Iowa State Basketball Moving in Right Direction of AP Poll

The last AP Poll Top 25 before the NCAA tournament gets underway has the Iowa State Cyclones men's basketball team moving in the right direction.

Mar 13, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones bench reacts after a play during the second half against the Arizona Wildcats at T-Mobile Center. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Iowa State Cyclones finished the 2025-26 men’s basketball regular season with a 25-6 record, putting them at No. 7 in the AP Poll Top 25.

As the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament, they received a bye into the second round and would have opportunities to improve their standing for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. And that is exactly what they did.

The Cyclones put a historic beatdown on the Arizona State Sun Devils before blowing out the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the quarterfinals, 75-53. Their run was ended by the Arizona Wildcats, who won at the buzzer courtesy of Jaden Bradley.

However, Iowa State did enough to move up the seed line for the NCAA tournament. They are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region. Their two wins were also enough to move them up the final AP Poll Top 25 ahead of March Madness.

Where did Iowa State land in latest AP Poll Top 25?

Mar 12, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Jamarion Batemon (1) shoots the ball during the second half against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at T-Mobile Center. | William Purnell-Imagn Images

The Cyclones are ranked No. 6 heading into the tournament, moving up one spot as they flipped with the UConn Huskies, who were defeated by the St. John’s Red Storm in the Big East championship game, 72-52.

St. John’s made a sizable move up the AP Poll, rising three spots to No. 10, which makes their No. 5 seed in the East Region all the more of a head-scratcher. However, that was tied with the Arkansas Razorbacks for the fourth-highest jump.

The largest jump belongs to the Purdue Boilermakers, who moved up 10 spots courtesy of winning the Big Ten tournament, defeating the Michigan Wolverines in the championship game, and landing at No. 8.

The Vanderbilt Commodores, who lost in the SEC championship game to the Razorbacks, moved up six spots to No. 16. The Wisconsin Badgers, who gave everything they had against the Wolverines in the Big Ten semifinals, landed at No. 19 after moving up four spots.

Entering the Tournament at #⃣6⃣#Cyclones | #C5C pic.twitter.com/hLZeLl2DTq

— Iowa State Men’s Basketball (@CycloneMBB) March 16, 2026

The Big 12 ends up with five teams in the AP Poll Top 25 heading into the NCAA Tournament. Half of the top six represent the conference, with Arizona at No. 2, the Houston Cougars at No. 5 and Iowa State at No. 6.

The Kansas Jayhawks and Texas Tech both dropped multiple spots. Kansas fell to No. 17, falling three spots after getting obliterated by Houston in their semifinal. The Red Raiders dropped four spots to No. 20 after being one-and-one in the conference tournament.

The BYU Cougars and TCU Horned Frogs also received votes but were on the outside looking in, coming in at Nos. 27 and 30 based on points.

There wasn’t a single point earned by the UCF Knights, the eighth and final Big 12 representative in the NCAA tournament field.