Illinois ranked #21 in AP Poll (Jan. 20th)

[Deleted member 4333]

'Wipe Out' by the Surfaris is now playing in my head.
Thanks Kat.

 

[BRucks]

I'm just saying don't get your hopes up we might win conf, or we may even miss the tourney if things go bad. We still have terrible outside shooting and Kofi foul trouble away from being a similar team to last year. We have improved, but the Big Ten is killer this year.

To date there haven't been foul issues for Kofi. Who would have predicted that?

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

To date there haven't been foul issues for Kofi. Who would have predicted that?

The only game I remember being legitimately nervous about foul trouble for the team in general was, of course, under the tyranny of the Madison, WI refs ... and we won anyway.

I actually have the opposite view of some on our three-point shooting ... I really don't think it can get much worse, and we're already grinding out some impressive, hard fought wins. If we have a game where Trent or Griffin or someone else gets hot shooting, that's just more padding; I am confident that our generally tough D and tough play can keep us in most games.

 

[220Illini]

You're new to being a sports fan, aren't you?

Message boards are not the place you go for even-keeled discussion. Just look at every post-game thread we've ever had here.

This board in particular could go from a potential 1 point win and booking tickets to the sweet 16, to a late mistake costing us the game and wondering if the coach’s entire system is flawed and if he should be canned.

If we lose 2 of the next 3, Twitter in particular will be full of the “same old team. Underwood experiment is over” talk

 

[Illwinsagain]

This board in particular could go from a potential 1 point win and booking tickets to the sweet 16, to a late mistake costing us the game and wondering if the coach’s entire system is flawed and if he should be canned.

If we lose 2 of the next 3, Twitter in particular will be full of the “same old team. Underwood experiment is over” talk

I hope not. I was as frustrated as many post Miznoz/MSU, but we are 5-2 and going on the road against 2 quality opponents. Winning is not expected, but still realistic. Now, if we lose all 3..............

 

[alaskaillini]

This board in particular could go from a potential 1 point win and booking tickets to the sweet 16, to a late mistake costing us the game and wondering if the coach’s entire system is flawed and if he should be canned.

If we lose 2 of the next 3, Twitter in particular will be full of the “same old team. Underwood experiment is over” talk

Since we are going to be favored in only 1 of the next 6 games, we could be less than .500 in conference in a couple of weeks while still being expected to finish 11-9. Hope they find a way to win 2 or more of those games, but not going to freak out if they only win 1.

 

[LostinNebraska]

I think one of the xfactors for the next week will be whether Giorgi keeps shooting and making his jumper. Here's hoping he keeps the swagger from the Northwestern game. It's 90% confidence when you put in as much practice time as these kids do.

 

[JIllini]

Since we are going to be favored in only 1 of the next 6 games, we could be less than .500 in conference in a couple of weeks while still being expected to finish 11-9. Hope they find a way to win 2 or more of those games, but not going to freak out if they only win 1.

We should be favored in two, Minn and Maryland at home. Maryland, despite their ranking, has yet to win on the road against anyone. Not saying it's a sure thing, but we have to be the favorites in that one. If we only win 1 of the next 6 we should be pretty diasppointed.

 

[ktal]

If we only win 1 of the next 6 we should be pretty disappointed

On this board? Uh, yeah, I think we'll have that covered. /s

 

[Illini_Jack]

We may be #21 Nationally but we are #1 in Andy Katz heart

 

[alaskaillini]

We should be favored in two, Minn and Maryland at home. Maryland, despite their ranking, has yet to win on the road against anyone. Not saying it's a sure thing, but we have to be the favorites in that one. If we only win 1 of the next 6 we should be pretty diasppointed.

You are correct. I misread the schedule, although I think Kenpom may have us as a dog in the Maryland game.

 

[Illiniguy90]

Probably need to split these next two to stay ranked next week, right?

I think we can lose both and stay ranked if we have the lead in the 2nd half in both game and lose by a combined total of less than 5 points.

I also think we could win 1 lose 1 and still get dropped from the rankings if we lose by more than 18 pts and win by less than 3.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

It goes without saying that we largely control our own destiny at Michigan on Saturday, as far as rising in the rankings. However, here were some results last night from teams just ahead of us!

#18 Texas Tech loses at TCU, 65-54
#17 Maryland wins at Northwestern, 77-67 (took a big comeback ... they have not looked overly impressive lately)
#15 Kentucky wins vs. Georgia, 89-79
#13 Butler loses at #9 Villanova, 76-61 (shouldn't hurt too much by itself, but this is their third straight loss, IIRC)

The TTU loss definitely helps us. Here are the other ranked teams just ahead of us in our "neighborhood" in action this week:

TUESDAY
South Carolina at #16 Auburn (would be Auburn's third straight loss and a pretty bad one)
#24 Rutgers at #19 Iowa (doesn't seem to matter TOO much what happens here ... both teams are good and will be in the thick of things all year, IMO)
#20 Memphis at Tulsa

THURSDAY
#11 Michigan State at Indiana (... this one isn't so much for rankings but rather possibly putting us in first place!! Sucks to root for IU, though...)

FRIDAY
Marquette at #13 Butler

SATURDAY
Iowa State at #16 Auburn
Missouri at #14 West Virginia (seriously, Mizzou, gonna win Braggin' Rights and then do us the dirty of being AWFUL??)

SUNDAY
#17 Maryland at Indiana

 

[kiwanegarris22]

It goes without saying that we largely control our own destiny at Michigan on Saturday, as far as rising in the rankings. However, here were some results last night from teams just ahead of us!

#18 Texas Tech loses at TCU, 65-54
#17 Maryland wins at Northwestern, 77-67 (took a big comeback ... they have not looked overly impressive lately)
#15 Kentucky wins vs. Georgia, 89-79
#13 Butler loses at #9 Villanova, 76-61 (shouldn't hurt too much by itself, but this is their third straight loss, IIRC)

The TTU loss definitely helps us. Here are the other ranked teams just ahead of us in our "neighborhood" in action this week:

TUESDAY
South Carolina at #16 Auburn (would be Auburn's third straight loss and a pretty bad one)
#24 Rutgers at #19 Iowa (doesn't seem to matter TOO much what happens here ... both teams are good and will be in the thick of things all year, IMO)
#20 Memphis at Tulsa

THURSDAY
#11 Michigan State at Indiana (... this one isn't so much for rankings but rather possibly putting us in first place!! Sucks to root for IU, though...)

FRIDAY
Marquette at #13 Butler

SATURDAY
Iowa State at #16 Auburn
Missouri at #14 West Virginia (seriously, Mizzou, gonna win Braggin' Rights and then do us the dirty of being AWFUL??)

SUNDAY
#17 Maryland at Indiana

I'm following all of these games closely, too. Two impressive road wins this week and I believe we are easily Top 15, knocking on the door of Top 10 --- heading into 3 of 4 at home. The confidence on this board is through the roof!!!

 

[RedRiver24]

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/top25/

The CBS poll updated after last night and bumped the Illini up to 23 in theirs. I sort of thought it would do more for them, considering how tough the road has been in the B1G and what Purdue had done to MSU.