Illinois #20 in 12/4 AP Poll

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#51      
Fighter of the Nightman
BWA said:
This.

It is silly to root for wins and losses from other teams to marginally improve our SOS. It will be what it will be. Only thing we can do is win games.
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I mean, I agree with the last sentence 110% ... but I don't think it is "silly," so I guess to each his own, lol. I watch a lot of college hoops for fun, and it is more enjoyable to watch a relatively random game if I feel a certain result will benefit our Illini - even marginally so. :cool: While winning games is obviously the most important, I would argue that a couple of our opponents dropping the ball last year pushed us from a #7 seed to the 8/9 game before we dropped the ball ourselves, and I do think that makes a huge difference. Again, it indeed came down to us losing when we needed wins ... but the other stuff matters, as well.

Anyway, as it relates to us climbing the AP Poll, here are some top 25 results and games this week that will cause the rankings to shuffle a bit:

Monday 12/4
#4 Purdue 87, Iowa 68

Tuesday 12/5
#2 Kansas 88, Kansas City 69
#5 UConn 87, #9 North Carolina 76
#6 Baylor 78, Seton Hall 60
#7 Gonzaga 111, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 71
#14 BYU 96, Evansville 55
#17 Tennessee 87, George Mason 66
#19 Oklahoma 72, Providence 51
#20 Illinois 98, #11 FAU 89
#23 Wisconsin 70, Michigan State 57
Grand Canyon 79, #25 San Diego State 73

Wednesday 12/6
Rice at #3 Houston
#12 Texas at #8 Marquette
Denver at #13 Colorado State
Long Island at #15 Miami (FL)
DePaul at #21 Texas A&M
South Carolina at #24 Clemson

Saturday 12/9
#23 Wisconsin at #1 Arizona
Missouri at #2 Kansas
Jackson State at #3 Houston
Alabama vs. #4 Purdue (Toronto, Canada)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at #5 UConn
#7 Gonzaga at Washington
Notre Dame at #8 Marquette
Central Michigan at #10 Creighton
Houston Christian at #12 Texas
Saint Mary's at #13 Colorado State
#14 BYU at Utah
Penn at #16 Kentucky
#20 Illinois at #17 Tennessee
#18 James Madison at Old Dominion
Arkansas at #19 Oklahoma
Charlotte at #22 Duke
#24 Clemson vs. TCU (Toronto, Canada)
UC Irvine at #25 San Diego State

Sunday 12/10
Colorado vs. #15 Miami (FL) (New York, NY - Brooklyn)
Memphis at #21 Texas A&M

It is an interesting thought experiment to try to guess how far we would jump if there were a new AP Poll out today, simply by virtue of beating #11 FAU on a neutral court. I think it goes without saying that if we win at Tennessee, we will move up quite a ways, regardless of what other teams do!
 
#52      
Chad Fleck
The CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 will have Illinois at #10 (!) after last night according to Gary Parrish on their midweek podcast.

I tend to agree with his analysis more than the collective AP poll. And he updates it every day.
 
#53      
Chad Fleck
#60      
Birdus
Tennessee is going up. We should rise about 3 slots but hard to tell. The thing is we stayed in the game at Tennessee not playing near our best. I'm thinking around 18.
 
#62      
The Galloping Ghost
#63      
pruman91
The Galloping Ghost said:
Interesting canary in the coal mine...
themessenger.com

The Messenger’s College Basketball Top 25: Next Weekend’s Arizona Wildcats-Purdue Boilermakers Matchup Looms Large

No dominant men’s team this college hoops season? We’ll see. The Arizona Wildcats retain the No. 1 ranking and will face their toughest test yet when travel to play the Purdue Boilermakers on Dec. 16
themessenger.com themessenger.com
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So, we are ranked # 11 , tied for # 12 and # 14 by those 3 pundits.......Better than I expected.........Surprise , surprise , surprise..

images - 2021-06-10T162340.175.jpg


It really really is..................JMHO..
 
#64      
SkyysNotFalling
Think we gained a lot of respect from the national media after last week, even in a loss. Was off by 1 spot last week… I’ll go with #17 this week.
 
#65      
sacraig
SkyysNotFalling said:
Think we gained a lot of respect from the national media after last week, even in a loss. Was off by 1 spot last week… I’ll go with #17 this week.
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The hand-wringing about us somehow falling in the rankings after the week (and a half) we had was rather silly. I'd be astonished. The fact is, we had played a really soft schedule, finally hit the meat of it, and went 2-1 all away from home and where the 1 loss was very competitive against a higher ranked team.
 
#66      
BBlock24
The Galloping Ghost said:
Interesting canary in the coal mine...
themessenger.com

The Messenger’s College Basketball Top 25: Next Weekend’s Arizona Wildcats-Purdue Boilermakers Matchup Looms Large

No dominant men’s team this college hoops season? We’ll see. The Arizona Wildcats retain the No. 1 ranking and will face their toughest test yet when travel to play the Purdue Boilermakers on Dec. 16
themessenger.com themessenger.com
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Yup. Illinois seems to be high on many pundits radar. In addition to this, Borzello has them at 16 with the win over FAU as his “win of the week”, Katz has them at 13, and Rothstein has them at 10!
 
#68      
SkyysNotFalling
TyKFactus said:
I think #17 is a tad low. A lot of top 20 teams have lost to not as good of teams as Tennessee and we have the win at FAU. I personally think we'll be around #14. CBS still has us at #10. Even Jeff Goodman has us at #14 and he's typically down on us. Seth Davis has us at #11.
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Shhhh I secretly think we’ll be around 14 too but didn’t want to get my hopes up 😀
 
#69      
Fighter of the Nightman
FWIW, here are some ranked results that also happened this week. Of course, some previously unranked teams will jump up some, but I think this bodes well for us moving up:

#7 Gonzaga: W 111-71 vs. AR-Pine Bluff; L 78-73 at Washington
#12 Texas: L 86-65 at #8 Marquette; W 77-50 vs. Houston Christian
#13 Colorado State: W 90-80 vs. Denver; L 64-61 vs. Saint Mary's
#14 BYU: W 96-55 vs. Evansville; L 73-69 at Utah
#15 Miami (FL): W97-49 vs. Long Island; L 90-63 vs. Colorado

Based on body of work, momentum and just common sense, we should pass Miami, BYU and Colorado State.
 
#70      
mysterio2525
I thought we would be around 22 because we lost but after seeing the sentiment from outsiders we may actually move up slightly. I'll go with 18
 
#72      
mysterio2525
BBlock24 said:
Illinois will be rewarded more for their neutral court win over FAU than penalized for their competitive loss at Tennessee.

That and other teams around them losing helps. I’m guessing 15 or 16.
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I think the week showed we are for real but sometimes the pollers don't use logic and are slaves to the ladder ranking approach
 
#73      
Fighter of the Nightman
mysterio2525 said:
I thought we would be around 22 because we lost but after seeing the sentiment from outsiders we may actually move up slightly. I'll go with 18
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Yeah, I imagine the average pollster will think of it like this (with these all being competing thoughts in their minds, lol).

1. When I did my poll last week, I thought Illinois looked pretty good but they hadn't beaten anyone of substance and they lost their only big test to Marquette. I'm leavin' 'em in around #20 until they prove to me they are for real.

2. The Illini looked awesome beating the #11 team in the nation on a neutral court (a team that was in the Final Four last year), and I definitely watched that one because it was on ESPN and at "The Mecca." That was enough for me to move them into my top 15, easily.

3. Yeah, the Illini lost Saturday but my takeaway was more being impressed with Tennessee. If anything, I am treating beating Illinois as a major statement by Tennessee, because I am actually moving the Vols up in my rankings. So, I can't knock Illinois too hard for losing that one on the road.

---> #20 becomes #15 or so after beating FAU and slides back down to #17 or so losing to Tennessee. Just my guess. Honestly, based on the entire body of work and the eye test, I think we deserve closer to #13, with Tennessee back into the top 10.
 
#75      
Chad Fleck
Parrish has Illinois still at #10 on the CBS Top 25 and 1.

I trust the AP, not at all with anything, so I'd like to not care about that poll. But everyone else does, so I guess I have to.
 
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