SMU ended the regular season on fire, winning 23 of its last 24 games and rising to No. 12 in the latest Top 25.
The regular season is over, conference tournaments are underway,and we're only five days from Selection Sunday. There's just one more AP Top 25 before the Madness begins.
Here’s an in-depth look at the final regular-season edition of the rankings (released March 6) and a glance at the poll's 18-week history:
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LAST WEEK
34-11 -- ranked teams’ record last week, including a 13-3 mark for top 10 teams, one of the best weeks for ranked squads this year. The only Top 25 teams without a win last week were No. 13 Butler and No. 25 Miami.
9 -- conferences that are represented in this week's Top 25. The ACC has six, while the next closest (the Big 12) has four. By weighting the conferences by team rankings (No. 1 is worth 25, No. 25 is worth 1), the ACC comes out in first place, followed by the Pac-12, the only conference with three teams in the top 10.
| Conference | Number of teams | Teams | Weighted score | |
| 1 | ACC | 6 | UNC (6), Louisville (10), Duke (14), FSU (16), Virginia (21), Notre Dame (22) | 67 |
| 2 | Pac-12 | 3 | UCLA (3), Oregon (5), Arizona (7) | 63 |
| 3 | Big 12 | 4 | Kansas (1), Baylor (9) West Virginia (11), Iowa State (23) | 60 |
| 4 | Big East | 2 | Villanova (2), Butler (18) | 32 |
| 6 | West Coast | 2 | Gonzaga (4), Saint Mary's (19) | 29 |
| 6 | SEC | 2 | Kentucky (8), Florida (17) | 27 |
| 7 | AAC | 2 | SMU (12), Cincinnati (15) | 25 |
| 8 | Big Ten | 3 | Purdue (13), Wisconsin (24), Maryland (25) | 16 |
| 9 | MVC | 1 | Wichita State (20) | 6 |
RELATED: Kansas remains atop AP Poll; Purdue jumps
3 -- spots, the biggest jump this week: by Cincinnati (No. 18 to No. 15), Duke (No. 17 to No. 14) and Purdue (No. 16 to No. 13). Cincinnati won both of its games (both over unranked opponents) by double digits, Duke took down No. 15 Florida State, 75-70 (but lost to No. 5 UNC, 90-83), while Purdue beat Indiana and Northwestern.
5 -- spots, the biggest drop this week: by Florida (No. 12 to No. 17) and Butler (No. 13 to No. 18). A week after falling to No. 11 Kentucky, Florida looked to be back on track with a 78-65 win over Arkansas. But the Gators fell 73-71 at Vanderbilt — a rough way to end the regular season.
4 -- weeks, the longest upward streak: by SMU. The Mustangs entered the rankings at No. 25 in Week 14, are in the midst of a 13-game winning streak and have only one loss over their past 24 games. That's about as hot as you can get. Along the way, SMU took down No. 11 Cincinnati 60-51 on Feb. 12, their only Top 25 win of the year.
4 -- weeks, the current longest streak down: by Wisconsin. The Badgers have lost five of their last seven, with all the losses against unranked teams. Not the ideal way to end a regular season.
12 -- weeks, since West Virginia has moved the same direction two weeks in a row. See that line that looks like a heartbeat? That'd be the Mountaineers. Up, down, up, down. After jumping up to No. 7 in Week 9 (Jan. 2), West Virginia fell to No. 10, then rose back to No. 7, then fell to No. 18, then rose back to No. 7, then fell to No. 13, then rose to No. 9, then fell to No. 12, then rose to No. 10, then fell to No. 11, where they currently sit. The heartbeat seems to be close to flatlining, but that could be a good thing for the Mountaineers as they look for consistency in the postseason.
THIS SEASON
12 -- teams that have been ranked in the top 5 at some point. Duke (Preseason, Weeks 2, 4-8), Kentucky (Preseason, Weeks 2-4, 11, 12), Kansas (Preseason, Weeks 3-18), Villanova (Preseason-Week 18), Oregon (Preseason, Weeks 2, 14, 18), UNC (Weeks 2-4, 17), Indiana (Week 3), Baylor (Weeks 5-10, 12, 13, 15), UCLA (Weeks 5-11, 16-18), Gonzaga (Weeks 9-18), Arizona (Weeks 13, 15-16) and Louisville (Week 14).
6 -- teams that have been ranked No. 1 this year. Duke (Preseason-Week 2), Kentucky (Weeks 3-4), Villanova (Weeks 5-9, 11-12), Baylor (Week 10), Gonzaga (Weeks 13-16), Kansas (Week 17-18).
42 -- teams that have been ranked.
0 -- teams that have never dropped in the rankings. Through Week 16, one team had never dropped: Gonzaga. The Bulldogs began the season at No. 14 and steadily climbed to the No. 1 spot and a 29-0 record before falling to BYU at home, 79-71 on Feb. 25.
15 -- teams that have been ranked every week since the preseason: Villanova, Kansas, UCLA, Gonzaga, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, Oregon, Louisville, Arizona, Virginia, Wisconsin, Duke, Purdue and Saint Mary’s.
11 -- spots, the biggest single-week drop: by Duke. The Blue Devils fell from No. 7 to No. 18 between Week 10 (Jan. 9) and Week 11 (Jan. 16). During that span, Duke went 0-2, losing to No. 14 Louisville (78-69) and No. 9 Florida State (88-72). Oregon plummeted 19 spots in two weeks, from No. 4 to No. 23 with a stop at No. 13 (Week 2, Nov. 14 – Week 4, Nov. 28). The Ducks were 3-2 during that stretch, falling to unranked Baylor (66-49) and unranked Georgetown (65-61).
5 -- weeks, the most one team has stayed in the same position: by three teams (one of them twice). Villanova stayed on top at No. 1 from Week 5 (Dec. 5) to Week 9 (Jan. 2) before falling to No. 3 for one week, then jumping back to the top spot. 'Nova also has been No. 2 for the past five weeks. Kansas was No. 3 from Week 5 to Week 9 before climbing to the No. 2 ranking in Week 10 (Jan. 9). And Duke stayed at No. 5 from Week 4 (Nov. 28) to Week 8 (Dec. 26) before dropping to No. 8.
