The 9 College Basketball Teams With The Longest Active Top 25 Droughts

There are more than 360 men’s basketball teams that compete at the Division I level, and you have to be doing something right to earn a spot in the Top 25. Some schools have spent years (and even decades) between appearances, but none of them have been chasing one than the programs responsible for the longest active droughts.

No men’s basketball teams have a longer Top 25 drought than these schools

The Associated Press started a poll designed to rank the best college football teams in the country in the 1930s, but college basketball didn’t get the same treatment until the start of the 1948-49 season.

Some teams have had to wait a very long time between appearances. Colorado State had a 59-year drought that spanned from 1954 to 2013, but that’s relatively short compared to current droughts involving squads that were most recently ranked in the Top 25 well before man stepped foot on the Moon for the first time.

Before we dive in, I want to give credit where credit is due to the folks responsible for the fantastic resource that is the College Poll Archive, which is where I sourced these numbers from. There are some schools that are technically riding a drought but no longer play at the DI level, and I should note I’m only going to focus on the ones that are still in the top tier of the sport.

9. Manhattan: Most recently ranked on January 2, 1957

I most recently wrote about the basketball team at Manhattan University (which is actually located in The Bronx) when I took a look at the college basketball teams with the most unique mascots, and they’re also responsible for one of the longest Top 25 droughts in the country.

The school was still known as “Manhattan College” when the Jaspers ended up at #13 just after New Year’s Day in 1957 following a win over Notre Dame that saw them improve to 4-2. However, they dropped out of what was the Top 20 (the poll didn’t expand to 25 teams until the 1989-90 season) with a loss to La Salle.

They got their second of their eight NCAA Tournament nods to date at the end of the season, but they have not returned to the Top 25 since then.

8. Siena: December 14, 1953

Siena opened the 1953-54 season at 3-0 with wins over Murray State, Louisville, and Iona, and that was good enough to end up at #19 midway through December.

However, the Saints were nowhere to be found in the next poll courtesy of what ended up being a six-game losing streak during a season where they ultimately finished at 7-14.

Siena did punch its ticket to March Madness five times between 1999 and 2010 (they have seven total appearances), but none of those seasons were impressive enough to merit a number next to their name aside from the seed they received in the tournament.

7. Missouri State: March 21, 1953

Missouri State ended up with a 21-4 record during the 1952-53 season, which was good enough for the final spot in the final Top 20 poll that was released during the campaign.

However, the Bears did not return when the subsequent season got underway, and that has remained the case for close to 75 years.

6. Eastern Kentucky: March 2, 1953

Eastern Kentucky edges out Missouri State for the seventh spot here by just a couple of weeks. The Colonels were ranked in four different polls during the same season, peaking at #15 and appearing for the final time after improving from #20 to #17.

However, the good times came to an end with a loss to Dayton, the season came to an end with a loss to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament, and EKU is still chasing the magic of that season.

5. Texas State: March 4, 1952

Texas State was still an NAIA program during the 1951-52 season, but the AP voters decided to give them some credit where credit was due by listing them at #20 due to the perfect 24-0 record they’d recorded by the start of March.

The Bobcats ultimately finished at 30-1, as they lost to Missouri State in the Final Four of the NAIA tournament before ending the season on a high note with a victory over Portland in the third-place game.

4. Long Island: February 19, 1951

No team on this list had a more impressive showing in the AP Poll than LIU, which debuted at #7 in December 1950 with a 3-0 start made possible by wins over Kansas State, Denver, and Georgetown.

The Sharks peaked at #2 after improving to 11-0, but they plummeted to #19 due to a four-game skid before rebounding to #16. However, another loss led to them dropping out entirely, and the program has never come close to reaching those highs again.

3. Cornell: January 3, 1951

We’ve got two current Ivy League teams in the top three, and the first one we’ll be discussing is Cornell.

The Ivy League as a conference had not officially formed the last time the Big Red were ranked (it was created in 1954). The team appeared at #19 in the first poll of the 1950-51 season and rose to #14 over the course of what was ultimately a seven-game winning streak to open up the year.

However, a loss to Columbia was enough to bring the party to an end, and it remains shut down to this day.

2. San Jose State: March 6, 1950

San Jose State got off to a 6-5 start during the 1949-50 season, but the Spartans bounced back by rattling off seven straight wins to kick off a run where they earned victories in 12 of the 13 games they played.

That caught the attention of the AP voters who ranked them at #18 on February 20th, and they fell to #19 before finishing at #18 during a season where the team ended up with a 21-7 record. However, that string of three appearances marked the first and only time they’d get the nod.

1. Yale: March 7, 1949

We’re capping things off with our second Ivy League team: Yale, which is responsible for the longest Top 25 drought in the country.

It stretches all the way back to the first season the AP Poll was introduced, as the Bulldogs debuted at #20 midway through February in 1949 and finished at #11 while posting a 22-8 record. Yale represented the Ivy League in the NCAA Tournament three times in the past four seasons, but the school hasn’t been represented in the AP poll for over 75 years.