Arch Madness: The Very First AP Basketball Poll had St. Louis University at #1

Saint Louis University was the first-ever Number 1 team in college basketball history.

March Madness is upon us. Many of the historical heavyweights are once again the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, along with two Missouri colleges. And so this is a good time to look back at that very first AP Men’s College Basketball Poll, released on January 18, 1949. It featured a mix of modern blue bloods and programs that were national powerhouses at the time. And at the top, was the St. Louis University basketball Billikens.

The Original AP Top 20 (Jan. 18, 1949)

Rank	School	Record (at the time)
1	Saint Louis	10–1
2	Kentucky	13–1
3	Western Kentucky	12–1
4	Minnesota	8–1
5	Illinois	10–1
6	Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State)	10–3
7	San Francisco	11–1
8	Utah	10–4
9	Long Island University	11–3
10	NC State	13–2
11	Bradley	13–3
12	Texas	10–2
13	Hamline	10–1
14	Yale	9–3
15	NYU	8–3
16	Butler	8–3
17	Villanova	9–2
18	Oklahoma	7–3
19	Baylor	7–4
20	Colorado State	11–3

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Missouri Basketball Notables:

• The Power of the Midwest: Programs like Saint Louis and Mizzou were national powerhouses in this era.
• Legacy Time: This was the era when the NIT (often played in Madison Square Garden) was the premier event. SLU was the defending 1948 NIT Champion when the poll debuted in ’49, which is why the AP voters gave them the top spot over Kentucky.
• The Legend: Under Hall of Famer Eddie Hickey, the 1948–49 Billikens were the gold standard. They didn’t just appear in the poll; they were the inaugural “Kings of the Hill” on January 18, 1949.
• The Key Figure: Ed Macauley (St. Louis native and future NBA legend) was their star. He was a consensus First-Team All-American that year, often cited as the catalyst for the Billikens’ dominance.
• In 1949, the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) was arguably the most powerful conference in the country, and St. Louis was its hub.
• While the Missouri Tigers weren’t in the final Top 20 for 1949, they were a rising force under coach Sparky Stalcup. By the following season (1949–50), Mizzou actually climbed as high as #12 in the nation.

The Final AP Poll from 1949

NIT vs. NCAA: In 1949, the NIT was still considered just as prestigious (if not more so) than the NCAA Tournament. Final #1 Kentucky won the NCAA, but #3 Saint Louis and #8 San Francisco competed in the NIT that year.