Duke rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for record 148th time; Florida, Alabama make leaps

Associated Press (AP)CenterEN 3 min read 100% complete by By AARON BEARDFebruary 23, 2026 at 07:23 PM

Duke rises to No. 1 in AP Top 25 men’s hoops poll for record 148th time; Florida, Alabama make leaps

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Duke has risen to No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll, marking a record 148th time at the top spot for the program. The Blue Devils (25-2) climbed two spots after defeating Michigan 68-63 in Washington. Duke received 56 of 61 first-place votes, surpassing Michigan in the poll. The win against Michigan, also a top seed in the NCAA selection committee's preliminary rankings, showcased Duke's strength with a national-best 12 Quadrant 1 wins and nine wins against AP Top 25 teams. This is the second straight season under coach Jon Scheyer that Duke has achieved a No. 1 ranking.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Washington 40% Syracuse University 40% Chapel Hill, N.C. 40% Arizona 40% Houston ×240% Durham, N.C. 50% North Carolina 50% Ivan Kharchenkov 50% Cameron Boozer 60% Michigan ×260% Jon Scheyer ×270% Duke University ×690%

Keywords

duke 100% college basketball 90% ap top 25 poll 80% no. 1 ranking 80% ncaa 70% march madness 60% michigan 50% jon scheyer 50%

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Positive

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Associated Press (AP)

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Classification Confidence

90%

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Michigan

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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duke college basketball ap top 25 poll no. 1 ranking ncaa march madness michigan jon scheyer

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