Illinois #18 in 12/15 AP Poll
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Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
My guess AP between 18 and 20, with Nebraska within 1 of us.
17 or 18 with the Nebraska exactly one spot better. Two tough games last week, 1-1 result. Despite some of the overreacting psychopaths commenting....the rest of the country shrugs their shoulders and moves on, like the rational fans here did.
The other aspect of this is we didn't play THAT bad. We lost on an off the dribble, contested 25 foot buzzer beater. It's not like they came in here and romped us - like PSU and Indiana in 2023, or even MD last year.
It likely helps you in terms of perception that it was a (very) close loss.
If we lost that at Nebby I would say we drop to #17, since we lost at home I think we drop to #21
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This language seems so exaggerated and unhelpful, and it hardly makes your perspective look any more rational or less emotionally fueled than the fans you are calling out here.
It is very difficult to tell how pollsters will rank us after this past week. If they are believers in Nebraska and consider a win at OSU impressive enough being on the road, then we likely won't fall too much. If they think OSU is bad and are still taking a wait-and-see approach to the Huskers, we will have a larger fall than might seem reasonable. Browsing other top 25 scores from this past week, there weren't too many results that would result in a seismic shift, so I would probably guess this is how your Average Joe Pollster would treat us on his ballot, for better or for worse.(A) Beat a mediocre Ohio State team, but on the road? Move Illini up 1.
(B) Lose on a buzzer beater to a pretty good Nebraska team, but at home when we were favored by almost 9 points? Move Illini down 5-6.
Net it out to down 4-5, so I would pretty much agree with your ranking.
This language seems so exaggerated and unhelpful, and it hardly makes your perspective look any more rational or less emotionally fueled than the fans you are calling out here.
Go ahead and take a run back through the game & post-game threads lol it be straight craziness up in there
Every time I see a post typed with ALL CAPS and seventeen exclamation points it reminds me of those studies they've done where domestic violence spikes in areas when the local sports team loses
There's a lot of frustration....myself included. I will reserve judgment until after the season. Another R32 loss will make me unhinged....
The results are in:
As of this writing, there are 767 posts in the post game thread.
00.5% feature all caps in a way that would imply shouting. I.e. not counting acronyms or caps used to emphasize a single word. One of these posts was a "rational" poster mocking a "crazy" who didn't use all caps in their post.
03.6% use an exclamation. Many, perhaps as much as half of these, were used positively. For example, "Go Illini!"
A better metric might have been posts with profanity but I didn't tally those and have already wasted enough of my company's time on this lol.
Yeah I'm certainly not going to fact check you
Did you do the game thread too or just the post-game thread? I just think its exceptionally disingenuous to frame this:
as being equally "irrational and emotionally fueled" as what we all know goes on in the game thread
Dan
Admin
Illinois #18 in AP Poll
apnews.com
NCAA College Basketball Rankings: AP Top 25 Basketball Poll
The official page for the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. Keep up to date and view the latest NCAA men's basketball ranking updates each week for the 2025-26 season.
apnews.com
That's about right. If we beat NB, we're probably 12 and by losing, we're 18. It wouldn't have been a nationally noticable win, it wasn't really a nationally notable loss....so, meh. On to Mizzou. Onward and upward.Illinois #18 in AP Poll
NCAA College Basketball Rankings: AP Top 25 Basketball Poll
The official page for the AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. Keep up to date and view the latest NCAA men's basketball ranking updates each week for the 2025-26 season.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Trivia: both Nebraska men’s and women’s basketball teams are 11-0 AND ranked in the top 25.
Not what you think of when talking about Cornhusker sports
Not what you think of when talking about Cornhusker sports
Zorak
- Naperville
On the contrary, it felt to me like Nebraska rolled us all day and we were lucky to be in it at the end. They're obviously less talented but outplayed us.
Nebraska arguing aside, I think the difference in perspective on this board depends entirely on whether you think a #18 national ranking is good enough or not. I don't - that would suggest a second-round loss - so I'm unhappy with this team.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Honestly, this is when you know that you've arrived as a program. When we're so used to being in the top 20, that it's disappointing that we're not in the top 15 or top 10.....those expectations are exactly where Brad wants the program to be. I don't care what job you work, what classes you're taking.....if you have the expectations set on you by your boss, professor, parents, etc....it means you have created the belief that you can be the best. When people stop being disappointed is when you're failing.
And their volleyball team was undefeated too (perfect season up until then)...until they lost to TAMU yesterday in 5 sets in the elite 8 (regional final) of the NCAA tournament.
No they did not. If that last shot misses, game goes to OT, where Illinois **probably** would’ve pulled it out, considering we had all the momentum, were at home, and were the more talented team. Usually those three are great indicators once game goes to OT. But it did go in - so no excuses, take the L. But we did not get “rolled” considering it was a very difficult shot and game was tied.
You’re also never “just holding on” or “lucky to be in it at the end” if the game is literally tied with under 20 seconds left. In reality, they were the ones who benefited from a very questionable call in the final minute. The score is the score - literally does not matter if the game had twenty lead changes, or if you came storming back like we did (matter of fact I’d prefer the latter since you have all the momentum).
Like I said in my post, the definition of getting “rolled all day” is Maryland last year, or Penn State 2023, Indiana 2023. Or even Duke 2025, Wisconsin 2025, etc.
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The “comeback is lucky” narrative is baffling to me - unless you benefited from being ref-balled or they missed a boatload of free throws. They were the ones after all to get a bad call, and a subpar foul shooter go to the line and sink both.
In the final minute, I actually thought Illinois had the advantage. What’s funny is that I swear if the score was 7 points instead of 3 everyone would clammer “this team has no fight to get back in it”, and now that we did come back it was “lucky” (when it absolutely was not).
I hated the result, but NB shot it well, and their defense was excellent. I attribute the loss to scheme --I saw a team that was confused and didn't know how to break their defense down. I say this as a total hack and not as a well paid coach who has years of experience working his way up to a high major, so obviously not worth the electrons I'm typing with. At some point I'll watch the post-game to see what his comments are. I think these guys need more time together --NB IMO is a blueprint for how you beat us, and I don't mean hitting 25 footers, I mean the slips and easy baskets, and the defensive effort that kept ours to a minimum.
Something I like on our end was how they dug out of the hole multiple times. These guys may have off possessions, but they have fought hard to the end. Definitely some silver lining to a brutal result.
Something I like on our end was how they dug out of the hole multiple times. These guys may have off possessions, but they have fought hard to the end. Definitely some silver lining to a brutal result.
There is a serious chance that my electrons are worth even less than yours. Keep that in mind when I disagree with you.
I don't think the team was confused about breaking their defense down. As I understand it, we averaged 1.2 points per possession. Someone else on the Loyalty forum points out that we have averaged 1.2 points per possession or better only 23 times in the Underwood Era. Our record in those 23 games? 22-1.
This is the only time we have lost when we shot that efficiently. The problem was not with our offense, but with a defense that allowed an unbelievably high 1.3+ points per possession.
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