12/14 Polls - Illinois #13 in AP Poll

Illinois falls from #6 to #13 in AP Poll

With the conference as loaded as it is this year, there is plenty of opportunity to claw our way back in to the 2/3 seed territory. We've just got to clean some things up like free throws and rebounding and not relying on Ayo to do literally everything when the going gets tough.

Still think we can get a top 2 seed this year. We win the big ten title and that will become a reality

Free throw percentage is appalling. When I used to coach, I’d make my guys run death valleys, shoot two, then do it again. Over and over. That too me was the best way to practice free throws.

With how we have played thus far I think this is a fair assessment and ranking.

Also appropriate to see Mizzou move to #16, as difficult as it is for me to say this, they looked good.

We have the easiest schedule in conference according to multiple sources. Have to imagine winning 12+ games gets us into the tourney comfortably. Though we can't take anything for granted since who knows of we will have a full 68 team tourney this season.

Homecoming 2019 said:

We have the easiest schedule in conference according to multiple sources. Have to imagine winning 12+ games gets us into the tourney comfortably. Though we can't take anything for granted since who knows of we will have a full 68 team tourney this season.

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If we win 12 conference games we make it to the tourney for sure. We would also have had a worse season than last year, when we went 13-7 with what was most likely a tougher schedule. Given that we're supposed to be better than we were last year, I think anything worse than 14-6 is a bit of a let down.

I agree this is about right, but interesting how it all works. If we lost to Mizzou on weds and pounded Duke on sat I’ll bet we fall less.

also Mizzou looked worthy of a ranking but a 17 spot jump is quite a move

gecIllini said:

Also appropriate to see Mizzou move to #16, as difficult as it is for me to say this, they looked good.

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Agreed. It's gross, but that is a veteran team that plays hard. We missed too many free throws, got beat to too many loose balls, and made too many unforced errors to beat a team of that caliber. I suspect they are in the Top 25 to stay. The good news is that our 2 non-conference losses probably won't hurt us too much on Selection Sunday, or in subsequent rankings. The Illini were ranked in the top 10 based on potential. Right now, there is still a lot to clean up in order to play close to that potential.

WhiteHorseWings said:

I agree this is about right, but interesting how it all works. If we lost to Mizzou on weds and pounded Duke on sat I’ll bet we fall less.

also Mizzou looked worthy of a ranking but a 17 spot jump is quite a move

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You could say their big jump is a direct indication of how a good a team they think we are.

Now that I have cooled off a bit from the loss to Mizzou...

That is pretty unreasonably harsh, lol. Mizzou's THREE-point win was impressive enough to jump them to #16 and Duke is still considered a top 25 team, but our close loss to a rival on the road warrants us dropping below Wisconsin, who hasn't beaten anyone and has a worse loss? Oh well, go earn it, boys!

If we win two this week, we're back in the top ten.

Homecoming 2019 said:

We have the easiest schedule in conference according to multiple sources. Have to imagine winning 12+ games gets us into the tourney comfortably. Though we can't take anything for granted since who knows of we will have a full 68 team tourney this season.

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Damn, we have fans already back to talking making the Tournament?! I'm aiming for a sweep this week and regaining a top 10 ranking and therefore likely top 2 seed!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Damn, we have fans already back to talking making the Tournament?! I'm aiming for a sweep this week and regaining a top 10 ranking and therefore likely top 2 seed!

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PTSD

WhiteHorseWings said:

I agree this is about right, but interesting how it all works. If we lost to Mizzou on weds and pounded Duke on sat I’ll bet we fall less.

also Mizzou looked worthy of a ranking but a 17 spot jump is quite a move

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You could say their big jump is a direct indication of how a good a team they think we are.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Damn, we have fans already back to talking making the Tournament?! I'm aiming for a sweep this week and regaining a top 10 ranking and therefore likely top 2 seed!

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Shoot it does sound like that, I'm just getting a baseline! I'm not saying we will win 12, I'm thinking closer to 15. Welp I did this to myself.

Retro62 said:

You could say their big jump is a direct indication of how a good a team they think we are.

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The Duke game speaks to our ceiling; the Mizzou game speaks to our floor. Both are very high.

JFGsCoffeeMug said:

The Duke game speaks to our ceiling; the Mizzou game speaks to our floor. Both are very high.

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I don't know. I would think that so far the Ohio game is our floor (even though we won and they are a decent team).

Damn, Mizzou would have been a tier 1 win at this pace.

LvilleILL said:

Still think we can get a top 2 seed this year. We win the big ten title and that will become a reality

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If we win the BIG, I would expect that.

Unfortunately, I have serious doubts. The mistakes this team has been making IMO will take time to correct, and the league is going to be brutal. Not just because of the talent level, but also because the teams up and down the conference will bring it every night. I think we'll have a wide open race, with a lot of unexpected results, both good and bad. They're talented enough to win it, but to my eyes, Mizzou, Ohio, and to a lessor extent Baylor, has shown that this group is pretty vulnerable to getting out of rhythm, or not figuring out teams enough to finish them off. Still a lot of season to play, but I'm telling myself this one's going to be a roller coaster, or at least until they get a stronger identity.

sacraig said:

I don't know. I would think that so far the Ohio game is our floor (even though we won and they are a decent team).

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Compared to the Ohio game, Mizzou out-rebounded us (35-26), we shot worse from 3 (23.1%), and we also shot a lower percentage FT-wise (60.7%). I would be surprised if we have another game like that this season. And if we do, I doubt we'll win that one either.

JFGsCoffeeMug said:

Compared to the Ohio game, Mizzou out-rebounded us (35-26), we shot worse from 3 (23.1%), and we also shot a lower percentage FT-wise (60.7%). I would be surprised if we have another game like that this season. And if we do, I doubt we'll win that one either.

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Sure but you have to consider the level of competition, too. I'd also be interested in how many of Mizzou's rebounds were off of missed FTs. It's probably not the whole margin but it seemed significant.

sacraig said:

Sure but you have to consider the level of competition, too. I'd also be interested in how many of Mizzou's rebounds were off of missed FTs. It's probably not the whole margin but it seemed significant.

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Hadn’t thought about this but excellent point. Did it also have a relation to fast break points? That’s the other bad stat.

sacraig said:

I don't know. I would think that so far the Ohio game is our floor (even though we won and they are a decent team).

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I think Ohio is a decent team, and Mizzou is a GOOD team. I found a lot concerning about our loss to Missouri - namely the fact that we AGAIN seem to let a deficit grow only to storm back when it's just too late - but I'm holding off on any drop in enthusiasm for this bunch. This isn't the first time a VERY good Illini team that made a run in March had a disappointing loss only to rebound:

- The 2001 team was ranked #7 and 12-3 (2-0) when we strolled into Iowa City on January 11th to play an okay Iowa team. We lost by 16. We then won four in a row vs. the basement of the Big Ten to get back to #6 only to drop a stinker at Penn State. It's the response to that we all remember - winning 7 of 8 to close out the regular season, including wins over #4 Michigan State and #19 Wisconsin, to win a Big Ten Championship. We also lost an underwhelming game to Indiana in front of a partisan crowd in Chicago for the BTT, only to rebound and make a run to the Elite Eight, including a shellacking of #12 Kansas 80-64, and almost beating Arizona to make the Final Four.

- The 2002 team got up to #7 in the country and was 12-2 (1-0) before dropping two straight at Wisconsin and at a terrible Purdue team. We won three in a row, including revenge against Wisconsin and vs. #17 Iowa (Frankie game), only to lose three straight after that. However, the reason that is remembered as a good season is because we won night straight games after that and eventually wound up in the Sweet Sixteen, almost knocking off #2 Kansas!

Seasons are going to have ups and downs ... it probably doesn't help that the last truly successful season we remember involved us being #1 all year, starting 29-0 and making it to the National Championship game with just one loss ... lol. I think it gets some of our fans having too high of a threshold for feeling confident about our team again, as it induces way too much "here we go again" anxiety if we show any flaws.

If we turn around and win two games this week (vs. a 6-0 Minnesota and at #19 Rutgers) we'll be back in the top 10, sitting at 6-2 (2-0) and right back on track, effectively erasing the Mizzou loss from our resume!