NCAAB News: AP Poll predicts this year's national champion

We still have several months before we know this season’s national champion. Even so, Tennessee, Auburn, Iowa State, Duke, Kentucky Marquette, Alabama Gonzaga, Florida, Kansas, Purdue, and Oregon have plenty of reasons to celebrate right now.

We’ve entered Week 6, and just like it happens every single week, the Associated Press just released their updated rankings for the 25 best teams in all of college basketball.

So, why did we only name 12 teams in the first paragraph? Well, as pointed out by Jeff Eisenberg of Yahoo! Sports, history predicts that one of those teams will win the championship this season.

AP Poll has historically predicted the champion

“Those are the top dozen teams in this season’s newly released Week 6 AP poll, a poll that has been a surprisingly accurate tool when predicting men’s college basketball’s eventual national champion. The past 20 national champions and 34 of the past 35 were each ranked in the top 12 in their respective season’s Week 6 AP poll,” Eisenberg pointed out.

Head coach Dan Hurley of the Connecticut Huskies celebrates with his team during the trophy ceremony after beating the Purdue Boilermakers 75-60 to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament National Championship game at State Farm Stadium on April 08, 2024 in Glendale, Arizona.

History favors Kentucky as potential national champion

To be more accurate, it seems like the Kentucky Wildcats are in a prime position to take the trophy home. They’re currently ranked at No. 5, which has historically been the usual Week 6 ranking of the eventual champion:

“Since the 2003-04 season, the average Week 6 ranking of the eventual national title winner has been 4.8. As former ESPN college basketball writer John Gasaway was the first to note, no other week during the season has been a better barometer, not even the polls that come out in late February or March,” Eisenberg added.

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Needless to say, there’s still plenty of basketball to be played, and a lot can change from today to the Final Four. For now, however, these fans can start planning their parades.