Andy Wittry | NCAA.com | October 15, 2018 Here's where recent Final Four participants have been ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 poll Villanova's road to the Final Four Share The preseason AP Top 25 poll for the 2018-19 college basketball season will be unveiled Monday, October 22. After the annual cycle of roster turnover and coaching changes in the offseason, along with the unpredictable nature of March Madness, are there any big-picture takeaways we can glean from the poll? While it’s not a perfect predictor, the preseason AP poll is a fairly accurate and consistent barometer for which teams have realistic national title aspirations. MORE: 5 of college basketball's best returning scorers We analyzed the last 25 college basketball seasons and found that just 16 teams made the Final Four in the last quarter century after not being ranked in the preseason AP poll. That means roughly two teams ranked outside the top 25 will advance to the final weekend of the season every three years, on average. The best dunks of March Madness Here are some of the major takeaways from our findings: The preseason No. 1 team has made the Final Four 11 times in the last 25 seasons 36 teams ranked in the top four in the preseason have made the Final Four 2008 was arguably the most accurate preseason AP poll in history when No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Memphis and No. 4 Kansas – all of whom earned No. 1 seeds – made the Final Four The AP polls in 2001 (No. 1 Arizona, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 5 Maryland) and 2007 (No. 1 Florida, No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 8 Georgetown) also proved to be great indicators of the best teams in the country 2006 was the most unpredictable year since 1994 with three teams that started the year outside the preseason Top 25 – Florida, George Mason and LSU – along with preseason No. 19 UCLA advancing to the Final Four In 13 of the 25 seasons, all four Final Four teams were ranked in the preseason In 23 of the 25 seasons, at least two teams in the preseason top 10 made the Final Four The national champion has been ranked in the preseason 22 times in the last 25 years; 19 times in the top 10; 14 times in the top 5 The average preseason ranking of the national champion in the last 25 years is 8.2 (we assigned a preseason rank value of 30 for teams that were unranked to start the season) Syracuse has made the Final Four three times in the last 25 years after starting the season unranked in the AP Top 25 Here’s the full breakdown of the teams that made the Final Four in each of the last 25 seasons, along with their preseason rank. Final Four teams vs. preseason ranking Year Team Team Team Team 2018 No. 4 Kansas No. 6 Villanova NR Loyola Chicago NR Michigan 2017 No. 5 Oregon No. 6 North Carolina No. 14 Gonzaga NR South Carolina 2016 No. 1 North Carolina No. 8 Oklahoma No. 11 Villanova NR Syracuse 2015 No. 1 Kentucky No. 3 Wisconsin No. 4 Duke No. 18 Michigan State 2014 No. 1 Kentucky No. 10 Florida No. 18 Connecticut No. 20 Wisconsin 2013 No. 2 Louisville No. 5 Michigan No. 9 Syracuse NR Wichita State 2012 No. 2 Kentucky No. 3 Ohio State No. 9 Louisville No. 13 Kansas 2011 No. 11 Kentucky No. 17 Butler NR Connecticut NR VCU 2010 No. 2 Michigan State No. 8 West Virginia No. 9 Duke No. 11 Butler 2009 No. 1 North Carolina No. 2 Connecticut No. 6 Michigan State No. 23 Villanova 2008 No. 1 North Carolina No. 2 UCLA No. 3 Memphis No. 4 Kansas 2007 No. 1 Florida No. 6 UCLA No. 7 Ohio State No. 8 Georgetown 2006 No. 19 UCLA NR Florida NR George Mason NR LSU 2005 No. 4 North Carolina No. 5 Illinois No. 13 Michigan State No. 14 Louisville 2004 No. 1 Connecticut No. 2 Duke No. 25 Oklahoma State NR Georgia Tech 2003 No. 2 Kansas No. 4 Texas No. 18 Marquette NR Syracuse 2002 No. 2 Maryland No. 7 Kansas No. 22 Indiana No. 25 Oklahoma 2001 No. 1 Arizona No. 2 Duke No. 3 Michigan State No. 5 Maryland 2000 No. 3 Michigan State No. 6 North Carolina No. 8 Florida R Wisconsin 1999 No. 1 Duke No. 2 Connecticut No. 5 Michigan State NR Ohio State 1998 No. 4 North Carolina No. 8 Kentucky No. 14 Stanford No. 16 Utah 1997 No. 3 Kentucky No. 8 North Carolina No. 19 Arizona No. 22 Minnesota 1996 No. 1 Kentucky No. 7 UMass No. 9 Mississippi State NR Syracuse 1995 No. 1 Arkansas No. 2 North Carolina No. 6 UCLA No. 21 Oklahoma State 1994 No. 3 Arkansas No. 4 Duke No. 18 Arizona NR Florida COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS: 7 UNBREAKABLE RECORDS (WE THINK) 9 HIGHEST SCORING PERFORMANCES How Duke's new head coach Jon Scheyer is already impacting the program after replacing Coach K New Duke men's basketball head coach Jon Scheyer talked to Andy Katz about the future of the program. 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