Illinois moves up to #21 in the AP Poll and #22 in the Coaches Poll.
Illinois #21 in AP Poll
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Woohoo! Love being ranked! Let’s go on a run and enter the Tournament top 15!!
OurMottoisOskeeWowWow
- Illinois
Sorry to ask but when is the last time Illinois was ranked after the regular season? 2006?
kiwanegarris22
- South Carolina
Great question. I decided to check the final AP poll going back to the late 1960's. Thought I'd share. Needless to say, we've been in a bit of a slump since Dee graduated:
1969: 20 - Harv Schmidt
1984: 6 - Lou Henson
1985: 12
1986: 19
1987: 11
1988: 16
1989: 3
1990: 18
1997: 19
1998: 22 - Lon Kruger
2000: 21
2001: 4 - Bill Self
2002: 13
2003: 11
2004: 13 - Bruce Weber
2005: 1
2006: 13
2020: 21 - Brad Underwood (not final --- 1 week remaining)
I think Kruger was the coach in 1997. That would better explain Lou Henson being let go after six years of mediocre performance.
haasi
- New York
Lou retired in 1996- yes, after a mediocre stretch. He was retired for a year and then came back to coach NM st in 1997.
https://apnews.com/b98671d84449ca04351bf00120b08b01
kiwanegarris22
- South Carolina
EDIT: #19 in 1981, too.
Those last six years were more on Satan, Digger and the General than they were on Lou.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
You love to see it.
kiwanegarris22
- South Carolina
Alright - year 1 of the turnaround is complete!
NCAA tourney simulations will confirm exactly how good this AYO-LED TEAM really is. We should be a 6 or 7 seed in most sims.
NCAA tourney simulations will confirm exactly how good this AYO-LED TEAM really is. We should be a 6 or 7 seed in most sims.
Congrats to the whole team and staff. Who would have thought that we would be a top 25 team after the Mz game? Hard work pays off. When the 20-21 season kicks off I think this would be about where we should be rated. The Emerald Island tourney should give us a good indicator of where we stand as a team.
illini80
- Forgottonia
Not the right thread for this, but there are too many unknowns to make many predictions just yet. We need to know who is actually going to be on the team. Certainly possible though.
Refreshing to have a team in contention and nationally relevant. It's amazing UI hasn't finished a season in the AP Top 25 in over 13 years. An overlong drought. We could discuss the reasons for that, but I'd rather enjoy the resurgence. The program finally seems to be on its way back to prominence. Any team that can survive the B1G gauntlet is legit.