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Illinois Basketball Misses AP Top 25 Ranking By a Whisker

The Illini are 26th – first among “others receiving votes” – in the latest poll, released Monday
Steven Greenberg|
Nov 8, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Will Riley (7) shoots the ball over SIU Edwardsville Cougars forward Jo Valrie (33) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images
Nov 8, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Will Riley (7) shoots the ball over SIU Edwardsville Cougars forward Jo Valrie (33) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

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An updated AP Top 25 poll came out Monday, the first new poll since the preseason rankings that had Illinois’ men’s basketball team just barely on the outside looking in.

The Illini were 26th, or first among “others receiving votes,” in the preseason poll. That’s where they remained, again showing up at 26 – with 144 points, only three behind 25th-ranked Ole Miss.

As one of 62 voters in the weekly AP poll, I had the Illini at No. 20 on my preseason ballot and moved them up to No. 19 after their season-opening blowouts over Eastern Illinois (by 45 points) and SIU-Edwardsville (by 32).

The Big Ten has four teams in the current poll: Purdue at 13, Indiana at 16, Ohio State at 21 and Rutgers at 24. It’s going to be a long climb for the Big Ten to compete with the Big 12, which has five teams – Kansas (No. 1), Iowa State (7), Houston (8), Arizona (9) and Baylor (12) – ranked above the highest-ranked Big Ten team, Purdue.

The SEC also has three teams – Alabama (2), Auburn (5) and Tennessee (11) – above Purdue. Illinois’ first chance to make a major move in the rankings will come Nov. 20 against Alabama at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala., which is about an hour from the Crimson Tide’s campus. The Tide made it to the Final Four last season, one round further than the Illini went.

My latest ballot: 1. Kansas, 2. Alabama, 3. UConn, 4. Gonzaga, 5. Auburn, 6. Purdue, 7. North Carolina, 8. Iowa State, 9. Duke, 10. Arizona, 11. Houston, 12. Indiana, 13. Creighton, 14. Tennessee, 15. Michigan State, 16. Marquette, 17. Ole Miss, 18. Cincinnati, 19. Illinois, 20. Rutgers, 21. Clemson, 22. Kentucky, 23. New Mexico, 24. St. John’s, 25. Ohio State.

More From Illinois on Sports Illustrated:

Where Does Illinois Basketball Rank on Jay Bilas' Top 68 Teams List?

Best Freshman Debuts of the 2024-25 Season: How the Illini Stack Up

Rise to the Tide: Key Areas Illinois Must Fix Before Alabama Showdown

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Steven Greenberg
STEVEN GREENBERG

Greenberg is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, has written about college sports since the early 1990s. He covered University of Wisconsin football and basketball in the early 1990s before spending nearly 20 years as a magazine editor and writer. A former managing editor, features writer and college football columnist for The Sporting News, he has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Bleacher Report and joined the Sun-Times in 2013.

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