Fouling and free throw shooting still an issue.
Illinois #16 in Nov. 21st & 28th AP Polls
- Status
Seemed to be a weakness in our switching when we had guards vs bigs. Tough guys but ended up fouling on shot or rebound many times.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
For sure, we are still a "new" team in so many ways and we have plenty to fix. However, I haven't felt we had this high of a ceiling in November for many, many years ... including last year. Likely since 2004-05.
sacraig
- The desert
I love that you just put Lindenwood and Syracuse in the same class here. F Boeheim. I want to bury them.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
Wouldn't make much sense if they hadn't also beat Duke last week.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
WIthout their Head Coach, no less.
Gonzaga got blew out by 20 against Texas and is number 6? Wow! Virginia jumps to number 5, but we sit at number 16? And Kentucky drops 2 games in a row. I know it was Kansas and Gonzaga, but come on.Illinois #16 in AP Poll
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sacraig
- The desert
The Gonzaga thing is a little ridiculous but Virginia is not. Though I do feel like we ought to have jumped a little higher, maybe to 12 or 13.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Gonzaga has a high quality early schedule for four games played. I think #6 is quite appropriate for them. They beat Mich State and Kentucky in a ten day span. I think that makes up for the egg they dropped in Austin. We moved up a couple spots, which is appropriate. I would guess we might have moved into the top 15 if UCLA had beaten Baylor.
No issues at all with these rankings so far.
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Because the help D didn't come quick enough to help out, or just stood there in no man's land watching. Gotta help and recover in those situations. Inexperience. They'll learn. Underwood will make sure to that.
Bigtex
- DFW
Not a fan of switching everything. Good teams take advantage. Ucla or uva
billybaroo
- Pebble Beach, CA
Well done!!
Exactly, MSU does what we did, and they barely beat an unranked Villanova and they go from unranked to 12th, go figure?
I understand your point of view but I remind you that Michigan State was unranked at the time. I know they got a big win also afterwards, but still. I know it will work itself out in the end, but seeding wise for the tournament matters. It's still early so I'm not gonna put too much into it. However, I was a little disappointed seeing this after our showing in Vegas. Especially if they believe Virginia is the 5th best team in the country at this point and time in the season. We knocked off number 8 and went toe to toe the entire game with Virginia until the last couple minutes.
I took his post as since uVA is a legit top 5, finishing second to them in a tourney (while beating another top team in that tourney and finishing higher than another top team in baylor) and basically playing them even for like 38 mins warrants a higher ranking for us than 16...not that the VA ranking was high.
Could be wrong though ha
Correct. That's what I meant.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
With so few data points, that is why it is hard to put stock in polls until at least mid-December. Based on what we have seen so far, Michigan State is definitely worthy of being ranked. Gonzaga probably could have dropped a bit more, but there is no way they should drop out of the top 10, so I have no problem there. So far they are 3-1 with wins over Michigan State and Kentucky (both whom are ranked currently) and only loss in a true road game to a team currently ranked #4.
The fact is we beat a top ten team that lost twice last week. I think we are justified moving up 3 spots in AP poll. Coaches are giving us more credit though, since we moved up to #14 there, with Michigan State right behind us. In a few weeks these rankings will stabilize, but I do not think we are currently under-ranked. If UCLA won yesterday, I could easily see us at #12-13 in both polls. Right now we are exactly where we should be.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Vegas was pretty hard to take into account, but I don't think UCLA should have dropped that much, either. In an event like that with four ranked teams and where somebody has to go home 0-2 ... isn't it kind of that we are all overrated or none of us are? I hate how the pollsters reward one team for winning a game that is seen as a "big win" but then punish the very team they beat as if it was a bad loss ... I would have bumped up Illinois and Virginia the most as getting their "statement wins," barely move Baylor at all and only drop UCLA a spot or two, but I know the pollsters treat this more as some type of game than an actual ranking.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
I really think you chalk it up to volatility of early season and uncertainty around the quality of most teams preseason. If this were February or March, one or two games like this have less of an impact. Rankings in November are filled with "noise". Sure UCLA will most likely have a great season, but they lost to two ranked teams with no quality wins to their account. This early on, you have no choice but to drop them a bunch of spots, as under the radar teams preseason (like Michigan State) pick up quality wins (in terms of preseason rankings). There is plenty of season to recover. With the quality of the pre-season tourneys getting better over the years, expect to see this early season volatility on a regular basis. In the past, many teams get through December undefeated; most great teams will have one or two losses by January 1 now.
This early in the season, there is no real good way of measuring the true quality of a team. For me, rankings in November and December are fun for fans, but really mean nothing further than that. Come January, these rankings will truly stabilize to show who the true top teams are.
Current rankings don’t mean much. I think several top ten teams are over rated…
UNC looking more like a bubble team that made a run vs a #1 team
Gonzaga doesn’t look great outside Timme
UK looks like a worse version of us last year
Duke looks really over rated. Filipowski is a good rebounder but I don’t think they have anyone that can really go get one.
Watched some Houston last night and watching Arkansas right now. I think those are the 2 best teams. Texas, KU and Baylor right there. And we aren’t far behind right now with a ton of room to grow. Think our ceiling is about as high as anyone’s IMO.
UNC looking more like a bubble team that made a run vs a #1 team
Gonzaga doesn’t look great outside Timme
UK looks like a worse version of us last year
Duke looks really over rated. Filipowski is a good rebounder but I don’t think they have anyone that can really go get one.
Watched some Houston last night and watching Arkansas right now. I think those are the 2 best teams. Texas, KU and Baylor right there. And we aren’t far behind right now with a ton of room to grow. Think our ceiling is about as high as anyone’s IMO.
Seems odd you mentioned Baylor but didn’t mention Virginia considering they just beat Baylor on a neutral court. However, I agree, it’s too early for rankings to mean much.
They also beat Duke, but why would that matter.
sacraig
- The desert
- Status