Illinois Scholastic Bowl Coaches' Poll

In editions of Scholastic Visions, the official quarterly publication of the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association, there are results of best-team polls conducted throughout the season. While any member is free to vote, voting is generally not taken up by more than a few.

There are separate rankings for Class AA (big schools) and Class A (little schools), though coaches can submit one for each class. Since its inception in 2000, Kevin Palmer, the coach at Fremd High School has been in charge of tabulation.

In a few noted cases, voters broke from the final IHSA results to vote a school higher than their finish in the IHSA State Series, accounting for the geographically-based (rather than performance-based) distribution of Regionals and Sectionals and the similar grouping of pools at the State Finals. Most notably:

2000-01: a great Lake Zurich team favored to make a run for the state title was upset by New Trier in the first round of the Sectional (which was then three rounds of single elimination), which in turn lost the Sectional Final to Stevenson. IMSA, winner of the state title, was ranked fourth, likely because they were left off of some ballots in protest.
2004-05: Fremd was knocked out in the Sectional by Stevenson, but was ranked #1 in the final poll, despite Stevenson winning the IHSA State Title.
2005-06: The Latin School bested Winnebago in pool play at the IHSA State Title, forcing Winnebago to settle for 3rd place. Despite this, the coaches recognized that Winnebago and Latin were by far the best two Class A teams in state that year, and appropriately voted Winnebago second place over IVC.
2006-07: Maine South was knocked out of the Sectional by New Trier. Despite not appearing at the IHSA State Championship Tournament, the team was voted third in state. St. Ignatius finished third in the same Sectional as New Trier and Maine South, but strong play throughout the year garnered them enough support to finish ahead of a Libertyville team which took 4th place at the IHSA State Championship Tournament. Oak Park-River Forest did not even win its own regional (losing to St. Ignatius), but had earned enough respect to earn the 8th spot, tied with Libertyville.