 85

9 NC State 84

10 Louisville 81

11 Long Beach State 77

12 Syracuse 70

13 Michigan 69

14 South Carolina 67

15 Alabama 63

16 Kansas 57

17 UNLV 54

18 San Francisco 53

19 DePaul 52

20 Arkansas 50

21 Providence 46

22 Michigan State 45

22 Minnesota 45

24 Western Kentucky 43

25 Florida State 42 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1978 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Kentucky

1 Kentucky

2 UCLA

3 DePaul

4 Michigan State

5 Arkansas

6 Notre Dame

7 Duke

8 Marquette

9 Louisville

10 Kansas

11 San Francisco

12 New Mexico

13 Indiana

14 Utah

15 Florida State

16 North Carolina

17 Texas

18 Detroit

19 Miami University

20 Penn 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1977 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Marquette

1 Michigan

2 UCLA

3 Kentucky

4 UNLV

5 North Carolina

6 Syracuse

7 Marquette

8 San Francisco

9 Wake Forest

10 Notre Dame

11 Alabama

12 Detroit

13 Minnesota

14 Utah

15 Tennessee

16 Kansas State

17 Charlotte

18 Arkansas

19 Louisville

20 VMI 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1976 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Indiana

1 Indiana

2 Marquette

3 UNLV

4 Rutgers

5 UCLA

6 Alabama

7 Notre Dame

8 North Carolina

9 Michigan

10 Western Michigan

11 Maryland

12 Cincinnati

13 Tennessee

14 Missouri

15 Arizona

16 Texas Tech

17 DePaul

18 Virginia

19 Centenary

20 Pepperdine  

AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s
1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1975 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: UCLA

1 UCLA

2 Kentucky

3 Indiana

4 Louisville

5 Maryland

6 Syracuse

7 NC State

8 Arizona State

9 North Carolina

10 Alabama

11 Marquette

12 Princeton

13 Cincinnati

14 Notre Dame

15 Kansas State

16 Drake

17 UNLV

18 Oregon State

19 Michigan

20 Providence 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1974 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: NC State

1 NC State

2 UCLA

3 Marquette

4 Maryland

5 Notre Dame

6 Michigan

7 Kansas

8 Providence

9 Indiana

10 Long Beach State

11 Purdue

12 North Carolina

13 Vanderbilt

14 Alabama

15 Utah

16 Pitt

17 USC

18 Oral Roberts

19 South Carolina

20 Dayton 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1973 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: UCLA

1 UCLA

2 NC State

3 Long Beach State

4 Providence

5 Marquette

6 Indiana

7 Louisiana Tech (SW Louisiana)

8 Maryland

9 Kansas State

9 Minnesota

11 North Carolina

12 Memphis State

13 Houston

14 Syracuse

15 Missouri

16 Arizona State

17 Kentucky

18 Penn

19 Austin Peay

20 San Francisco 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1972 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: UCLA

1 UCLA

2 North Carolina

3 Penn

4 Louisville

5 Long Beach State

6 South Carolina

7 Marquette

8 Louisiana Tech (SW Louisiana)

9 BYU

10 Florida State

11 MInnesota

12 Marshall

13 Memphis State

14 Maryland

15 Villanova

16 Oral Roberts

17 Indiana

18 Kentucky

19 Ohio State

20 Virginia 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1971 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: UCLA

1 UCLA

2 Marquette

3 Penn

4 Kansas

5 USC

6 South Carolina

7 Western Kentucky

8 Kentucky

9 Fordham

10 Ohio State

11 Jacksonville

12 Notre Dame

13 North Carolina

14 Houston

15 Duquesne

16 Long Beach State

17 Tennessee

18 Drake

19 Villanova

20 BYU 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1970 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: UCLA

1 Kentucky

2 UCLA

3 St. Bonaventure

4 Jacksonville

5 New Mexico State

6 South Carolina

7 Iowa

8 Marquette

9 Notre Dame

10 NC State

11 Florida State

12 Houston

13 Penn

14 Drake

15 Davidson

16 Utah State

17 Niagara

18 Western Kentucky

19 Long Beach State

20 USC 

AP Poll, All-Time College Basketball Rankings
Final All-Time College Basketball Rankings
1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s
1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s