In AP poll’s earliest days, some Black schools weren’t on the radar and many teams missed out

By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Writer

The teams at Tennessee State in a three-season span from 1956 through 1959 were nearly unbeatable. They had a coach in John McLendon who would be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach and contributor. They had five players who would play in the NBA, one of them a future All-Star. They won three consecutive NAIA national titles. They won 94 of 102 games. And they never spent a day in The Associated Press men’s basketball poll. The AP poll has had a simple mandate over its 75 years of existence: pick the best teams in the country each week. But in the poll’s earliest days, some great teams might have missed out.