Not surprised at #10, but think the Illini should be above Nebraska and Purdue and maybe Kansas. That said, perhaps the most surprising thing to me in this poll is only 33 teams managed to get at least 1 Top 25 vote.
Illinois #10 in 2/16 AP Poll
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I stand corrected! 
Very surprised Florida didn't leapfrog us. That's gonna be the 3 seed all the 2 seeds want to avoid.
Very surprised Florida didn't leapfrog us. That's gonna be the 3 seed all the 2 seeds want to avoid.
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
Illinois #10 in AP Poll
NCAA College Basketball Rankings: AP Top 25 Basketball Poll
The official page for the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. Keep up to date and view the latest NCAA men's basketball ranking updates each week for the 2025-26 season.apnews.com
Hopefully only up from here!
We check alot of boxes!
Clean week, won 2 road games (Neb.
, Iowa).
That’s not a good enough reason to jump that many spots.
Yeah, solid week there. Two tough road games and the way they smacked Iowa was impressive.
Nebraska being ahead of us....that's a bit more tough to rationalize.
Purdue is more tough to rationalize being that didn’t do anything last week that we also didn’t do. They move up to 7 for beating an unranked team and Nebraska in OT when we beat that team by 9 down a starter. Add to the fact that we beat them head to head on their home court. This will never make sense to me.
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
They got beat by 18 in their last game and move up one. We lose to #24 in overtime by a bucket and beat a tournament team Indiana by 20 and move down 2. Makes no sense.
The AP never gives Illinois any respect. Purdue beat 2 mediocre teams and moves up 5-6 places. Kansas loses badly at Iowa State, MSU lose badly at Wisconsin [lost 3 of 4] Kansas moves up. Bull ---sh---itt again. The writers move teams up and down like chinese checkers all except their beloved Duke, Kansas, North Carolina. Hope Illini run table and I wouldn't let AP writers near the campus!
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
The six teams immediately in front of them were five who lost and Gonzaga with whom they were virtually tied anyway.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
On the spectrum of AP Poll Nostalgia to Only Computer Rankings Matter ... I am definitely at least in the middle and possibly sympathetically toward the former. With that said, this is the part of the AP Poll that I have always found completely nonsensical. I get that Wisconsin also beat #10 MSU in convincing fashion, so I am not ignoring that. However, the pollsters should either...
(A) Assume Wisconsin is legit and not penalize us for an OT loss, while moving Wisconsin up a lot.
(B) Be skeptical of Wisconsin and penalize us for a "bad loss," while not moving Wisconsin up a lot.
When I think of classic / prototypical AP voter behavior, I imagine a scenario where #5 loses at #25. They'll drop #5 to #9 or #10, and they'll bump up #25 to like #15 for such a huge upset, lol. With some exceptions, they treat it like a "ladder up, ladder down" game based on one week of results a lot of the time, haha.
With that said, #10 is probably fair only because of what other teams did. In isolation, I stand by the idea that you should pick (A) or (B), and ride with the conclusion.
The selective omissions here tell the entire story. I added in the missing pieces.
Here's my theory on this. Three factors:
1. Last week, Purdue won their only matchup, but it was not an impressive victory and voters were wary of the 3 consecutive losses they'd had earlier and didn't reward them. In fact, Purdue moved down one spot to #13 in last week's poll, despite getting the win. Voters wanted more proof before starting to move Purdue back up. This week, they got the proof. Both of those victories were impressive. So I think there's a little bit of rewarding 3-0 over the last 2 weeks, rather than 2-0 over the last week.
2. Purdue was really highly ranked to begin the season. I think there's a bit of a bias towards preseason rankings, even for teams that subsequently move down. I think voters remember which teams they ranked highly preseason, and default to the thinking that "I always knew that team was good, they had some hiccups, but I think they're back."
3. Other teams ahead of them losing. Always gotta look at what other teams do.
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Just don't think the "down a starter" logic applies to the AP poll. I believe it matters to the selection committee, but not to the AP.
Voters in the AP poll can use any logic they want, and I am certain some of them factor in stuff like this. Do all of them? No. But some do, so it has some influence, though it's impossible to say how much.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
It does if you assume that the average AP voter is lazy and thoughtless, and that the std deviation among the voters is low.
They also beat that #4 team by 21 less than a month ago and were on an 8 game win streak which may or may not have mattered.
hooraybeer
- Peoria, IL
massive week for michigan, wow
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