Illinois Basketball Tumbles – Too Far? – in Latest AP Top 25 Voting

Voters may have overcorrected on the Illini after their loss to outstanding Alabama

Nov 23, 2024; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Will Riley (7) shoots the ball over Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks forward Jalen Ware (24) during the first half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images / Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Bombshell alert: Illinois is out of the new AP Top 25 men's basketball poll.

OK, fine, so it's not surprising at all after the Illini – who were ranked 25th in the Week 3 poll – were beaten by Alabama 100-87 last Wednesday in Birmingham, Alabama. There was only one likely place to go from there, and that was into the land of "others receiving votes." The Illini are sixth on that list in the Week 4 poll, the equivalent of a No. 31 ranking.

POLL ALERT: Kansas stays at No. 1 ahead of showdown vs. No. 11 Duke, Tennessee into the top 10, Ole Miss, Mississippi St back in AP Top 25.

Full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWrsa pic.twitter.com/VgACZM8G30

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) November 25, 2024

But it's worth pointing out that the Tide were a Final Four team last season, were ranked No. 2 heading into this one and – despite an early loss at Purdue that knocked them deeper into the top 10 – are on everybody's list of national championship contenders.

Also, 10 teams in the current Top 25 have lost at least once, and two of them – No. 17 Baylor and No. 24 Arizona – have lost twice. Baylor lost to Gonzaga by 38 points. Arizona lost by 15 to Wisconsin and 14 to Duke. Maybe a bunch of voters still have early-season rust to shake off.

As one of 62 voters in the weekly AP poll, I had the Illini at No. 20 on my preseason ballot, dropped them a spot to No. 21 last week and kept them around at No. 23 this time. I also have Alabama a few spots higher than they are in the collective poll. (And neither Baylor nor Arizona made the cut for me.)

The Big Ten has only three teams in the current poll: Purdue at 13, Indiana at 14 and Wisconsin at 15. Ohio State is two spots ahead of the Illini on the "others" list.

AP Top 25: 1. Kansas, 2. UConn, 3. Gonzaga, 4. Auburn, 5. Iowa State, 6. Houston, 7. Tennessee, 8. Kentucky, 9. Alabama, 10. Marquette, 11. Duke, 12. North Carolina, 13. Purdue, 14. Indiana, 15. Wisconsin, 16. Cincinnati, 17. Baylor, 18. Florida, 19. Arkansas, 20. Texas A&M, 21. Creighton, 22. Xavier, 23. Ole Miss, 24. Arizona, 25. Mississippi State.

My latest ballot: 1. Kansas, 2. UConn, 3. Gonzaga, 4. Auburn, 5. North Carolina, 6. Alabama, 7. Iowa State, 8. Houston, 9. Marquette, 10. Purdue, 11. Tennessee, 12. Wisconsin, 13. Kentucky, 14. Duke, 15. Indiana, 16. Ole Miss, 17. Cincinnati, 18. Xavier, 19. Michigan State, 20. Florida, 21. Texas A&M, 22. Texas, 23. Illinois, 24. BYU, 25. Creighton.

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