It was during the 2002-2003 season when Alabama’s men’s basketball achieved something it just did again. Alabama is the new number one ranked men’s basketball team in the nation. The Tide rose to the top spot in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll for the first time in twenty years. Purdue's loss to Northwestern last week caused a jumble at the top of the AP Top 25 and the Crimson Tide were the biggest beneficiaries. Alabama received thirty eight first-place votes from an AP media panel. That moved the team up two spots to leapfrog number two ranked Houston. The Cougars had twenty-two first-place votes to keep it’s slot at number two. Purdue dropped to number three. UCLA and Kansas rounded out the top five.
Alabama has made a name for itself as more than just a football school since coach Nate Oats arrived from Buffalo in in 2019. The Crimson Tide reached the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight two years ago and Oats pulled in one of the nation's best recruiting classes last year. Alabama is No. 1 for the first time since spending two weeks atop the poll midway through the 2002-03 season. It also is the first school to be No. 1 in the AP football and basketball polls in the same season since Ohio State in 2010-11.
Number nine ranked Baylor and Creighton at the eighteenth spot made the biggest moves of the week, each gaining five spots. The Bears beat Oklahoma and picked up a road win over TCU last week.