ESPN/USA TODAY POLL
November 22, 1998
The Top Twenty Five teams in the USA Today/ESPN college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 22, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
| Record | Points | Previous | |
| 1. Duke (20) | 3-0 | 739 | 1 |
| 2. Stanford (5) | 3-0 | 711 | 2 |
| 3. Connecticut (4) | 2-0 | 702 | 3 |
| 4. Kentucky (1) | 2-0 | 632 | 6 |
| 5. Maryland | 3-0 | 609 | 5 |
| 6. Temple | 4-0 | 599 | 7 |
| 7. Kansas | 3-0 | 509 | 8 |
| 8. North Carolina | 3-0 | 500 | 11 |
| 9. Michigan State | 2-1 | 489 | 4 |
| 10. Xavier | 2-0 | 455 | 10 |
| 11. Purdue | 3-0 | 403 | 16 |
| 12. UCLA | 1-0 | 399 | 13 |
| 13. Indiana | 4-0 | 354 | 17 |
| 14. Cincinnati | 1-0 | 314 | 15 |
| 15. Arizona | 1-0 | 310 | 20 |
| 16. Washington | 1-0 | 306 | 14 |
| 17. Oklahoma State | 3-0 | 294 | 18 |
| 18. Syracuse | 2-0 | 241 | 22 |
| 19. Arkansas | 4-1 | 209 | 19 |
| 20. New Mexico | 2-0 | 190 | 21 |
| 21. Utah | 1-1 | 184 | 12 |
| 22. Tennessee | 2-2 | 129 | 9 |
| 23. St. John's | 2-0 | 73 | - |
| 24. Clemson | 3-0 | 57 | - |
| 25. Massachusetts | 1-1 | 52 | 23 |