Week 17 Polls - March 9, 2009

[Chris Yates]

We're still in the top 25 in the coaches' polling, landing at number 25.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/rankings

Parrish also still has us in his top 25 (at number 22), and we're also still in the RPI top 25 (at number 20).

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/polls

[NV Illini 74]

ESPN/USA Today Poll

1. North Carolina (23) 27-3 767
2. Pittsburgh (5) 28-3 740
3. Memphis (3) 28-3 702
4. Connecticut 27-3 679
5. Louisville 25-5 659
6. Michigan State 25-5 608
7. Oklahoma 27-4 592
8. Duke 25-6 545
9. Wake Forest 24-5 532
10. Washington 24-7 466
11. Kansas 25-6 444
12. Gonzaga 25-5 426
13. Villanova 25-6 410
14. UCLA 24-7 369
15. Missouri 25-6 327
16. LSU 25-6 274
17. Butler 26-4 251
18. Clemson 23-7 223
19. Xavier 24-6 196
20. Syracuse 23-8 182
21. Marquette 23-8 157
22. Florida State 23-8 135
23. Arizona State 22-8 133
24. Purdue 22-9 68
25. Illinois 23-8 57

Others Receiving Votes

Saint Mary's 43, Brigham Young 30, Utah State 23, Dayton 11, California 9, Utah 7, Boston College 3, Texas 3, Texas A&M 2, Siena 1, Weber State 1.

[NV Illini 74]

Gotta wonder how they have Purdue ahead of us again.

Good to see OK drop - IMO they are overrated, but get kudos for Blake Griffin. Wouldn't mind being in their bracket.

Also over rated, still, IMO, are Memphis, Gonzaga and Butler for sure, and maybe Washington and UCLA, but I have not seen much P10 ball this year.

[illini4everjp]

How is Purdue STILL ahead of us?

Penn State didn't even recieve votes? I know they lost to Iowa but come on.

[CrazedUIFan]

Originally Posted by illini4everjp

How is Purdue STILL ahead of us?

Penn State didn't even recieve votes? I know they lost to Iowa but come on.

That right there is why

[illini4everjp]

Originally Posted by NV Illini 74

Gotta wonder how they have Purdue ahead of us again.

Good to see OK drop - IMO they are overrated, but get kudos for Blake Griffin. Wouldn't mind being in their bracket.

Also over rated, still, IMO, are Memphis, Gonzaga and Butler for sure, and maybe Washington and UCLA, but I have not seen much P10 ball this year.

UCLA has been overrated for weeks.

[CrazedUIFan]

AP Top 25

The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through March 8, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
Record Pts Pvs
1. North Carolina (35) 27-3 1,734 2
2. Pittsburgh (33) 28-3 1,731 3
3. Connecticut 27-3 1,592 1
4. Memphis (2) 28-3 1,544 5
5. Louisville (1) 25-5 1,513 6
6. Oklahoma 27-4 1,399 4
7. Michigan St. 25-5 1,349 8
8. Wake Forest 24-5 1,246 10
9. Duke 25-6 1,237 7
10. Villanova 25-6 1,108 11
11. Kansas 25-6 1,038 9
12. Gonzaga 25-5 978 14
13. Washington 24-7 910 16
14. Missouri 25-6 779 15
15. UCLA 24-7 752 20
16. Butler 26-4 536 22
17. Clemson 23-7 528 18
18. Syracuse 23-8 518 25
19. Xavier 24-6 465 17
20. LSU 25-6 461 12
21. Marquette 23-8 453 13
22. Florida St. 23-8 333 24
23. Arizona St. 22-8 199 21
24. Purdue 22-9 169 19
25. BYU 24-6 158 -
Others receiving votes: Illinois 131, Texas A&M 63, Saint Mary's, Calif. 56, Utah 21, West Virginia 17, Auburn 9, Dayton 7, Utah St. 6, Va. Commonwealth 6, Weber St. 5, Creighton 4, N. Iowa 3, Oklahoma St. 3, Siena 3, California 2, New Mexico 2, Penn St. 2, Texas 2, American U. 1, Ohio St. 1, Tennessee 1.

[illini4everjp]

BYU? Really?

[Wittsdream]

Is this the final regular season poll, or is that recorded after all the conference tournaments are over? And which poll (ESPN/USA Today or AP) is considered the official one for the record books when someone wants to know if a program finished the regular season in the Top 25?

[Irish]

Originally Posted by illini4everjp

BYU? Really?

Thats exactly what I was just thinking.....

It is what it is, I would like to see us make a run in the big ten tournament to hopefully improve our seeding for the big dance.

Memphis does not deserve to be in the top five IMO. While everyone else has been playing ranked opponents they have been busy beating up on C-USA. If they get a number 1 seed for the big dance I think that is complete crap. I expect them to get upset, but I guess I will need to see the bracket before I go ahead and make that prediction.

[AK Illini]

Falling out is for the better, we finished our last 5 games under .500 and have looked rather anemic in victory.

[orangekrush12]

Yeah...IMO we definitely don't deserve to be ranked after last week. Hopefully we can turn things around in the B10 tournament, where we've done well historically.

[wpr]

I would have never thought the 2008-09 team would be sitting at 25-26. It has been an exciting season. That said, it is time for the guys to crank it up a couple of notches and really make this a memorable year.
My money is on Chester to lead them on to victory.

[davidlee930]

lol @ purdue.

[BananaShampoo]

Yeah we haven't played all that great lately, but we had a tough schedule. I think #2 in the Big Ten should at least have you in the Top 25. It IS the second toughest conference in the country in RPI.

[zpfled]

Hopefully they play like they did last time we were unranked!

[zoggle101]

BYU has a great player that I know of in Lee Cummard and another I know very little about other than he scores more than Cummard. The kids name is traveni and the only reason I know about him is because I check box scores on a nightly basis.

UCLA is full and I mean full of talent. They senior leaders in Aboyo(I swear they always have one guys with this last name), Shipp, and Collinson. Keefe might be a senior too along with Mike roll. They have another big man who can step outside and drain shots in Dragovic. I've said all this before but they also have the top 4 out of 5 players out of California is this years class along with big man J mison Morgan. I'm not calling them over rated ever.

[OrangeFever]

Originally Posted by BananaShampoo

Yeah we haven't played all that great lately, but we had a tough schedule. I think #2 in the Big Ten should at least have you in the Top 25. It IS the second toughest conference in the country in RPI.

Unless you don't think much of the Big Ten, which the poll voters outside the conference don't . . .

[U of I 89-05-10]

UI - No. 2 seed in the BTT; ranked 25th
PU - No. 3 seed in the BTT; ranked 24th

Okay. Well, let's become the first team in the Conference to win three Big Ten Tournament titles. Here's to praying Iowa beats UM!!!!

[ksdksdksd]

Memphis would win the BIG TEN every year if they were in the conference. Besides, Michigan State needs some competition. Why not allow Memphis to join? The Big Ten would love to increase their recruiting and market share for the Big Ten network in the South (and get some of those speedy recruits from the SEC). It would be the greatest insult to the SEC to have a Big Ten school in their on back yard! That's of course if the Big Ten doesn't get Syracuse, Rutgers, of the biggest catch of them all Missouri!

[ksdksdksd]

Memphis basketball will have the #1 recruiting class next year and is trying to schedule a game against Duke in Chicago next season.

[illynifan34]

That's nice, the Big Ten has academic standards though, sorry, better luck next century.

[wpr]

Originally Posted by ksdksdksd

Memphis would win the BIG TEN every year if they were in the conference. Besides, Michigan State needs some competition. Why not allow Memphis to join? The Big Ten would love to increase their recruiting and market share for the Big Ten network in the South (and get some of those speedy recruits from the SEC). It would be the greatest insult to the SEC to have a Big Ten school in their on back yard! That's of course if the Big Ten doesn't get Syracuse, Rutgers, of the biggest catch of them all Missouri!

I doubt that the B10 is considering expanding at this time.

[wpr]

Originally Posted by illynifan34

That's nice, the Big Ten has academic standards though, sorry, better luck next century.

It would take Memphis more than a century to get their standards up to B10 caliber.

[CrazedUIFan]

Originally Posted by wpr

I doubt that the B10 is considering expanding at this time.

And I highly doubt Memphis would be a consideration.