By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The first Associated Press Top 25 men’s basketball poll will be unveiled on Monday, and the St. Bonaventure Bonnies are projected to make the cut for the first time since the 1970-71 season.
The first AP voter to release his ballot is bullish on the Bonnies. Asbury Park Press and Gannett New Jersey college hoops writer Jerry Carino ranked the Bonnies 11th, their highest ranking by a single voter since College Poll Tracker began tracking votes in 2013.
Carino ranked Bona, the defending Atlantic 10 regular season and conference tournament champion, ahead of 2021 NCAA Elite Eight participant Arkansas as well as Atlantic Coast Conference powers Duke and North Carolina. Fellow A-10 contender Richmond ranked No. 23 on Carino’s ballot.
SBU, Carino reasoned, has five starters returning. “I’d rather reward St. Bonaventure,” he wrote, than blue-blood Kentucky or defending NIT champion Memphis. Upcoming Bona opponents Connecticut and Virginia Tech were “also considered.”
The first poll will be released around noon on Monday.
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