Yeah but they never lost all but 2 players to the draft. Most they ever had drafted in one year was 6. We lost 10 this offseason. This level of roster turnover is entirely due to the transfer landscape of the last few years. As someone pointed out, this year's UK team had a huge roster turnover and is ranked #23, which is just 3 spots ahead of us. I'd argue their ranking was also impacted by their roster (and coaching) turnover, as this is their lowest preseason ranking since 2008 when they were unranked.
That analysis stops at 2019...pre-NIL; pre transfer portal.
How the AP preseason college basketball poll predicts success
We looked at AP preseason college basketball rankings for every year this century and, wouldn't you know it, it's a strong indicator of how the basketball regular season will actually play out.www.ncaa.com
I think it's more like, the AP poll is good at identifying the best teams in November and being good in November is a decent indicator of success later in the year. Most of the teams who make it to the second weekend this year will have been ranked in the preseason AP poll.
This is a different era. Stud freshmen are still very good but I would sweat the playoff if my 3-4 freshmen are against a bunch of very good upperclassmen through portal. Cal is now out of UK and we will see how Duke is doing. For the record, I don't really treat a guy like KJ as a freshman. For me, he is at least at the sophomore level in terms of experiences.
In the five years before 2024, Kentucky had either the first or second rated 247 class each year. 2024 they had 31st.
KJ moved to Spain as a 12-year-old from Lithuania in 2018 and he averaged 21.9 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.9 steals right off the bat and he kept rising in their system and undoubtedly would be playing with the Barcelona’s A team this season if not moving to the U of I.
But they also had the #5 transfer class (compared to our #19) according to 247, and in terms of immediate success, I'd argue that's a much more important metric.
We play 6 of the top 13....this team will be challenged! (says Captain Obvious)
37? Are we just picking random numbers now?
As a fan, I see Rutgers ahead of us and laugh. As a player, I would use that as motivation to prove the media wrong. Honestly, I kinda would rather have a team this young and inexperienced start the season with a chip on their shoulder and hungry to prove people wrong rather than them possibly given an ego boost. Go Illini!
It is the number of at-large births, now that the PAC(?) no longer has an automatic bid.
Pre-season polls are just not worth the time looking at. In basketball it generally works out by the end of the season. Much of the subjectivity dissolves as teams play the season, conference tournaments, and THE tournament (even though there are always some hot teams at the end). In football, it is completely ridiculous. True fans of a sport only use the polls as a barometer of what could be a good game. After watching, you get a pretty good idea which are the "good" teams and how our team matches up. People that are obsessed with the polls are typically the casual fan. Present company excluded. We are simply pointing out the flaws.
still kinda pointless, since the power 37 almost certainly includes auto berths from the power conferences.
Yes! (Or just read the first paragraph of the linked article.)
We can always count on Andy
guess it was make it / take it.
