Kentucky and Arkansas both have less returning than we do. Although a few Arkansas players played together at Kentucky, so they shouldn't count.
Illini Basketball 2024-2025
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Fully agree. That most everyone is taking the Illini lightly shows to me only one thing that has been a known fact for many decades. That is when trying to put together a new team with 10 new faces, there is a steep hill to climb and many hurdles to jump in order to achieve consistent efficiency....at both ends of the court.
I could care less how this team is ranked at the moment. They will have the opportunity to face 2 top five teams and many more top 40 teams which will provide them with all the credibility necessary to achieve respect. If you want it....go earn it...with my full support in getting there as has been the case for almost 7 decades.
We play 8 of 'em.
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sacraig
- The desert
What do you mean? KenPom has every team. They're at #39.No Indinia. Purposely spelled
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
It's all more or less guesswork, but if you gave me the choice between being #26 AP and #23 Kenpom in the preseason versus #17 AP and #39 Kenpom, I am taking the former all day long.No Indinia
I only looked at 25
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
Not sure how much you trust kenpom either - look at Rutgers in there at #63 lol with the #1 defense. Some poster said the good news is that by Christmas, we’ll have the ranking we deserve with this schedule.
Fair about UK. I agree Arkansas doesn't count - played together and with same head coach
So OK, if you want to gripe about being ranked 3 spots below UK, have at it. Other than that, I don't really blame the voters for wanting to see the team in action before voting where maybe our talent alone would put us.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
I don't take any stock in pre-season rankings, so I will not complain about Illinois being ranked at 26, especially given such roster turnover.
My only gripe: UCONN won two straight championships in an era where that is almost unheard of. They should have started as #1 as a plain default, even if they lost a lot of talent.
My only gripe: UCONN won two straight championships in an era where that is almost unheard of. They should have started as #1 as a plain default, even if they lost a lot of talent.
I get your point but you could argue the same for multiple other teams in the bottom of the top 25
...Who are much less deserving of that "benefit of the doubt".
I’m surprised we won the game. /s
Joel Goodson
- how was I to know, she was with the Russians too?
did they skunk us?
Based on what I saw, we lost 51-0
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Glad we didn’t scrimmage against that infamous 7th grade team. They would’ve doubled that.
We didn’t even have the ball at the opponent’s hoop and they scored about 30 straight points every which way. Guess highlights goes both ways.
A subtle but cool thing about that video is how they chose to open it with shots of the State Farm Center, our coach and our logo. It was a signal to their fans that they were going up against the big boys that day. We've come a long way these past few years.
Brad said that KJ is suffering from tendentious and he has been resting him. Believe his minutes will be managed.
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