Every year, as winter fades and spring approaches, college basketball fans start gearing up for March Madness. But before we get to Selection Sunday and the field of 68 is revealed, the release of the AP Top 25 poll is another important ritual that unfolds. Week after week, these rankings shape morale, expectations, and the stories of both contenders and underdogs.

The AP poll has been part of college basketball since 1949. Back then, only ten teams were ranked, and sportswriters voted based on things like performance, reputation, and potential. For women’s basketball, the AP poll began in 1976 and quickly became the go-to standard for ranking the best teams in the nation.

Over the years, the process has changed a lot. Now, a panel of sports journalists from around the country ranks teams based on things like win-loss record, strength of schedule, and how they’ve been playing lately.

What’s interesting is how much the rankings can shift a team’s vibe. Being No. 1 can lift confidence, but it also brings pressure to stay there every week. You could feel it in Westwood last season when UCLA went into the tournament as one of the top teams in the country. That stuff matters to programs.

But are the AP polls actually the best way to judge teams? In our flagship WNBA newsletter, She Got Game, we asked readers, “Do you believe the AP polls are handled improperly or influenced by bias?” And 48% (158 voters) said the AP Top 25 is significantly flawed.

To understand why fans feel this way, let’s jump straight to the latest Week 10 AP Top 25 poll. The biggest name missing from the list is Texas Tech. The Lady Raiders were one of three unbeaten teams in the first ten weeks of women’s basketball, alongside defending champions UConn and Vanderbilt, coached by former UConn assistant coach Shea Ralph. That’s how unforgiving the rankings can be.

Just a week ago, critics were praising the Lady Raiders for defying expectations and starting 18-0 with a 6-0 mark in the Big 12. Now, they’re suddenly out of the Top 25 after a six-point loss to Kansas State. Yes, there’s a valid argument that Texas Tech didn’t face many top teams, but their resume did include a big win over No. 14 Baylor, and they sat at No. 1 in the Big 12, something nobody predicted back in November.

One of our readers believed bias was at play, saying, “Anytime a group of people rate teams ranking, you have bias. Clearly, in this situation, it’s obvious.” We can’t say for sure, but this season has definitely seen its fair share of strange decisions.

Remember when Texas beat both South Carolina and UCLA in the inaugural Players Era Championship, then backed it up with wins over No. 11 North Carolina and the then–No. 13 Baylor? Even with that resume and more Quad 1 wins than anyone, they still couldn’t dethrone UConn from the No. 1 spot in the AP poll. It felt like a strange decision at the time, but the committee can now point to it as the “correct” one, since Texas recently lost back-to-back games to LSU and South Carolina.

Another fan pointed out something interesting. “They always rank UConn up high as number 1, but the league they’re in is very weak!” It’s quite a claim, especially considering UConn is the most successful program in the country. The Huskies have won 12 national championships and, based on how dominant they’ve looked, could be on track for a 13th.

Actually, no team has held the No. 1 spot in the AP Top 25 rankings more than UConn. They’ve reached that spot a whopping 251* times, starting with their first appearance back in 1995, according to an AP post in October, and that number will only keep growing as the weeks go on. But the fan does raise a point.

The Big East, where UConn currently plays, isn’t considered as strong as conferences like the SEC.

The Lady Huskies are the only ranked team in their conference, and the fact that they kept the No. 1 spot even while Texas was stacking big wins can be confusing for fans…. especially when strength of schedule is supposed to matter.

UConn has only played five Quad 1 games, compared to 11 for UCLA and seven for Texas. But to be fair, UConn have destroyed just about everyone they’ve faced. Yes, they haven’t gone toe-to-toe with their main title rivals like South Carolina, Texas, or UCLA yet, but they still own big wins over Notre Dame, USC, and Iowa. The closest they’ve come to losing was a three-point win over Michigan.

It’s not just UConn. The No. 8 Louisville Cardinals already have three losses, and no other team with three losses is ranked in the AP Top 25. Some of these rankings are hard to justify, especially when teams like TCU are slotted behind them.

Which is probably why one reader said, “They are significantly flawed, but that’s not surprising. There are a lot of moving elements to be factored in, while Jo or Mary Fan simply looks at win/loss record and who beat who. Strength of schedule, injuries, and where the game was played are little factored in, but count considerably in determining who should be ranked where.”

The frustrating part is that while WBB fans argue about whether these rankings make any sense, they also know this isn’t just a women’s basketball problem.

AP Polls face criticism across multiple sports

The frustration with the AP Top 25 shows up in other sports, too, like men’s basketball and football. When the Week 10 rankings came out, BYU fans were clearly upset. The Cougars dropped two spots despite going 2-0 in that stretch, making them the lowest-ranked one-loss team from a power conference.

Fast forward a week, and the Cougars dropped two more spots after losing to Texas Tech. You can bet BYU fans won’t be thrilled with the rankings so far.

Speaking of football, when the college season began, LSU was ranked No. 9 in the country — a ranking that felt driven by brand name, last year’s results, and a lack of awareness. The results showed it. They weren’t close to a top-10 team, eventually firing Brian Kelly for poor performances and bringing in Lane Kiffin.

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Final Verdict: Should AP Polls be trusted?

Here’s something interesting: since 2004, every national champion has been ranked in the Top 12 of the AP Poll by Week 6. So, for all the criticism, the AP Top 25 hasn’t exactly lost its credibility.

In fact, Rebecca Lobo, who led UConn to its first national title in 1995, once said that when she was being recruited, schools would mail her clippings of the poll with their ranking highlighted just to show where they stood on the national stage.

That pretty much confirms how important these polls still are to programs. But it’s also true that the reporters who vote won’t always make decisions that match fan opinions. There’s a lot of calculation involved before the rankings are finalized, and you don’t have to agree with it.

And at the end of the day, these are humans, and humans can make mistakes.

It’s completely normal for fans to feel frustrated when their school doesn’t make the list or drops in the rankings for reasons that don’t seem fair. But the AP poll is more of a projection of who looks built for a deep run, not a final verdict. Look at last season: Texas was No. 1 on the women’s side, and Duke was No. 1 on the men’s, and neither won the title in the end.

At the end of the day, your AP ranking doesn’t win you games. Your performance does.