I was meaning specifically about the extra three chances we had compared to Gonzaga, but I misworded it.
Illinois #11 in 1/19 AP Poll
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Things I believe about the polls:
There isn't a - and has never been a - grand conspiracy against Illinois.
Voters don't have perfect information.
Voters cast their ballots quickly and at the last minute.
Voters do not pull out a blank sheet of paper with 25 lines and fill it in; they pull out last week's poll and then a blank sheet and start rationalizing (hence how ISU 'only' drops 7 spots, which is quite a lot when you think about it relatively).
There isn't a - and has never been a - grand conspiracy against Illinois.
Voters don't have perfect information.
Voters cast their ballots quickly and at the last minute.
Voters do not pull out a blank sheet of paper with 25 lines and fill it in; they pull out last week's poll and then a blank sheet and start rationalizing (hence how ISU 'only' drops 7 spots, which is quite a lot when you think about it relatively).
This.
The voters are looking at the fact they dropped us a bunch for the Nebraska loss and now that’s actually not a bad loss. They are just looking at what we did last week and how others around us did.
In the end it will balance out. Beat Purdue and voters will notice.
Unacceptable.
I think that this is my problem with the AP vote and how silly it is though. I normally don’t pay attention to it but the more I do the more irritating, irrational and unmeasured it becomes.
I don’t think that there’s a grand anti-Illini conspiracy, or that each time each AP voter should pull up a fresh white board and carefully address each team and do a full side by side simulation of the league week after week…
I guess what irritates me so much about the AP vote is that it’s treated as the north star metric by many (the AP rank is listed on every tv network next to the school in all games, it’s often listed in records, first time being x rank in AP in y time, etc…) when in reality it’s a fair amount of folks just not really paying attention and seemingly voting on vibes and narrative. There’s almost an audacity to it.
I think from your response specifically, it’s the “Beat Purdue and voters will notice”. How do voters not notice some of this stuff to begin with? Just as an example, how is Illinois and UNC 11 spots from each other (with even less for many voters?) UNC has lost 3 of 4 to unranked teams, have they done it quietly enough the they can slip it by the sleepy AP voters? It’s not just UNC, as previously noted we were the beneficiaries of voters seemingly not paying attention to us losing bad games multiple weeks in a row.
I know I’m being a bit hyperbolic and there’s not really much value criticizing it or paying attention to it in general. Maybe I simply don’t know enough about it and I’m wrong. Either way, the light at the end of the tunnel is that we have beautiful objective data driven models like NET, KenPom, Torvik, etc. At least with them you can see exactly why rankings change, as opposed to some of the AP voters overslept and had a bad meal so Iowa State didn’t drop as they should have, and apparently no one has a phone or Google or the ESPN app so UNC is still in the list.
Alright I’ve gotten this out of my system time to forget about the AP vote again thanks for reading if you continued doing so
That’s why Bo picked him for the job. Regardless of roster, he’s a great coach
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
College basketball teams play so many games that I don’t really believe in being under ranked.
If you’re a top 10 quality team and you’re currently ranked outside of the top 10, you should have no problem winning a few games and moving up in the rankings. With 31 games, the rankings will even out over time.
If Iowa state is genuinely not a 10 team and we are, they’ll lose more games than us and we’ll pass them by season’s end.
I feel differently about college football where you only play 12 games and one loss can be the difference between being ranked in the top 15 and being outside of the rankings altogether.
If you’re a top 10 quality team and you’re currently ranked outside of the top 10, you should have no problem winning a few games and moving up in the rankings. With 31 games, the rankings will even out over time.
If Iowa state is genuinely not a 10 team and we are, they’ll lose more games than us and we’ll pass them by season’s end.
I feel differently about college football where you only play 12 games and one loss can be the difference between being ranked in the top 15 and being outside of the rankings altogether.
Gard is not a great coach. Some of yall throw around the term great very loosely
Whether Gard is "great" or Gard is "good", let us thank him for our food.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I usually like to look at what teams in our "rankings neighborhood" have what games in a given week to get an idea of how we could bounce around in next week's poll, but ... man, this week is pretty simple! We have an incredible chance at Purdue on Friday, and it's needless to say that a loss to Maryland would be utterly disastrous. I personally think it's anyone's guess what happens to us if we have a 1-1 record this week, and it would probably depend on how voters perceived the game at Mackey.
It's also needless to say, but I think a 2-0 record this week would cause one of our biggest jumps in a very long time. Let's get it!!
It's also needless to say, but I think a 2-0 record this week would cause one of our biggest jumps in a very long time. Let's get it!!
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Where are we going to be tomorrow?
Two teams ahead of us lost (#4 Purdue x2 and #6 Houston).
Drop 4 spots per loss sounds about right. That would put Purdue at 12 and Houston at 10. That would also move us ahead of both and land us at #9.
Two teams ahead of us lost (#4 Purdue x2 and #6 Houston).
Drop 4 spots per loss sounds about right. That would put Purdue at 12 and Houston at 10. That would also move us ahead of both and land us at #9.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Seems about right, though I feel like we should be higher.
I'd imagine it's #9. Not a lot of room otherwise.
Winning @ #4Purdue should lead us to jumping someone.
It’s the best win anyone’s got on their resume this year other than Wisconsin @ Michigan and Arizona @ UCONN.
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I think Illinois could fall anywhere from 6 to 9. I think there were some AP voters that didn't drop Iowa State from last week's 2-loss effort, and Gonzaga didn't exactly look dominant Saturday. At that point it's just a guess whether voters bump Illinois over MSU for the impressiveness of the win or not (I don't think they'll get past an undefeated Nebraska, or the foursome of Arizona-Michigan-Duke-UConn).
Agree on the win, but we're still a 3 loss team. The only other remote possibility is maybe jumping Gonzaga. Everyone else closely above us annihilated teams this week.
Good point on Iowa State. I guess that could be possible.
Haven’t seen us higher than 9th in all of the news outlets top 25… seems really low. I’m hoping for a top 7 ranking tomorrow.
75% at number 9
15% at number 10
10% at number 8 if we get big game jump
15% at number 10
10% at number 8 if we get big game jump
Should be at least #7 if they are following any of the rating systems at all.
I’d actually LOVE this metric. A “ranking of the country’s best wins”.
You got me thinking what are the other most impressive wins? Texas Tech over Duke at The Garden. Iowa State over Purdue at Mackey. Duke over MSU at Breslin. Tenn over Houston on a neutral. And you’d probably make the case Nebraska over us at State Farm is high up there
Epsilon
M tipping over
- Pdx
Love to see us being written about again in a positive light. Fansided is predicting 10th.
fansided.com
Men's college basketball rankings: Projected AP Top 25 after Illinois tops Purdue
The Big Ten's long title drought could finally come to an end this season, as the conference is loaded with potential national championship contenders. While al
fansided.com
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