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Week 6 AP poll may have revealed 2024-25 CBB national champion

By Austen Bundy | Last updated Dec 10, 2024 3:53 PM ET

It's still early in the 2024-25 college basketball season, but it's never too early to begin speculating about this year's national champion.

The NCAA Tournament, commonly known as "March Madness," is just three months away, but if fans are paying close attention to the AP Top 25 polls, the winner might have already been revealed.

According to College Basketball Report on X, every national champion since the 2003-04 season was ranked in the top 12 of the AP poll in Week 6.

The latest poll released Monday is, in fact, the Week 6 rankings, and these are the teams appearing in the top 12:

100% of College Basketball national champions since 2004 were ranked top 12 in the Week 6 AP Poll.

Here are this year's title contenders pic.twitter.com/E1BjzLOTvA
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) December 9, 2024

Using the online tool "College Poll Archive," Yardbarker double-checked each Week 6 AP poll and found that every national champion since 2004 has been ranked in the top 12 at that point each year.

(Year) National Champion	Week 6 AP ranking
(2004) UConn	No. 8
(2005) North Carolina	No. 5
(2006) Florida	No. 7
(2007) Florida	No. 5
(2008) Kansas	No. 3
(2009) North Carolina	No. 1
(2010) Duke	No. 7
(2011) UConn	No. 4
(2012) Kentucky	No. 3
(2013) Louisville	No. 6
(2014) UConn	No. 9
(2015) Duke	No. 2
(2016) Villanova	No. 12
(2017) North Carolina	No. 7
(2018) Villanova	No. 1
(2019) Virginia	No. 6
(2020) NO TOURNAMENT	COVID-19
(2021) Baylor	No. 2
(2022) Kansas	No. 7
(2023) UConn	No. 3
(2024) UConn	No. 5

If you're a betting person, the trend can be narrowed to all but one champion being ranked in the top 10 in the Week 6 poll.

This year, the list includes mostly "blue blood" programs like Kansas, Duke, Kentucky and Gonzaga. However, newcomers like Alabama, Iowa State and Auburn could have a shot.

All will be revealed in April, but if you believe the intel and the trend will continue in 2025, get your future bets in now.

Austen Bundy

Austen Bundy is a journalist and sports junkie from the Washington, D. C. area

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