Preseason Polls - Illinois #11 in AP Poll

#6      
Doesn't matter where you start it matters where you end but man after the last decade of Illinois basketball its nice to be almost top 10 preseason and feeling like it's low.
I have always thought that it is easier to maintain a ranking than to move up in rankings. A high ranking team can loose and only drop a bit. A low ranking team has to win several significant games before they are recognized by being ranked higher. Thus I believe it does matter where you start. Start high and maintain is easier than start low and climb. Just seems to be the way it is. Especially for teams expected to do well every year. They start high and have to loose several games before they are dropped out of the rankings.
 
#7      
Conference is deep. 5 ranked teams, and 2 more just outside at #26 and #27.
 
#14      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
I have always thought that it is easier to maintain a ranking than to move up in rankings. A high ranking team can loose and only drop a bit. A low ranking team has to win several significant games before they are recognized by being ranked higher. Thus I believe it does matter where you start. Start high and maintain is easier than start low and climb. Just seems to be the way it is. Especially for teams expected to do well every year. They start high and have to loose several games before they are dropped out of the rankings.
Michigan state comes to mind to me where they were ranked something like # 3-4 and fell out of the poll and barely made the tourney....probably an outlier but I liked it a lot......hope i am remembering right....my mind slips into Liberated Spirit mode from time to time...and I like that a lot also..........

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#15      
11 is pretty much exactly where I expected to see us. I feel we're currently a 10-15 team with potential to move up if we earn it. Granted our noncon looks pretty weak right now unless a couple of our P7 opponents heat up before we play them.
 
#17      
Bored, here is our Non-Con schedule with ranks

School AP/Kenpom Rank
Jackson StateNA/295
Arkansas StateNA/184
MarquetteNA/87
CincinnatiNA/117
Arkansas/Kansas St16/15 / NA/82
UT Rio Grande ValleyNA/304
Notre Dame46/27 (Received 3 votes in AP poll)
Arizona29/47 (Received 26 votes in AP poll)
Saint Francis (Pa.)NA/244
Missouri (St. Louis)NA/96
Florida A&MNA/285

Very weak non-conference especially if Arkansas manages to lose to Kansas St. But that's ok, the B1G is once again loaded top to the bottom (Minnesota is below bottom).
 
#18      
My original thought was that #11 was fine; we'd get a few marquee wins and move up that way. But looking at this schedule, I'd say the marquee is short a few bulbs. We'll need to beat Arkansas and Arizona by twenty if we really want to light it up.

But if Arkansas loses to KSU, it is possible we could play seventeen games prior to meeting our first ranked opponent, Michigan, on Jan 18. The schedule gets a whole lot tougher from there on out.
 
#19      
So anxious to get this season started. I feel like this team will be so hungry to take it to the next level after last years disappointing early exit.

A little surprised to see Michigan over Purdue since Purdue seemed to be everyone's favorite in the conference but like everyone said these preseason polls mean nothing.
 
#21      
#11 works for me. Definitely in the range where it is fairly easy to move up and maintain high rating if win and keep winning. Not worried about the lack of difficulty of noncon schedule. Don’t lose and not going to drop, and conference schedule gives team plenty of chances for signature wins.
 
#22      
My original thought was that #11 was fine; we'd get a few marquee wins and move up that way. But looking at this schedule, I'd say the marquee is short a few bulbs. We'll need to beat Arkansas and Arizona by twenty if we really want to light it up.

But if Arkansas loses to KSU, it is possible we could play seventeen games prior to meeting our first ranked opponent, Michigan, on Jan 18. The schedule gets a whole lot tougher from there on out.
I'm sure the Big Ten slate will provide plenty of opportunities to get marquee wins. I do hope that Arkansas match up happens, though I wouldn't be mad at one last chance to beat Mark Smith.
 
#24      
Also, I REALLY hope we can face and beat Arkansas. They are pretty much our only chance at an impressive non-conference win if we are shooting for another top 3 seed.
ND and Arizona both still have the potential to be Quad 1 wins.

Edit: and if Marquette is just 12 spots better than their preseason Kenpom, that'd be another quad 1 right there too.
 
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