Illini Basketball 2026-2027

#253      
Battle89
March2TheArch said:
I'm glad you chose not to size down this picture to maintain effect.
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Dusting this off again...

1791992437710.png
 
#257      
Fighter of the Nightman
Now that we have a few more preseason rankings, here are a few comparisons of Big Ten teams! Just like the AP Top 25, my composite below will give each team points based on its rank in each poll* (e.g., #1 = 25 points, #2 = 24 points ... #25 = 1 point).

FOX
#3 Illinois
#4 Michigan State
#15 Michigan
#18 UCLA
#22 USC
#25 Indiana

CBS
#3 Illinois
#7 Michigan State
#16 Michigan
#20 UCLA
#22 USC
#25 Purdue
#26 Indiana

ESPN
#3 Illinois
#6 Michigan State
#17 USC
#22 Michigan
#24 UCLA

KenPom
#4 Illinois
#7 Michigan State
#16 Nebraska
#21 Ohio State
#24 Purdue

EvanMiya
#3 Illinois
#8 Michigan State
#13 Michigan
#21 UCLA
#25 Nebraska

ON 3 (FKA Rivals)
#3 Illinois
#6 Michigan State
#14 Michigan
#20 UCLA
#22 USC
#24 Purdue

CBK Report (Instagram)
#3 Illinois
#8 Michigan State
#16 Michigan
#19 Nebraska
#24 UCLA
#25 USC


Composite Points
160 - Illinois
136 - Michigan State
60 - Michigan
29 - UCLA
22 - USC
18 - Nebraska
5 - Purdue
5 - Ohio State
2 - Indiana

Composite Rank
(Rough Guess Based on Selecting / Reviewing the Averages)
#3 Illinois
#7 Michigan State
#16 Michigan
#21 UCLA
#22 USC
RV - Nebraska, Purdue, Indiana
NR - Ohio State

FWIW, here are some notes on how the RV teams could get ranked...

1) Anything can happen, but if Nebraska can beat a decent Providence team on November 7, they will not face another true challenge until hosting Ohio State on December 2, arguably not until a December 5 trip to (mediocre) Creighton and possibly not even until they play Mizzou in Kansas City on December 12. They could easily ride a soft schedule to a 10-0 start, and that would easily get them in the top 25, IMO.

2) Purdue opens with Gonzaga (likely top 15) in Vegas, and then they have at least 7 straight games where they will be heavy favorites before hosting Iowa on December 1. Given their recent history of success, if they are 8-0 with a win over Gonzaga, they will DEFINITELY be ranked.

3) Indiana starts with a soft schedule (surprise!!), but they will likely have to beat Arkansas (likely top 20) at Madison Square Garden on November 17 or Kentucky in Indy on November 20 to get ranked. However, never underestimate the media's desperate desire for this program to be relevant again!

4) They did not show up on this list, but watch out for Iowa. I think they're very underrated, and they should be 7-0 heading into a 3-game stretch of at Purdue, vs. Indiana and vs. Iowa State (fringe top 25?). If they can go 2-1 in these (likely sweeping the home games), they will be ranked, as well.

So, there should be a lot of top 25 matchups on our schedule, and that is always exciting!! We have multiple practically guaranteed ones (Duke, UConn, MSU, Texas Tech, Michigan), a few more that are very likely (UCLA, USC) and we have several opponents that could easily be ranked when we face them (Missouri, Purdue x2, Nebraska, North Carolina, Iowa, etc.).

* I gave Indiana a point for being #26 in the CBS poll since they brand that ranking as a "Top 25 and 1."
 
#259      
Fighter of the Nightman
pweo said:
Travel packages are selling sections 106 107 109.
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Looking at the seat map, I am assuming 108 would also be in there. If we assume the UNC sections would be "mirrored" behind the other bench, they would be 105, 104, 103 and 102. That would only take up the following section of the arena:

Seating.png


I will let someone who was at the game vs. Tennessee last year speak to this, but it seemed like we had nearly an entire half of the arena ... and I would guess that our turnout would not be smaller vs. UNC than it would be vs. Tennessee in Nashville, specifically. I'd bet that anything on the left side of that arena will be mostly Illini fans!!
 
#262      
Gunner22
Shocked at how few tickets were left for most of the games when I jumped on the I-fund presale today.
 
#263      
RollChief
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Looking at the seat map, I am assuming 108 would also be in there. If we assume the UNC sections would be "mirrored" behind the other bench, they would be 105, 104, 103 and 102. That would only take up the following section of the arena:

View attachment 52029

I will let someone who was at the game vs. Tennessee last year speak to this, but it seemed like we had nearly an entire half of the arena ... and I would guess that our turnout would not be smaller vs. UNC than it would be vs. Tennessee in Nashville, specifically. I'd bet that anything on the left side of that arena will be mostly Illini fans!!
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The early sale this morning for this game was a bloodbath. I luckily got in early and grabbed a handful of tickets for me and my buddies, it I had one friend that joined the queue at 10:03 and was like 5,400th in line…
 
#264      
pweo
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Looking at the seat map, I am assuming 108 would also be in there. If we assume the UNC sections would be "mirrored" behind the other bench, they would be 105, 104, 103 and 102. That would only take up the following section of the arena:

View attachment 52029

I will let someone who was at the game vs. Tennessee last year speak to this, but it seemed like we had nearly an entire half of the arena ... and I would guess that our turnout would not be smaller vs. UNC than it would be vs. Tennessee in Nashville, specifically. I'd bet that anything on the left side of that arena will be mostly Illini fans!!
Click to expand...
From the ticket office: The Illinois locations will be in Sections 106 to 115 in the 100 Level
 
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