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AP preseason basketball polls to be released Nov. 1 and 2

Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson (35) defends Princeton Myles Stephens (12) during the second half of a first-round men's college basketball game in the NCAA Tournament, Thursday, March 16, 2017, in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

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The preseason AP Top 25 polls for men’s and women’s college basketball, the longest-running polls of their kind, will be released the first week of November.

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Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson (35), one of only two players from last season’s final AP All-America team returning to play this season, defends Princeton’s Myles Stephens during a first round game of the NCAA tournament in Buffalo, New York, March 16, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
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Wisconsin forward Ethan Happ (22), one of only two players from last year’s final AP All-America team who didn’t leave for the NBA during the off-season, drives against Florida forward Gorjok Gak during an East Regional semifinal game of the NCAA tournament in New York, March 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

The next men’s preseason poll will be revealed at 12 noon ET on Wednesday, Nov. 1, while the women’s poll will come out the morning of Thursday, Nov. 2. The preseason AP all-America men’s team – a tradition dating to 1948 – will be announced Nov. 6, and the women’s team on Nov. 7.

All will be released on AP lines to customers, as well as posted on AP’s college basketball site, collegebasketball.ap.org, and the AP News app, along with analysis and additional coverage.

The Associated Press has released a men’s preseason poll every year since 1962 and a women’s poll since 1977, which also was the first AP women’s basketball poll. The first AP men’s basketball poll was on Jan. 20, 1949, and since then one has been released every week of every regular season.

“The preseason AP Top 25 polls help set the stage for another exciting season of college basketball,” said Barry Bedlan, AP’s director of sports products. “Our panel of independent voters who expertly cover the sport provide a collective perspective that’s unique to both men’s and women’s basketball.”

More than 60 sports writers and broadcasters of AP-affiliated media from around the country help determine the teams that appear in the polls. All voters have extensive backgrounds in covering college basketball. The team rankings are decided by a points system based on how each voter ranks college basketball’s best teams. A team receives 25 points for each first place vote, 24 for second place and so on through to the 25th team, which receives one point. The rankings are set by listing the teams’ point totals from highest to lowest.

The mathematical formula is the same as the one used for the AP Top 25 college football poll and the AP Pro 32 rankings for NFL teams.

AP customers can leverage the popularity of the AP polls to grow digital traffic and new revenue through AP’s locally branded College Basketball Digital News Experience.

Follow the poll and related sports coverage on Facebook and Twitter:  https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

Contact

For media inquiries:
Lauren Easton
Director of Media Relations
The Associated Press
212-621-7005
leaston@ap.org

For sponsorship or revenue opportunities:
Barry Bedlan
Director of Sports Products
The Associated Press
972-677-2270
bbedlan@ap.org

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