Alabama men’s basketball was ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press men’s basketball poll of the 2022-23 season, released Monday.

The Tide received 48 first-place votes, moving up three spots from its No. 4 ranking last week. No. 2 Houston received nine first-place votes, No. 3 Purdue received three and No. 7 UCLA received one.

It is the fourth time in program history that Alabama has been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. It happened in consecutive weeks during December 2002, then not again until last month, when Alabama was ranked No. 1 for one week before losing to Tennessee.

The No. 1 ranking is Alabama’s highest in a final AP poll in program history. Its previous best was No. 5, set both in 1956 and 2021.

The latest coaches poll was released Sunday night, with Alabama moving up three spots to No. 2. The Tide received eight first-place votes behind No. 1 Houston, which earned 21 first-place votes despite losing The American Conference tournament title game Sunday to Memphis. No. 3 Purdue received two first-place votes and No. 5 Kansas received one.

The coaches poll will release a final version after the NCAA tournament. Like the AP poll, the school’s highest finish in a final coaches poll was No. 5 in 1956 and 2021.

Alabama earned the No. 1 overall seed Sunday in the NCAA tournament, with the selection committee choosing Houston as the second-highest overall seed and Kansas as the third. The Tide will open the tournament Thursday at 1:45 p.m. CT in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena against the winner of Tuesday’s No. 16 seed play-in game between Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Southeast Missouri State.

Final AP poll (Mar. 13):

1. Alabama (48)

2. Houston (9)

3. Purdue (3)

4. Kansas

5. Texas

6. Marquette

7. UCLA (1)

8. Arizona

9. Gonzaga

10. UConn

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.