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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team:
Illinois fell once again just outside the Associated Press Top 25 when the latest poll dropped late Monday morning. Let's take a closer look at the full poll and how the Illini fared:
- Being among the other teams receiving votes again this week made for eight straight weeks of that status for Illinois. Checking in at nominally No. 28 tied for the highest mark in that stretch.
- The Illini appeared on 23 ballots this week while being leff off 39 ballots. WDRB-TV's Rick Bozich had Illinois the highest at No. 17. I was one of seven voters, including the Chicago Sun-Times' Steve Greenberg, that voted Illinois at No. 25. There was at least one vote for the Illini at every spot between Nos. 17-25.
- Alabama was the new No. 1 this week, which was a first for the program. (Nate Oats > Nick Saban?) The Crimson Tide received 38 of the 62 votes. Houston got 22 votes on the top line, and Purdue held on to just two.
whoever voted Purdue as #1 should be banned as a voter https://t.co/oxbgkTBRaA
— Nate Oats Burner (@nate_oatsb) February 13, 2023
It me.
- Difficult, at least for me, to understand how at least one voter didn't have Kansas State, Indiana, Xavier, Creighton or UConn on their respective ballot.
- The widest margin for a team that was on at least one ballot was UConn, which got one vote at No. 6 and was left off seven ballots.
- My ballot had three "extreme picks" with a vote for a team five spots higher or lower than it wound up in the actual poll. My "extreme picks" this week were Creighton at No. 12, Tennessee at No. 15, Gonzaga at No. 19 and Florida Atlantic at No. 20.