2/7 Polls & Bracketology - Illinois #13 in AP Poll

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#151      
jrichisamazing
RockfordIllini said:
Looking at the rest of the top 25ish teams, I was looking for teams that might give us matchup problems. In my opinion teams with either 1. Length on the perimeter or 2. A way to neutralize Kofi, either with long, twitchy athletes (ala Koloko) or beef (Edey). I actually don’t see a ton of teams that I’m super worried about.

Auburn, Kessler is pretty mobile and might give Kofi some trouble on defense and their 6’10 lottery pick would be tough for us, unless the lightbulb turns on for Coleman late.

Gonzaga has some length on the perimeter, Timme vs Kofi is an interesting matchup and of course Holmgren is a unicorn and could disrupt some shots with his length, but I don’t see how they can stop Kofi without selling out and leaving our shooters

Kentucky doesn’t have a ton of size on the perimeter and I think Kofi is at least a wash with Oscar T.

Duke isn’t excessively long.

USC and UCLA both have good length but nobody really scares me.

Ironically I think the 2 teams we match up worst against are teams we’ve already played, namely AZ (have both length and Kofi neutralizers) and Purdue (Kofi neutralizers + great offense).

Point being, if we can get everyone healthy and humming I think we can be a really dangerous team. Very few guys where I say “how would we stop him” whereas everyone will be asking that about Kofi.
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I would add 2 more things that would scare us.

-A dominant PF (EJ Liddell). Luckily they are pretty rare in CBB. And many 6-8ish guys that are really good end up playing as a C, which means they can't guard Kofi.

-A team that creates a lot of turnovers. We are not used to this style of defense. The B1G is ranked 31st in turnovers forced. There are only 32 conferences. We are accustomed to a conference that plays positionally sound defense and doesn't take a lot of chances. The B12 and SEC are ranked 1st and 3rd in turnovers forced. Related to that, our 2pt defense is better than theirs, but their 3pt defense is better than ours. We would struggle against a team that takes away our 3's and makes it uncomfortable getting the ball into Kofi.
 
#154      
sacraig
jrichisamazing said:
I would add 2 more things that would scare us.

-A dominant PF (EJ Liddell). Luckily they are pretty rare in CBB. And many 6-8ish guys that are really good end up playing as a C, which means they can't guard Kofi.

-A team that creates a lot of turnovers. We are not used to this style of defense. The B1G is ranked 31st in turnovers forced. There are only 32 conferences. We are accustomed to a conference that plays positionally sound defense and doesn't take a lot of chances. The B12 and SEC are ranked 1st and 3rd in turnovers forced. Related to that, our 2pt defense is better than theirs, but their 3pt defense is better than ours. We would struggle against a team that takes away our 3's and makes it uncomfortable getting the ball into Kofi.
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Case in point, Trayce Jackson-Davis.
 
#156      
pruman91
alaskaillini said:
TJD doesn't have the range to be considered a dominant PF. Liddell has to be guarded at the 3 line.
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#159      
SummerofGeorge
WhiteHorseWings said:
They just nearly beat the Trojans
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Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Mark Few has it figured out. Schedule some quality non-conference opponents to prove yourself and finish out the year with a cakewalk through your conference. Always guarantees you a top seed and greater chance of tournament success. This then builds sustained recruiting success and the cycle continues. Brilliance!
Simon Cowell GIF by America's Got Talent
 
#160      
IllinoisssssssVarsity
jrichisamazing said:
-A team that creates a lot of turnovers. We are not used to this style of defense. The B1G is ranked 31st in turnovers forced. There are only 32 conferences. We are accustomed to a conference that plays positionally sound defense and doesn't take a lot of chances. The B12 and SEC are ranked 1st and 3rd in turnovers forced. Related to that, our 2pt defense is better than theirs, but their 3pt defense is better than ours. We would struggle against a team that takes away our 3's and makes it uncomfortable getting the ball into Kofi.
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Living and coaching in the footprint I can tell you that pressing is a much bigger part of lower level basketball through high school down here. Extending pressure is very much culturally part of the game for a lot of teams. So when the local d1 kids are recruited for those conferences, more pressure is kinda what they’re used to defensively.

I think some of the difference is athletes are pretty good down here, but the guards in Illinois were better when I lived/coached/played up there. It felt like almost every team you saw had at least 1 college guard. It’s hard to press really good guards even with really good athletes.
 
#161      
champaignchris
SummerofGeorge said:
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Mark Few has it figured out. Schedule some quality non-conference opponents to prove yourself and finish out the year with a cakewalk through your conference. Always guarantees you a top seed and greater chance of tournament success. This then builds sustained recruiting success and the cycle continues. Brilliance!
Simon Cowell GIF by America's Got Talent's Got Talent
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The top of that conference - BYU, St Mary's, San Francisco, Santa Clara - matches up nicely against the top half of the American and Mountain West and is probably better than the Mo Valley, A-10 and CUSA. It's just that the bottom of the WCC is soooooooo putrid.
 
#162      
Piotyr
Here's an updated T-Rank/WAB bracket exercise after a week of games. As a reminder, here's what the "bracket" looked like last week:

1 seeds: Auburn*, Kansas*, Purdue*, Gonzaga*(+1)
2 seeds: Arizona*(-1), Kentucky(+1), Duke*, Houston*
3 seeds: Baylor(-1), Texas Tech, Villanova*, Wisconsin(+1)
4 seeds: Illinois, UCLA(-1(, Tennessee, Providence
5 seeds: Michigan State, Ohio State(+1), Texas, St. Mary's
6 seeds: Iowa State, Marquette, Xavier(-1), LSU(-1)
7 seeds: Indiana, Boise State*, Arkansas(+1), Wake Forest(+1)
8 seeds: Alabama(-1), San Francisco(-1), Murray State*(+1), USC
9 seeds: Iowa, Connecticut, Wyoming(+1), Loyola IL*(+1)
10 seeds: TCU(-2), North Carolina(-1), North Texas*, Oregon(+2)
11 seeds: Davidson*, Colorado State, St. Louis, Florida(+1)
12 seeds: Seton Hall
Last 4 in: Oklahoma(+1), Notre Dame(+1), San Diego State(-2), Michigan(+1)
First 4 out: UAB(+1), Miami FL(+1), SMU(+1), Belmont(-1)
Next 4 out: Fresno State(-3), West Virginia, Mississippi State(-1), BYU(-2)
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Today:

1 seeds: Kansas*, Arizona*(+1), Gonzaga*, Auburn*
2 seeds: Purdue*(-1), Kentucky, Baylor(+1), Houston*
3 seeds: Duke*(-1), Villanova*, Wisconsin, Texas Tech
4 seeds: Tennessee, UCLA, Illinois, Texas(+1)
5 seeds: Providence(-1), LSU(+1), St. Mary's, Arkansas(+2)
6 seeds: Michigan State(-1), Wake Forest(+1), Marquette, Ohio State(-1)
7 seeds: Alabama(+1), Boise State*, Iowa(+2), Connecticut(+2)
8 seeds: Indiana(-1), Iowa State(-2), Xavier(-2), Wyoming(+1)
9 seeds: Murray State*(-1), USC(-1), Michigan(+3), TCU(+1)
10 seeds: San Francisco(-2), North Carolina, Loyola IL*(-1), Oklahoma(+2)
11 seeds: Colorado State, SMU(+2), Seton Hall(+1), North Texas*(-1)
12 seeds: St. Louis*(-1)
Last 4 in: Oregon(-2), San Diego State, Davidson(-1), Notre Dame
First 4 out: West Virginia(+1), Florida(-2), Miami FL, Belmont
Next 4 out: UAB(-1), Mississippi State, BYU, Fresno State
 
#163      
DeonThomas
CBS Top 25+1 (updated Sunday morning - 2/13). A pretty solid 3-seed.

8 - Purdue
11 - ILLINI
13 - Wisconsin
14 - MSU
 
#164      
illini80
I think we hold steady in the polls tomorrow. The Purdue loss looks a tiny bit worse now, but not much and I don’t think it will hurt us. NW was a solid win and they up to 66 in the net.
 
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