Two human polls made up the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings, the AP Poll and the Coaches Poll, in addition to various publications' preseason polls.
With the release of the poll on November 30, Kansas was ranked in the AP poll for the 223rd consecutive week, breaking the record set by UCLA from 1966–1980.[1] Nine weeks later, with the release of the poll on February 8, the streak that began with the February 2, 2009 poll would end at 232.
| Increase in ranking | |||
| Decrease in ranking | |||
| New to rankings from previous week | |||
| Italics | Number of first-place votes | ||
| (#–#) | Win–loss record | ||
| т | Tied with team above or below also with this symbol |
The Coaches Poll is the second-oldest poll still in use after the AP Poll. It is compiled by a rotating group of 31 college Division I head coaches. The poll operates by Borda count. Each voting member ranks teams from 1 to 25. Each team then receives points for their ranking in reverse order: Number 1 earns 25 points, number 2 earns 24 points, and so forth. The points are then combined and the team with the highest number of points is then ranked No. 1; second highest is ranked No. 2 and so forth. Only the top 25 teams with points are ranked, with teams receiving first-place votes noted the quantity next to their name. The maximum points a single team can earn is 775.