It was 1970. Joe Frazier was heavyweight champ, the Orioles had just won the World Series and — no surprise at all — the AP’s college basketball preseason poll started with UCLA at No. 1.
Checking in at No. 16 was Indiana, which was still a year away from hiring a 30-year-old coach by the name of Bob Knight. The Hoosiers were the only Big Ten team in what then was a Top 20 poll.
But why does the 1970 poll matter here? Because that was the last time the Big Ten didn’t have a team in the top 13 of the preseason poll until Monday, when the initial Top 25 was revealed with Purdue at 14, Indiana at 17, newcomer UCLA at 22 and Rutgers at 25.
Is the Big Ten really that down this season? It has 18 teams now, in case you didn’t know. One would think there’d be a real big bopper or two among them, but apparently not.
“I think it’s the best league in the country,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said a couple of weeks ago.
Could it be he’s the only one who does? The Illini, by the way, were 26th in the polling, first among others receiving votes.
If Purdue still had two-time national player of the year Zach Edey, the Boilermakers might have landed in the top spot. Instead, Kansas ran away with the polling, getting 30 of 60 first-place votes, including mine. Kansas added two high-scoring transfers to its returning trio of starters, giving coach Bill Self — a preseason No. 1 for the fifth time — a real shot at a third national championship.
But it’s impossible in this Wild West age of the transfer portal and NIL to be certain about any team. Last season, the Jayhawks went in as No. 1 but faltered early and often, a team that just didn’t come together or fit together. This season, they’ll be tested throughout by an absolutely loaded Big 12, an intoxicating mix of old standards and new hits — Kansas at 1, Houston at 4, Iowa State at 5, Baylor at 8, Arizona at 10 — that just makes you say, “Wow.” Out loud and everything.
The Big Ten, on the other hand, is getting no respect at all. Last year, it had Purdue and Michigan State in the preseason top four. This time in 2021, Michigan, Purdue and Illinois all were in the top 11. In 2020, six Big Ten teams made the preseason poll. That kind of respect was more typical.
Then again, the league still hasn’t won a national title since Michigan State cut down the nets in 2000. It seems unlikely that’ll change this season.
My AP preseason ballot
1. Kansas, 2. Alabama, 3. Houston, 4. UConn, 5. Purdue, 6. North Carolina, 7. Iowa State, 8. Gonzaga, 9. Duke, 10. Auburn, 11. Arizona, 12. Baylor, 13. Texas A&M, 14. Indiana, 15. Creighton, 16. Tennessee, 17. Michigan State, 18. Arkansas, 19. Marquette, 20. Illinois, 21. Cincinnati, 22. Texas, 23. Ole Miss, 24. Rutgers, 25. Clemson.
(Click here and then on “all voters” to see each voter’s individual ballot.)