Combining the rankings

[SWC75]

I have a feeling that we might have both SU football and basketball teams in the Top 25 this year. I wondered when we had last done that and I wondered what the best combined year we’d had in the polls was. I got out the Media Guides, the ESPN Encyclopedias and looked at their website for last year. I looked at the ranking in the final polls only and gave 25 points for 1st, 24 for second etc. The ‘final’ poll is before post-season play in football until 1968 and in basketball until 1992-93. Also, the writer’s poll included only 10 teams in football from 1962-67 and didn’t become 25 until 1989. Basketball became a Top 25 in 1987-88. I used the highest ranking in either the writer’s or coach’s polls. The 1952 football team and the 1965-66 basketball teams were the first ones to appear in the final rankings.

1952-53 FB 14th coaches = 12 points
1956-57 FB 8th both = 18 points
1958-59 FB 9th writers, 10th coaches = 17 points
1959-60 FB 1st in both polls = 25 points
1960-61 FB 19th writers = 7 points
1961-62 FB 14th writers 16th coaches = 12 points
1963-64 FB 12th coaches = 14 points
1964-65 FB 12th coaches = 14 points
1965-66 FB 19th coaches + BB 16th coaches = 17 points
1966-67 FB 16th coaches = 10 points
1967-68 FB 12th coaches = 14 points
1972-73 BB 14th in both polls = 12 points
1974-75 BB 6th writers = 20 points
1976-77 BB 6th writers, 9th coaches = 20 points
1978-79 BB 8th writers 10th coaches = 18 points
1979-80 BB 6th writers 6th coaches = 20 points
1983-84 BB 18th writers 16th coaches = 10 points
1984-85 BB 15th in both polls = 11 points
1985-86 BB 9th in both polls = 17 points
1986-87 BB 10th in both polls = 16 points
1987-88 FB 4th in both polls + BB 9th in both polls = 39 points
1988-89 FB 13th writers, 12th coaches + BB 7th writers 9th coaches = 33 points
1989-90 BB 6th in both polls = 20 points
1990-91 FB 23rd coaches + BB 7th writer’s 8th coaches = 22 points
1991-92 FB 11th in both polls + BB 21st writer’s 20th coaches = 21 points
1992-93 FB 6th writers, 7th coaches = 20 points
1993-94 BB 15th writers, 14th coaches = 11 points
1994-95 BB 25th writer’s 17th coaches = 9 points
1995-96 FB 19th writer’s, 16th coaches + BB 15th writers, 3rd coaches = 33 points
1996-97 FB 21st writer’s, 19th coaches = 7 points
1997-98 FB 21st writer’s, 20th coaches + BB 21st writer’s, 13th coaches = 19 points
1998-99 FB 25th writer’s, 24th coaches = 2 points
1999-00 BB 16th writer’s, 12th coaches = 14 points
2000-01 BB 17th writer’s, 18th coaches = 9 points
2001-02 FB 14th in both polls = 12 points
2002-03 BB 11th writer’s, 1st coaches = 25 points
2003-04 BB 20th writer’s, 19th coaches = 7 points
2004-05 BB 11th writer’s, 21th coaches = 15 points
2005-06 BB 21st writer’s = 5 points
2008-09 BB 13th writer’s, 12th coaches = 14 points
2009-10 BB 4th writer’s, 8th coaches = 22 points
2010-11 BB 12th writer’s, 18th coaches = 14 points
2011-12 BB 2nd writer’s, 5th coaches = 24 points
2012-13 BB 16th writer’s, 3rd coaches = 23 points
2013-14 BB 11th writer’s, 17th coaches = 15 points
2015-16 BB 10th in the coach’s poll = 16 points
2018-19 FB 15th in both polls = 11 points

So the answer to my initial question is 1997-98, the last year both our FB and BB teams were ranked in the top 25 in the final poll. In fact, it’s only happened 7 times: 1965-66, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1990-91, 1991-92, 1995-96, 1997-98. This year could be the 8th.

Our top ten years:
1987-88 39 points
1988-89 33 points
1995-96 33 points
1959-60 25 points
2002-03 25 points
2011-12 24 points
2012-13 23 points
1990-91 22 points
2009-10 22 points
1991-92 21 points