I was glancing at the AP top 25 poll earlier on Monday. It must have just come out, hence why it was being displayed all over twitter. Not surprisingly, there aren’t any teams from the AAC in the top 25. Only SMU is receiving votes. They aren’t receiving enough votes to even get excited about if you are an SMU fan. There hasn’t been an AAC team ranked since the November 24 poll, when Connecticut fell out for good. This got me to wondering, when is the last time, if ever, Cincinnati has been in a league with no ranked teams?
To clear things up, all data is from the AP poll because that’s what the site I used, Sports-Reference, uses. I’m a simple man. The league differences will be noticeable with different colors for the bold.
2014-15 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 0
Let’s start with this year. There have been no ranked AAC teams in 2015. As mentioned, there were two ranked early in the year. We are up to 8 weeks without a ranked team from the American.
2013-14 : Most – 5 / Fewest – 2
The fewest came in early January, when only Louisville and Memphis were ranked. It only happened one week. Cincinnati jumped in the poll starting the next week, UConn and SMU in February throughout most of the regular season. The national champion came from this league.
2012-13 : Most – 7 / Fewest – 4
The five times when the final year of the Big East had four ranked teams, they had two teams in the top 10 on three of those occassions. One of them featured the #1 team in the country in Louisville. Syracuse was ranked in the top 10 until the end of February. The national champion came from this league.
2011-12 : Most – 6 / Fewest – 3
The one week that the league had 3 ranked teams, all were in the top 15. Syracuse was in the top 5 for the entire season, spending four weeks at #1. No national champion, but a final four team came from this league.
2010-11 : Most – 9 / Fewest – 4
The monster had four ranked teams for just the first two polls. There were never fewer than 6 Big East teams ranked from November 29 on. 3 BE teams were ranked in the final top 10, including the future national champion Connecticut Huskies.
2009-10 : Most – 6 / Fewest – 5
West Virginia, another Big East final four team, Villanova and Georgetown were ranked all season. Villanova was in the top 10 every week, WVU fell out of it once. Syracuse joined the poll on November 23, debuting at 10. They also were ranked in the top 10 for the rest of the season, including a week at #1.
2008-09 : Most – 9 / Fewest – 5
The week that the Big East had five ranked teams featured #1 Pittsburgh, #2 Connecticut, #6 Louisville, #8 Marquette and #10 Villanova. Three Big East teams, Louisville, UConn and the afformentioned Pitt, were ranked #1. UConn was top for 4 weeks, Pitt 3 and Louisville on the final poll after steamrolling the Big East tournament. The league had two final four teams, Villanova and Connecticut.
2007-08 : Most – 6 / Fewest – 3
This was a rough season for the league in terms of teams being ranked, and teams in the NCAA tournament. No teams made the final four, the league went 3-4 in the second round, 1-2 in the sweet 16 and 0-1 in the regional final. Only Georgetown was ranked every week, although Marquette fell out only once. The league had six teams ranked twice, the second poll and the final poll.
2006-07 : Most – 5 / Fewest – 3
Pittsburgh and Marquette were ranked the whole season through. Georgetown was preseason top 10, fell out come December, returned in February and finished in the top 10 as the highest ranked team. During the three weeks with three teams ranked, Pittsburgh was in the top 10 every week, Marquette the top 15 for two. Georgetown ended up in the final four.
2005-06 : Most – 7 / Fewest – 3
The first year of the big Big East, there were five preseason top 16 teams. There was a month where the league had three teams ranked after Syracuse and West Virginia stumbled. Connecticut was in the top 3, Villanova the top 4, Louisville was in the top 5 for two of those weeks before falling to #11. UConn was ranked in the top 5 all season, becoming the #1 team for five weeks. Villanova spent all of two weeks outside the top 5. UConn and Nova both flamed out in the final 8 in the NCAA tournament, UConn famously to George Mason.
2004-05 : Most – 3 / Fewest – 1
In the final year of Conference USA, Louisville was ranked in the top 20 the entire season. Memphis started off in the top 25, falling out after a couple of weeks. Cincinnati would become ranked in December, hanging the poll throughout the season. Marquette and Charlotte spent 2 and 4 weeks ranked respectively. Louisville went to the final four.
2003-04 : Most 3 / Fewest – 2
C-USA had three ranked teams in the preseason, but Louisville quickly fell out. Marquette stopped being ranked come conference play. Cincinnati and Louisville each entered the top 10 on January 13, both staying there until February 3. Louisville stayed 9th in the next poll, Cincinnati fell to 13th. Two weeks later, Louisville fell out of the top 10. Two weeks after that, they fell out of the poll. The furthest a team went in the tournament was the sweet 16, when UAB pulled the trick after upsetting Kentucky.
2002-03 : Most – 3 / Fewest – 1
Marquette was ranked the entire season, finishing in the top 10. Cincinnati started off in the top 25, falling out week three, jumping back in a week later, then fell out the rest of the season. Louisville would be ranked in every poll of 2003, reaching as high as 2. Memphis was ranked the last month of the season. Marquette went to the final four.
2001-02 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 1
We are getting to this year in the AAC range. Memphis started the season ranked 12, they wouldn’t make it two weeks in December being ranked. Cincinnati became ranked on December 18. The Bearcats hit the top 10 on January 8, moved up to 7th the next week and were never ranked lower than 6th the rest of the way. Marquette spent a couple of weeks in the top 10 as well. No one in the league survived the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
2000-01 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 0
Here’s the closest match so far. Cincinnati and DePaul were each in the preseason poll. DePaul lasted two weeks, Cincinnati lasted until the second week of January. No one was ranked from January 9 on. Cincinnati lost in the sweet 16.
1999-2000 : Most – 3 / Fewest – 1
Cincinnati was the preseason #2 team, DePaul was 20. DePaul stayed in the top 25, never going higher than 18, before falling out in the middle of January. Louisville was ranked for a week. Cincinnati was in the top 3 for all but two weeks, where they ranked 4th and 7th. Cincinnati spent 12 weeks ranked #1. The league went 1-3 in the first round of the tournament, UC lost in round two.
1998-99 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 1
Cincinnati was in the poll the entire season. The Bearcats were in the top 10 from December until the final poll. UC was as high as 3rd, as low as 9th. Louisville was ranked for a week in January, Charlotte in the final poll. Both were 24th. Cincinnati and Charlotte each lost in the tournament’s second round.
1997-98 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 0
Charlotte and Lousville were preseason top 25 teams. Each stayed ranked for three weeks before falling out for the rest of the season. The league nearly went all of December without a ranked squad until Marquette hit the last poll of the year. They were ranked for three weeks, but Cincinnati joined the poll after that and was ranked the rest of the way, finishing at 9. Cincinnati, Charlotte and St Louis all lost in the second round.
1996-97 : Most – 3 / Fewest – 1
Cincinnati was the preseason #1 team in the country. They would remain #1 for the first two weeks of the season. Cincinnati spent two weeks outside of the top 10 all season. Louisville joined the poll on December 10. The Cardinals would hit the top 10 for three weeks, getting as high as 6th. Marquette spent the last two weeks of January ranked, Tulane the first two weeks of February. That’s right, Tulane. Louisville would carry the conference banner to the elite 8.
1995-96 : Most – 4 / Fewest – 2
The first year of Conference USA was loaded. Louisville and Memphis were ranked in the top 13, Cincinnati was 21. Cincinnati and Memphis were ranked all season long. The first four weeks that there were only two teams ranked, Memphis was ranked 3, 3, 9, 9, while Cincinnati was ranked 5, 5, 4, 3. The final week Cincinnati was 5th, Memphis 11. Louisville rejoined the poll in February, Marquette joined the final two weeks to give the league it’s highest total at the right time. Cincinnati would lose in the elite 8.
1994-95 : Most – 1 / Fewest – 0
Cincinnati was ranked 13th in the preseason in this, the final year of the Great Midwest. The Cats hit the top 10 two weeks later, but would fall out as 1994 ended. UC was ranked for three weeks in January, then never again. Memphis lost in the sweet 16 in the tournament.
1993-94 : Most – 4 / Fewest – 1
Cincinnati was the lone team ranked through December, when Marquette joined just before Christmas. Marquette fell out, but UAB would join the ranks for the next six weeks. St Louis joined a week after UAB, giving the league three ranked teams. Cincinnati fell out of the polls twice, but Marquette rejoined. On the February 14 poll, all four teams were ranked. Cincinnati and UAB quickly fell out for a week. UAB joined for two weeks before exiting when Cincinnati rejoined. Marquette and St Louis stayed ranked. St Louis had the highest ranking of the entire year at 16th. Marquette would fall in the sweet 16.
1992-93 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 1
Cincinnati was ranked the entire season. UC spent six weeks in the top 10, getting to as high as 4th. Memphis was a preseason top 10 team that deflated. The Tigers fell out of the polls for good on December 14. Marquette would be ranked for the last week of January, the month of February and that was it. Cincinnati would advance to the elite 8.
1991-92 : Most – 2 / Fewest – 1
DePaul started the year ranked in the top 20. They lasted two weeks. No GMW team was ranked until February 10. Cincinnati joined the poll, moving to as high as 12 to close the year. DePaul was ranked the last month. Cincinnati would meet league foe Memphis in the elite 8, with the Bearcats advancing to the final four.
So there you have it, the last year Cincinnati was in a league where no one was ranked for such a long period of time was the 1991-92 season. Cincinnati went to the final four that year. So they will go to the final four this year. That’s how this works, right?
In conclusion, this was yet another post that could have been something done quickly, but instead was done in a very through manner. The author can only hope that the readers enjoy this. Otherwise, there is a lot of time he will wish he could have re-allotted.
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