College Basketball Rankings: Predicting the AP Poll Top 25 ahead of 2025 calendar flip

The final AP Poll Top 25 of the year before flipping the calendar to 2025 drops on Monday and sets the tone for conference play. Many teams across the country can now look back at their resumes knowing what they must accomplish before March.

Without much action within the Top 25 this week, there are few major shifts in how the teams stack up before the season kicks into full gear.

As the full conference slate begins for conferences across the country, here is a predictive look at what the 2024-25 AP Poll Top 25 could look like on the last Monday before the calendar flips.

Predicted AP Poll Top 25

1. Tennessee (Last Week: 1)

Tennessee remains No. 1 in the projected AP Poll Top 25, taking care of business in one of the few games played by the best in the country.

2. Auburn (Last Week: 2)

Auburn got a week off as it prepares for the final days of the year, then gets ready to take its impressive resume into SEC play.

3. Iowa State (Last Week: 3)

Iowa State also got a week off from game action, and will soon turn focus toward the Big 12 schedule.

4. Duke (Last Week: 4)

No games played by Duke over the past seven days with the end of the non-conference schedule soon to give way to a full ACC slate.

5. Alabama (Last Week: 5)

Alabama scheduled one game over the week, facing South Dakota State just one week after playing North Dakota on the road.

6. Florida (Last Week: 6)

Florida has one local matchup over the past week, taking on Stetson before turning attention to the conference schedule.

7. Kansas (Last Week: 7)

Kansas had no games on the schedule this week, now ready to dive fully into a Big 12 schedule.

8. Marquette (Last Week: 8)

A week off for Marquette has them ready to look ahead at the coming game including the full Big East schedule.

9. Oregon (Last Week: 9)

Oregon scheduled one matchup against Weber State this week, wrapping up the non-conference before taking on the new-look Big Ten.

10. Kentucky (Last Week: 10)

Kentucky got a break over the course of the week as well, with one more non-conference game before 2025 on deck.

Predicting 11-25

11. UConn (Last Week: 11)
12. Oklahoma (Last Week: 12)
13. Texas A&M (Last Week: 13)
14. Houston (Last Week: 15)
15. Cincinnati (Last Week: 17)
16. Michigan State (Last Week: 18)
17. Mississippi State (Last Week: 19)
18. UCLA (Last Week: 22)
19. Purdue (Last Week: 21)
20. Ole Miss (Last Week: 16)
21. Gonzaga (Last Week: 14)
22. Arkansas (Last Week: 23)
23. Illinois (Last Week: 24)
24. Baylor (Last Week: 25)
25. Memphis (Last Week NR)

Projected to drop out: SDSU (Last Week: 20)