At the top, the voting was easy.

All 62 voters in the Associated Press poll made Purdue (21-1) the No. 1 team in college basketball this week.

At the bottom, not so much. What team would slip just under the wire and claim that 25th and final spot?

Some of the candidates include:

• Mountain West leader San Diego State (17-4, 8-1), which has won 10 of its past 11, six by double-digit margins.

• Duke (15-6) is worthy after doubling up Georgia Tech, 86-43, and recently defeating Miami and Pitt.

So, too, are:

• Missouri (16-5, with its 17-point victory against No. 13 Iowa State)

• North Carolina (with its four-game winning streak and more talent than its 15-6 record indicates)

• And New Mexico (21-3, with road victories against No. 18 Saint Mary’s and No. 22 San Diego State).

With the poll due by 9 a.m. Monday, it makes for a Sunday night almost as agonizing as what the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joseph Ossai endured at the end of the AFC Championship Game.

As a voter in the poll, I considered all of those teams at No. 25, plus a few more. Finally, I settled on Pitt (15-7, 8-3 ACC).

Pitt, a team that hasn’t been ranked since 2016 and has been buried deep in the college basketball pecking order since Jamie Dixon left for TCU.

Pitt, winner of 14 of its past 18 games with a roster full of players who were strangers to each other as late as last summer.

Pitt, 8-3 and in third place in the ACC, one of the game’s most difficult conferences.

Pitt, it is.

I voted for Pitt for several reasons, not the least of which was its ability to win on the road, including victories at Northwestern (Big Ten runner-up at the moment), N.C. State and Syracuse. Those games in November and December count, too.

Also, Pitt doesn’t usually wilt at the end of close games. The Panthers are 5-2 in games decided by three or fewer points.

Of course, the problem with putting a seven-loss team in the Top 25 in January is you accept the risk of sitting all alone on a weak tree limb. But the crooked number (8) in the ACC win column is difficult to ignore.

In fact, only two other voters joined me in recognizing Pitt:

• David Jones, who covers Penn State for Harrisburg-based pennlive.com, ranked Pitt 19th.

• Mark Berman, who covers Virginia Tech and also has a Heisman vote, ranked Pitt 25th.

“I just felt like it was time for some new blood,” Jones said. “And I’m thinking (Sunday) of schools that might fit that criteria. First, I thought of Northwesten, playing really well.

“It’s remarkable, amazing,” he said of the Wildcats (15-5, 6-3). “I thought wait a minute. They got bombed by somebody. Oh, Pitt, beat the (heck) out of them (87-58 in Evanston, Ill.).

“I started looking at what Pitt had been doing lately, and they’re playing pretty well. They beat Miami (now ranked No. 23). They’ve won four league road games. Plus, they beat (No. 6) Virginia. I figured, why not?

“And they only lost to (No. 20) Clemson by a point.”

Why not San Diego State, for example?

“I see that conference,” Jones said, “and it’s just not that great.”

Berman, who writes for the Roanoke (Va.) Times, said he considered Northwestern, Illinois, USC, North Carolina, N.C. State and Boise State at No. 25.

“I also thought about leaving UConn or Charleston on my ballot. But in the end, I decided to make Pittsburgh my No. 25 team after the Panthers beat Wake Forest and Miami. Pitt has not only beaten Miami but also Virginia.”

Berman said he also was swayed by Pitt’s victories against North Carolina, Northwestern and N.C. State.

All of this poll talk is lost on Pitt coach Jeff Capel, who spoke with reporters Monday while preparing for a rematch Wednesday night in Chapel Hill, N.C., with North Carolina.

Unlike Pat Narduzzi after Pitt was unranked in the 2020 preseason poll, Capel said he is not irritated that 59 of 62 voters failed to rank his team.

“It doesn’t bother me, man,” Capel said. “I would love it for our guys. Don’t get me wrong.

Jeff Capel, on how he’s not concerned about the AP poll … pic.twitter.com/samfuY47iR

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) January 30, 2023

“Are we deserving? I think we are. But sometimes, as a coach, you have to play the game with these people, and I’m not playing the game. I’m not kissing their butt. I’m not returning every text.

“I understand. I’m older now. This is not the 27-year-old (coach) who was at VCU or the 31-year-old that was at Oklahoma. I understand how some of this stuff works.

“I’m very comfortable just being in my lane with my guys. We’ll, hopefully, let our work take care of any of that stuff.”

Jamarius Burton, on Pitt getting almost no love in the AP poll … pic.twitter.com/mwjDdRk9Jn

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) January 30, 2023

Some people believe perception is reality, but Pitt’s Jamarius Burton doesn’t agree. How Pitt is/was perceived now and in the past is irrelevant, he said.

“Like (Pitt’s) Blake (Hinson) said, ‘What you thought about us before doesn’t matter.’ All that matters is what we’re doing internally. We’re just focused on each game at a time. If we continue to do that, everything else will take care of itself.”