AP Poll College Basketball Rankings Final Top 25: 1980 to 1989

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1980 to 1989

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 1980s?

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.

Because the final AP college basketball rankings come out at the end of the regular season instead of after the NCAA Tournament, there are a few egregious blips here and there – like UCLA not being the program of the 1960s. All of those inconsistencies are holding the 1980’s beer.

Remember those back-to-back DePaul national champs in 1980 and 1981? They finished on top of the final AP polls, but crashed in tournament time.

1985 national champion Villanova wasn’t in the final AP rankings, and neither was the Danny (Manning) and the Miracles Kansas team of 1988 that won it all.

It was the decade when the NCAA Tournament went to a whole other level, and these rankings reflect that. 

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
1980 Louisville, 1981 Indiana, 1982 North Carolina, 1983 NC State, 1984 Georgetown, 1985 Villanova, 1986 Louisville, 1987 Indiana, 1988 Kansas, 1989 Michigan

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1980 to 1989

1 North Carolina 200

2 Georgetown 149

3 Kentucky 131

4 DePaul 117

5 UNLV 115

6 Duke 112

T7 Indiana 108

T7 Syracuse 108

9 Louisville 101

T10 Illinois 96

T10 Oklahoma 96

12 St. John’s 81

13 Missouri 79

14 Michigan 77

15 Oregon State 76

16 Iowa 71

16 Memphis State 71

18 Virginia 66

19 Purdue 64

20 Notre Dame 69

21 Arkansas 55

22 UCLA 53

23 LSU 51

T24 Arizona 49

T24 Temple 49

Others Receiving Votes (Points): Houston 46, Kansas 43, Maryland 41, Georgia Tech 40, NC State 39, Tulsa 38, Alabama 36, Pitt 32, Arizona State 31, BYU 31, Wake Forest 30, Bradley 27, UTEP 23, Wyoming 22, West Virginia 21, Minnesota 19, Idaho 18, Louisiana Tech 18, Ohio State 16, Boston College 15, Fresno State 15, Georgia 15, Seton Hall 15, VCU 15, Clemson 13, Stanford 13, Villanova 13, Loyola-Chicago 12, Utah 12, Wichita State 12, Chattanooga 11, Loyola Marymount 11, Tennessee 11, Washington 11, Florida State 10, New Orleans 10, Navy 9, Texas Tech 9, UAB 9, Weber State 9, Ball State 8, Michigan State 8, Xavier 8, Oklahoma State 7, TCU 7, Kansas State 6 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1989 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Michigan

1 Arizona

2 Georgetown

3 Illinois

4 Oklahoma

5 North Carolina

6 Missouri

7 Syracuse

8 Indiana

9 Duke

10 Michigan

11 Seton Hall

12 Louisville

13 Stanford

14 Iowa

15 UNLV

16 Florida State

17 West Virginia

18 Ball State

19 NC State

20 Alabama 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1988 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Kansas

1 Temple

2 Arizona

3 Purdue

4 Oklahoma

5 Duke

6 Kentucky

7 North Carolina

8 Pitt

9 Syracuse

10 Michigan

11 Bradley

12 UNLV

13 Wyoming

14 NC State

15 Loyola Marymount

16 Illinois

17 Iowa

18 Xavier

19 BYU

20 Kansas State 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1987 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Indiana

1 UNLV

2 North Carolina

3 Indiana

4 Georgetown

5 DePaul

6 Iowa

7 Purdue

8 Temple

9 Alabama

10 Syracuse

11 Illinois

12 Pitt

13 Clemson

14 Missouri

15 UCLA

16 New Orleans

17 Duke

18 Notre Dame

19 TCU

20 Kansas 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1986 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Louisville

1 Duke

2 Kansas

3 Kentucky

4 St. John’s

5 Michigan

6 Georgia Tech

7 Louisville

8 North Carolina

9 Syracuse

10 Notre Dame

11 UNLV

12 Memphis State

13 Georgetown

14 Bradley

15 Oklahoma

16 Indiana

17 Navy

18 Michigan State

19 Illinois

20 UTEP  

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: 1985 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Villanova

1 Georgetown

2 Michigan

3 St. John’s

4 Oklahoma

5 Memphis State

6 Georgia Tech

7 North Carolina

8 Louisiana Tech

9 UNLV

10 Duke

11 VCU

12 Illinois

13 Kansas

14 Loyola-Chicago

15 Syracuse

16 NC State

17 Texas Tech

18 Tulsa

19 Georgia

20 LSU 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1984 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Georgetown

1 North Carolina

2 Georgetown

3 Kentucky

4 DePaul

5 Houston

6 Illinois

7 Oklahoma

8 Arkansas

9 UTEP

10 Purdue

11 Maryland

12 Tulsa

13 UNLV

14 Duke

15 Washington

16 Memphis State

17 Oregon State

18 Syracuse

19 Wake Forest

20 Temple 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1983 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: NC State

1 Houston

2 Louisville

3 St. John’s

4 Virginia

5 Indiana

6 UNLV

7 UCLA

8 North Carolina

9 Arkansas

10 Missouri

11 Boston College

12 Kentucky

13 Villanova

14 Wichita State

15 Chattanooga

16 NC State

17 Memphis State

18 Georgia

19 Oklahoma State

20 Georgetown 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1982 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: North Carolina

1 North Carolina

2 DePaul

3 Virginia

4 Oregon State

5 Missouri

6 Georgetown

7 Minnesota

8 Idaho

9 Memphis State

10 Tulsa

11 Fresno State

12 Arkansas

13 Alabama

14 West Virginia

15 Kentucky

16 Iowa

17 UAB

18 Wake Forest

19 UCLA

20 Louisville 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1981 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Indiana

1 DePaul

2 Oregon State

3 Arizona State

4 LSU

5 Virginia

6 North Carolina

7 Notre Dame

8 Kentucky

9 Indiana

10 UCLA

11 Wake Forest

12 Louisville

13 Iowa

14 Utah

15 Tennessee

16 BYU

17 Wyoming

18 Maryland

19 Illinois

20 Arkansas 

AP Poll College Basketball Rankings: 1980 Final Top 20

NCAA Basketball National Champion: Louisville

1 DePaul

2 Louisville

3 LSU

4 Kentucky

5 Oregon State

6 Syracuse

7 Indiana

8 Maryland

9 Notre Dame

10 Ohio State

11 Georgetown

12 BYU

13 St. John’s

14 Duke

15 North Carolina

16 Missouri

17 Weber State

18 Arizona State

19 Iowa

20 Purdue 

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