The 13 College Basketball Teams That Have Only Spent A Single Week In The Top 25

There are more than 350 college basketball teams constantly vying for a spot in the Top 25, but there’s only room for around 7% of those squads at any given time. There are a number of blue bloods who have become accustomed to ending up with a number next to their name, but there are more than a dozen programs that have only gotten to experience that development a single time.

These college basketball teams have only appeared in the AP’s Top 25 poll a single time in their history

As of the start of the 2025-26 season, the Associated Press has conducted a little over 1,300 polls used to rank the best men’s basketball teams in the country since introducing that evaluator in 1949.

A grand total of 207 schools have spent at least one week in the Top 25—Kentucky leads the pack with its 922 appearances—but the bottom of that list is home to some teams that are still chasing the dragon after a one-and-done showing that marks the only time they’ve gotten a taste.

Army

Next season will mark the 125th year that Army has fielded a basketball team.

The Black Knights have spent 126 weeks in the Top 25 when it comes to football, but the guys who play basketball at West Point haven’t checked that box since ending up at #14 following a 2-0 start in 1970. They ended up dropping out after losing to West Virginia to kick off a drought that currently spans 25 years.

Bucknell

The basketball team at Bucknell has a history stretching back to 1895, but the Bison didn’t make an appearance in the Top 25 until more than a century after they played their first game.

The team was in the midst of what turned out to be a 12-game winning streak that improved their record to 21-3 when they landed at #24 midway through February in 2006, but the loss to Northern Iowa that ended the run was enough to knock them out of the Top 25.

Cleveland State

Cleveland State is a relative newcomer when you consider the Vikings didn’t play their first game at the Division I level until 1972. They punched their ticket to March Madness for the first time in 1986 as a 14-seed and staged a magical Cinderella run that ended with a loss to Navy in the Sweet Sixteen.

That led to the Vikings being listed at #20 in the poll that was released ahead of the 1986-87 season, but the hype died down after they kicked things off with a loss to Memphis.

Iona

Iona played its first season a little less than a decade before the AP Poll was introduced, and while you might assume its lone Top 25 appearance was linked to Rick Pitino’s time as the head coach of the Gaels, that is not actually the case.

Another legendary coach was actually responsible in the form of Jim Valvano, who led Iona to its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1979 before they returned the following year. The Gaels ended up at #19 in the final poll of the season in 1980, as they lost to Georgetown in the second round of March Madness while posting a 29-5 record.

Kent State

Kent State has fielded a men’s team since 1913, but as was the case with Bucknell, they had to wait until the new millennium to roll around before getting their first (and only) taste of the Top 25.

The Golden Flashes were sitting at 23-5 and riding a six-game winning streak at the end of February during the 2007-08 season when they ended up at #23. Unfortunately, Bowling Green rained on the parade by handing them the L that brought the fun to an end.

Lamar

Lamar was initially known as South Park Junior College and had a basketball team that played for the first time in 1923. However, the school had trouble finding opponents and was on life support before being revived in the 1940s.

We’ve got yet another instance where a team had to wait until February to attract enough attention to merit a spot in the Top 25, which Lamar did in 1980 with a 15-2 record linked to an eight-game winning streak. However, they fell to Louisiana Tech on the same day they debuted at #19.

Maryland-Eastern Shore

Maryland-Eastern Shore has the distinction of being the only school classified as an HBCU to make an appearance in the Top 25.

The Hawks did so during the 1973-74 campaign after winning their first 20 games before ending up at #20 in the poll released on February 4th—the same day Morgan State handed them their only loss of the regular season.

Missouri State

We’ve got to travel back more than we have for any other team on this list so far to get to Missouri State, which ended up at #20 in what was then the Top 20 at the end of the 1952-53 season thanks to its 24-4 record.

Northeastern

Boston College firmly leads the pack when it comes to the colleges in Beantown that have had the most appearances in the Top 25.

Harvard takes the silver medal with five, while Northeastern sneaks onto the podium with the one week it had at the start of the 1986-87 season following an upset over #2 Louisville that put the Huskies at #19.

Old Dominion

Old Dominion is one of those schools you’d forget about if they weren’t able to sneak into the NCAA Tournament every few years, and as is the case with the rest of the schools on this list, they’ve never come close to truly competing for a national championship.

It’s been around a decade since the program arguably peaked, as the voters couldn’t ignore their 12-1 start to the 2014-15 season. The Monarchs ended up #25 shortly before extending a 10-game winning streak, but that was all she wrote after Western Kentucky brought it to an end.

Pepperdine

It’s been 50 years since Pepperdine got in on the Top 25 action, which they did by going 22-6 during the 1975-76 season before ending up at #20 in the final poll of the season.

Texas State

Texas State has the distinction of having the longest Top 25 drought of any school on this list, as the Bobcats have not been able to return since ending up at #20 after going 30-1 during the 1951-52 season.

Wayne State

Wayne State—which currently competes as a Division II team—got off to a 7-0 start in 1952 and ended up at #20 before falling out of the rankings despite improving to 9-0 prior to suffering its first loss of the season against St. Francis—a team the Warriors had beaten by 35 points the week before.