After the first week of play, the Breese Central Cougars left the biggest impression on area fans as they made a huge leap from #9 last week in the Preseason Poll to #3 this week. The Cougars won the Effingham-St. Anthony Thanksgiving Tournament with wins over Effingham, St. Anthony, and Robinson to start the season 3-0.
The top 2 of Centralia and Carterville remain where they were parked last week with Centralia grabbing the most first place votes and Carterville not receiving any. The Lions did not play last week.
Nashville took a big tumble down four spots to #10 after losing to Columbia last week and Marion fell out of the Top 10 entirely after losing in the 5th place game of the Mascoutah-Wesclin Tipoff Classic.
Here’s a look at the Full Rankings:
| Rank | School (First Place Votes) | Points | Rank Last Week |
| 1 | Centralia (6) | 63 | 1 (-) |
| 2 | Carterville | 60 | 2 (-) |
| 3 | Breese Central (1) | 50 | 9 (+6) |
| 4 | Massac County | 49 | 5 (+1) |
| 5 | Herrin (1) | 48 | 3 (-2) |
| 6 | Pinckneyville | 42 | 4 (-2) |
| 7 | Columbia (1) | 29 | NR |
| 8 | Mt. Vernon | 24 | 8 (-) |
| 9 | Teutopolis | 22 | 10 (+1) |
| 10 | Nashville | 15 | 6 (-4) |
Also receiving votes: Murphysboro 14, Breese Mater Dei 14, Olney 10, Carbondale 10, Carmi-White County 9, Marion 8, Mt. Carmel 6, Vienna 5, Goreville 4, Crab Orchard 4, Cisne 3, Benton 3, Freeburg 3
Southern Illinois Coaches interested in participating in the Coaches Poll can email mattv@riverradio.net to be included in the weekly poll.
