Illinois #14 in 11/10 AP Poll

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#1      

Dan

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Dan
Welcome to the Polls Thread
 
#3      
WeWillWhen
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#5      
Fighter of the Nightman
Probably other factors to consider like what unranked team might pop into the rankings, but the following relevant results happened "in our neighborhood" of the polls:

#3 Florida lost 87-93 vs. #13 Arizona (Las Vegas, NV)
#5 St. John's (NY) lost 96-103 vs. #15 Alabama
#14 Arkansas lost 66-69 at #22 Michigan State
#19 Kansas lost 74-87 at #25 North Carolina

None of the teams in the RV category really did much to jump. I would be surprised if UNC passed us for beating a team ranked below us at home, but I guess one should be hesitant to underestimate how badly the media wants Blue Bloods to be good every year, lol. I'd also be surprised if #22 MSU passed us for winning such a close game, but I do think we will pass Arkansas (fair or not). I highly doubt St. John's or Florida fall enough, and Alabama was already ahead of us. Of the teams just above us, #16 Iowa State was more or less as impressive as us, #15 Alabama is obviously going to move up a lot and then there is #14 Arkansas again.

I'm going to guess we move up one spot, the Johnnies and Gators fall to the edge of the top 10 and we get #8 Texas Tech at #16 Illinois tomorrow night!
 
#6      
lstewart53x3
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Probably other factors to consider like what unranked team might pop into the rankings, but the following relevant results happened "in our neighborhood" of the polls:

#3 Florida lost 87-93 vs. #13 Arizona (Las Vegas, NV)
#5 St. John's (NY) lost 96-103 vs. #15 Alabama
#14 Arkansas lost 66-69 at #22 Michigan State
#19 Kansas lost 74-87 at #25 North Carolina

None of the teams in the RV category really did much to jump. I would be surprised if UNC passed us for beating a team ranked below us at home, but I guess one should be hesitant to underestimate how badly the media wants Blue Bloods to be good every year, lol. I'd also be surprised if #22 MSU passed us for winning such a close game, but I do think we will pass Arkansas (fair or not). I highly doubt St. John's or Florida fall enough, and Alabama was already ahead of us. Of the teams just above us, #16 Iowa State was more or less as impressive as us, #15 Alabama is obviously going to move up a lot and then there is #14 Arkansas again.

I'm going to guess we move up one spot, the Johnnies and Gators fall to the edge of the top 10 and we get #8 Texas Tech at #16 Illinois tomorrow night!
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You’re likely right, but I will say that sometimes these early polls can have a lot of movement. I remember one year Michigan went from unranked to ~#4 after winning Maui I believe?

So I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see us move up a couple of spots based on us now being #3 in both Torvik and KenPom with the way we won. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a team like Purdue fall a couple spots based on how they looked too.
 
#7      
Fighter of the Nightman
lstewart53x3 said:
You’re likely right, but I will say that sometimes these early polls can have a lot of movement. I remember one year Michigan went from unranked to ~#4 after winning Maui I believe?

So I wouldn’t be all that surprised to see us move up a couple of spots based on us now being #3 in both Torvik and KenPom with the way we won. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a team like Purdue fall a couple spots based on how they looked too.
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Yeah, I guess I am just not aware enough how much the pollsters look at things like that ... I'm actually sure that some do, and I'm sure there are others who don't know they exist and just browse scores and mindlessly tweak their rankings from week to week, haha. I would be a little surprised if they take #1 away from anyone until that team loses, though ... that's always felt like a bit of an unwritten rule.
 
#9      
Guest
Wow, great whatever this is called (reference?). I didn’t think anyone was old enough to remember Dobie Gillis (I think this from that show. I even seem to remember the plot).
 
#10      
Fighter of the Nightman
foby said:
It's easier to jump teams that win this time of year. I'm guessing with our impressive offensive showings we show up at #13.
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I hope you're right! As has been mentioned before, the AP Poll is a nostalgic relic that doesn't have the "objectivity" of the computer rankings. While that carries negatives (e.g., its voters might be a bit lazy sometimes and not do their homework), I would argue it also carries some underrated positives, namely that it carries more weight as far as "brand reputation" goes. Nobody makes a big deal about upsetting the #1 KenPom or NET team beyond the fact that the win itself is huge ... but upsetting the AP #1 team carries with it a sort of "specialness" ... I mean, we all still talk about the Wake Forest game or Griffey's buzzer beater vs. Indiana in a way that we simply don't about other wins vs. top teams.

With all that said, I remember as a kid that my friends and I had these sort of "perception rankings" for teams ... it might seem silly, but this is one way that helps to shape the reputation of certain programs among future generations!

- Not being ranked meant you "weren't good." You might not be BAD and might make the NCAA Tournament or something, but "good teams were ranked," period. It was a basic cutoff of being relevant.
- Teams ranked #20-25 were seen as easily replicable in that one week of two tough games could send them right out of the rankings and into irrelevancy.
- Teams ranked #17-20 were this sort of "okay, they're legit" category.
- Teams ranked #16 and better were the clearly "good teams" or "contenders" that year, in that they were theoretically the teams you'd expect to see in the Second Weekend of the NCAA Tournament, playing in the Sweet Sixteen and maybe even for a shot at the Final Four.
- Then being ranked with a single digit next to your name meant you were elite. As illogical as it is, I feel like there was a subconscious belief that even being #9 vs. #10 was noticeably better just because of entering that single-digit category. :ROFLMAO:

We obviously didn't have that written out like a guide, and this is all just a funny generalization ... but I still catch myself judging teams and programs like this from time to time. Point being? I hope we get down to #13, because casual fans everywhere will start to perceive us as a contender this year, IMO.
 
#12      
ChiTown
Interesting thing about preseason rankings is that must of the time it just doesn’t hold water until few games into the season.
 
#15      
AirNeazy
sacraig said:
Snl GIF by Saturday Night Live
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I remember back in college in the midst of 4 (!) straight missed tournaments under Groce.......my buddies and I wished we could just be relevant for once to make CBB season more exciting. No title aspirations, no NBA draft picks.....just hoping Mark Smith could lead us to be relevant past January for once.

In the midst of random message board consternation re: Brad's ability to take us deep into March consistently, there's a certain segment of Illini fans forged in the hellscape that was the 2010s (only 2 NCAAT appearances in 11 seasons!) that will never take an AP ranking for granted.
 
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#16      
Ga65
Just don’t see Purdue as high as rated. Probably complement to Painter. Smith and K-Renn really good but don’t see the balance of Michigan and Illini. Stop Smith and it’s a win but not an easy task. Texas Tech with similar pair so good early test. Bos is the key defensively and therefore the game.
 
#17      
AirNeazy
Ga65 said:
Just don’t see Purdue as high as rated. Probably complement to Painter. Smith and K-Renn really good but don’t see the balance of Michigan and Illini. Stop Smith and it’s a win but not an easy task. Texas Tech with similar pair so good early test. Bos is the key defensively and therefore the game.
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Agreed........super hot take - Purdue won't finish T3 in the B1G this year.
 
#18      
BackThatPassUp
I wonder what we did that was so impressive to leap iowa state. I get UCLA having close games against inferior competition and Arkansas losing but Iowa state seemed to handle business.
 
#20      
Fighter of the Nightman
BackThatPassUp said:
I wonder what we did that was so impressive to leap iowa state. I get UCLA having close games against inferior competition and Arkansas losing but Iowa state seemed to handle business.
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Total guess here, but these would be my hypothetical reasons ... remember, it would only take a few pollsters to have had this experience to shift totals in theory.

1) While we both scored a lot and held our opponents to low scores, we were more impressive on the offensive end. Illini won 113-55 and 113-70 compared to Iowa State winning 88-50 and 102-62.
2) Our most impressive result was in our first game where more folks might have been paying attention due to "college basketball being back" compared to Iowa State getting a slightly more impressive victory in its second game.
3) While pollsters probably knew we reloaded with new talent like we always do, I am guessing it carried weight that one of our core returning contributors (Boswell) had the single best performance out of all four combined games, with his 31 points in our opener.
4) Iowa State played both of its games on ESPN Plus, whereas at least one of our games was on "actual TV" - i.e., Big Ten Network ... and it happened to be the more dominant victory.
5) Someone would have to help me here, but did Iowa State have any key contributors out? We had SIGNIFICANT pieces of what this team hopes to be out in both games, and yet we still just looked damn good.

Anywho, just guesses! Lol. For #TeamRankingsMatter and trying to figure out how far we could climb if we can take down the Red Raiders and presumably then go 2-0 this week, here are some games to watch!

Tuesday, November 11
7:00 pm on ESPN | #9 Kentucky at #12 Louisville ... We'd almost certainly pass UL if they lose, and we could definitely pass Kentucky, especially if UL were to win handily.

Thursday, November 13
6:00 pm on ESPN2 | #2 Purdue at #8 Alabama ... I doubt we'd pass Purdue for this road loss, but if the Boilermakers win handily here, I think 'Bama could fall below us.

Friday, November 14
9:00 pm on Peacock | #5 Arizona vs. #15 UCLA (Inglewood, CA) ... Would pollsters reward UCLA for this win more than they would for us beating TTU, allowing the Bruins to pass us?

Saturday, November 15
6:00 pm on FOX | #7 BYU vs. #3 UConn (Boston, MA) ... I think UConn would have to REALLY take it to BYU for the pollsters to drop them below us, given it is effectively a UConn home game, but who knows??

We must take care of business, of course! However, it is fun to imagine this team doing what it takes to maybe be rocking a top 10 ranking when 'Bama comes to the UC ... might help juice up the crowd!
 
#21      
sacraig
AirNeazy said:
I remember back in college in the midst of 4 (!) straight missed tournaments under Groce.......my buddies and I wished we could just be relevant for once to make CBB season more exciting. No title aspirations, no NBA draft picks.....just hoping Mark Smith could lead us to be relevant past January for once.

In the midst of random message board consternation re: Brad's ability to take us deep into March consistently, there's a certain segment of Illini fans forged in the hellscape that was the 2010s (only 2 NCAAT appearances in 11 seasons!) that will never take an AP ranking for granted.
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And there is a certain segment of fans (like me) forged in the 2000-2009 time period that feel great to be back to where we already were, but are hungry for more.
 
#23      
IllinoisFan733
Let’s win tomorrow, then worry about the rankings next week.

Should jump into the Top 10 if we can get a convincing win this week against Texas Tech.
 
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