Illinois #14 in 2/12 AP Poll
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Not trying to be that guy but I keep seeing this like this season is falling apart? We were never going to win the league. The defense has been shaky but not sure I understand sky is falling crowd. Any of us would have taken this season in a heartbeat and its headed for a 4/5 seed most likely.
Yeah I could see that. They will be one of those teams that won't sneak up on anyone because they are now they are getting publicity/noticed.
Bracket Matrix has them as the top 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In Lunardi's last update late last week, he had them as an 11 seed in Illinois' section of the bracket facing 6 seed Kentucky in the 1st round.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I was studying for the GMAT while I was working full-time, and then one of the schools I was interested in gave me a waiver so I did not have to take it ... needless to say, that is where I got my MBA because I was dreading taking that test!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
As others have touched on, this is a very Illini-centric attitude to take ... we are not meeting our OWN expectations of a "top 15 team," so we feel we should drop further. The problem is hardly anybody is meeting this standard, and someone has to fill out the top 15. Another thing is that ILLINI FANS saw an incredibly frustrating missed opportunity slip through out finger tips in concerning fashion on Saturday ... most of the college hoops world saw another ranked team go down on the road, even more notably to a team that was top 5 preseason, in an extremely rowdy environment and against a team playing for its postseason life. I was as concerned as the next fan with how we lost that one, but it was pretty easy to predict where we'd land in the polls.
Personally, I am not complaining. I remain optimistic this group can figure it out (we are NOT dealing with a situation like last year, IMO, where one step forward would always be met with at least one step back), and it helps for perception to be hovering in the "meat" of the rankings when that time comes.
And just so nobody gets too worked up about it ... if we win two this week, we will indeed likely move up to #10.
Where is the free onion?š«¤
The season is not over yet. They have some tough games ahead. At Maryland, PSU, Wisconsin, Iowa. Any or all of these 4 can beat them. Illinois inside defense is like a freeway. Anybody can and has gotten into the lane and scored time and time again. Defense wins on the road, something that the Illini have not played recently. In 5 of their 6 losses they have been badly outscored. The offense has been pretty good but when you put 80 on an opponent but give up 88 you lose. I am not sure they will win any of those 4 games on the road plus they have Purdue coming in. They could be looking at 8-9 seed unless they decide to play defense.
If is the right word. Maryland especially. Seems like they have our number.So if they beat Michigan and Maryland, they are back at #10 next week.
For what it's worth, I think it might be more likely that we go undefeated in all our other games outside Maryland than our odds of beating the Terps in College Park. I mean, sure, it looks much better on paper to win @MD, but there's basically no historical precedence for it outside of Weber winning once there. At this point, if we win that game, we should probably go ahead and storm their court and carry the players off on our shoulders.
Does Auburns 40 point bear down of SC put SC behind us on Monday? (Assuming a win on Saturday for us)
Uhhhh no.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
I sincerely hope so........if it doesn't then I will end my attention to a bunch of hacks , IF we win Saturday......
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Doesn't look like we'll be likely to move up much in the polls even if we win tomorrow barring some major upsets. Best chance is to jump Auburn if they lose to UK, and MAYBE could jump Iowa State if they lose to Texas Tech. We'll almost certainly jump South Carolina after the 40 point shellacking they took against Auburn. First things first, though. NEED to get the stupid MD monkey off our backs.
It doesn't matter who wins and loses. We will be #10 on Monday, it's practically science now I think or something.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I am pessimistic we would move up too far based on results so far this week. Iowa State picked up an impressive win at Cincinnati, FWIW. The only team ahead of us that has lost so far is #11 South Carolina, but they did get absolutely SMOKED by 40 points against Auburn, so maybe we could jump them? These are the games for the teams ranked slightly above us this weekend:
Texas Tech at #10 Iowa State. I guess if Iowa State lost at home to Texas Tech, we might jump them, actually.
Virginia Tech at #7 North Carolina. If UNC lost at home to VT after dropping a game at Syracuse, we would jump them. Unlikely, though.
#9 Duke at Florida State. Duke already won once this week, so the pollsters would practically ignore a road loss to FSU, lol.
LSU at #11 South Carolina. If the Gamecocks drop this one, we for sure jump them.
#12 Baylor at West Virginia. Go Mountaineers! I really didn't realize how bad WVU was this year.
#22 Kentucky at #13 Auburn. As you said, a Kentucky win might allow us to jump Auburn ... but I doubt it. It would be balanced against absolutely demolishing the #11 team in the nation earlier in the week.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
Inflation. Onions are $1 now.
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