Final polls in for Alabama basketball, plus way-too-early rankings
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Alabama basketball's end-of-season rankings are in, and so are the way-too-early ones.
The Crimson Tide finished 16th overall in the final USA Today Coaches Poll of the 2025-26 season, which was released on Tuesday, April 7.
On the same day, the most premature of preseason rankings dropped as well. ESPN put Alabama at No. 20 in its top 25. Fox Sports had higher expectations of Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats, who has agreed to a deal with UA that lasts through 2032. The outlet put Alabama at No. 6. On3 ranked the Crimson Tide 17th. Meanwhile, The Athletic didn't rank UA at all.
Here's a full look at the last Coaches Poll.Rank Team Record PTS 1st Prev Chg Hi/Lo 1 Michigan Wolverines 37-3 775 31 3 2 1/7 2 UConn Huskies 34-6 737 0 7 5 2/7 3 Arizona Wildcats 36-3 713 0 2 1 1/13 4 Duke Blue Devils 35-3 668 0 1 3 1/6 5 Illinois Fighting Illini 28-9 654 0 12 7 5/19 6 Houston Cougars 30-7 586 0 5 1 2/8 7 Purdue Boilermakers 30-9 562 0 13 6 1/18 8 Iowa State Cyclones 29-8 520 0 6 2 2/18 9 Florida Gators 27-8 497 0 4 5 3/NR 10 St. John's Red Storm 30-7 491 0 9 1 6/NR 11 Michigan State Spartans 27-8 465 0 11 - 8/21 12 Tennessee Volunteers 25-12 390 0 25 13 12/NR 13 Arkansas Razorbacks 28-9 387 0 15 2 13/23 14 Nebraska Cornhuskers 28-7 369 0 14 - 5/NR 15 Virginia Cavaliers 30-6 294 0 8 7 8/NR 16 Alabama Crimson Tide 25-10 292 0 18 2 9/NR 17 Vanderbilt Commodores 27-9 289 0 16 1 8/NR 18 Gonzaga Bulldogs 31-4 286 0 10 8 5/20 19 Iowa Hawkeyes 24-13 277 0 NR - 19/NR 20 Kansas Jayhawks 24-11 219 0 17 3 9/NR 21 Texas Tech Red Raiders 23-11 168 0 19 2 10/21 22 Miami (FL) Hurricanes 26-9 94 0 23 1 22/NR 23 Louisville Cardinals 24-11 70 0 24 1 5/NR 24 Texas Longhorns 21-15 55 0 NR - 24/NR 25 Wisconsin Badgers 24-11 42 0 20 5 20/NR
Schools Dropped Out
No. 21 North Carolina; No. 22 Saint Mary's;
Emilee Smarr covers Alabama basketball and Crimson Tide athletics for The Tuscaloosa News. She can be reached via email at esmarr@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball final ranking in, plus way-too-early predictions
