Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#51      
lstewart53x3
PleaseMakeABowlGame said:
KenPom’s HUMAN poll has Illinois at #5:

View attachment 51949

Blog on what the HUMAN poll actually means:

kenpom.substack.com

The H.U.M.A.N. poll, part IV

Go forth and vote
kenpom.substack.com kenpom.substack.com
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This is last year's HUMAN poll compared to the AP/Final KP, etc.

It really shows how difficult things are to predict preseason.

Here's each team's ranking in the HUMAN poll preseason compared to their final KP rank:

Houston (+3)
Purdue (-6)
Duke (+0)
Floirda (-2)
Uconn (-4)
St Johns (-10)
Kentucky (-22)
Michigan (+7)
Tennessee (-5)
Alabama (-2)
Texas Tech (-9)
BYU (-12)
Arizona (+11)
Gonzaga (-1)
Louisville (-4)
Iowa St (+9)
Kansas (-4)
Illinois (+13)
Auburn (-17)
Arkansas (+2)
UCLA (-7)
Michigan St (+12)
North Carolina (-9)
Creighton (-52)
Oregon (-76)

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#52      
Det_Illini_fan
Illini4Christ said:
Yeah, so don’t leave and wait for your dad to retire so you can be the next coach Underwood here at the U of I.
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His offensive scheming completely won me over this year, and if it keeps up and improving, plus us getting the right guys, I will be entirely sold on a transition from father to son.
 
#56      
Fly Illini Fly!
Joel Goodson said:
all well and good, but who's preseason 9th man of the year?
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To recap, Illinois:

• David Mirkovic was named preseason 1st team All BIG (2nd in POY voting)

• Andrej Stojakovic was named preseason 1st team All BIG

• Stefan Vaaks was named BIG preseason transfer of the year

• Quentin Coleman was 3rd in BIG preseason freshman of the year voting
 
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#62      
jayd
Wow, almost as many Peacock games (6) as BTN games (7) this year.
 
#63      
mysterio2525
jayd said:
Wow, almost as many Peacock games (6) as BTN games (7) this year.
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thankfully nbc sports is on YouTube tv and I don't have to get peacock like I did in the past.... especially since the $20 for the year black Friday deal for peacock is no more
 
#66      
Battle89
the juiceman cometh said:
The TLDR is that, based on methodology and a sample size selected by Evan Miya, Evan Miya has the best algorithm. So sayeth Evan Miya!
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Accurate but maybe a little harsh. Said all three methods have value, his and KenPom were a virtual dead heat in predictability, with Torvik a distant third. But the best model was a weighted blend of all three (yes with the highest weighting his own, as you say).

Article came off as more anti-Torvik methodology than pro-Evan to me. YMMV. The below is what gave me a laugh:

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#67      
NarrowJ
I can see why Torvik is a distant 3rd if we're just talking about preseason projections. He doesn't make frequent updates in the offseason (McCoy of Michigan still listed as getting starter minutes in his projections, just one example).
 
#68      
Fighter of the Nightman
ChiefGritty said:
Wash my mouth out with soap for defending Mizzou, but I don't think this is fair to Dennis Gates at all. They have made the tourney with a winning record in a tough SEC in 3 of his 4 years there.
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That's fair, and you can certainly chalk it up to us being good more than them being bad. However, my point is that for a game that often has a "records go out the window" feel to it many years, it's unfortunate that Mizzou cannot pretty constantly meet the RATHER easy bar of being a Quad 1 opponent on a neutral floor (i.e., top 50 in the NET).

While it's not like Mizzou has been constantly lifeless and obviously they gave us a spanking a few years ago, this game has only been Quad 1 in 2 of the last 5 years, and it has even been Quad 3 twice. I expect a bit better from the Tigers!
 
#69      
Fighter of the Nightman
Dan said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2107546602181193891
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LOVE that the UConn game is on FOX. I have felt like FOX is doing absolutely awfully at showcasing Big Ten basketball on non-weekend days in the non-conference season compared to what ESPN is doing for the SEC and ACC. Also, no early Sunday home games until Wisconsin on February 28, so hopefully the guys have learned to deal with their hangovers appropriately by then! :ROFLMAO:

P.S. Interesting that Braggin' Rights is still TBD. The Big Ten had TV rights last year (and put it on FS1), so this gives me hope that it can return to its traditional home on ESPN or ESPN2 ... just good for the rivalry to NOT be on channels like BTN and SEC Network.
 
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