Illinois #24 in 11/27 AP Poll

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#51      
That 2015 to 2018 stretch - end of the Groce Era through the Underwood rebuilding years - REALLY looks bad up there, too. That truly was an almost unimaginable depth as far as fan hopefulness and enthusiasm went! I think what added to our collective mental breakdown during this depressing stretch was the 2010-2015 stretch being particularly maddening. We would always climb into the top 25 and literally never once finished there. Every season seemed like one step forward and two steps back ... and that proved to be the case!

The least hopeful I have literally ever felt as an Illini fan was the end of the 2015 season. We were sitting at 19-12 before the BTT, and we actually had some nice wins (including at MSU and vs. #11 Maryland), so we at least had a shot at the Tournament if we won some games in the BTT. You'd think in an 8/9 matchup we could at least expect to be competitive, but we then proceeded to lose 79-58 to a Michigan team that had literally just had a plane incident and had to play us in their practice jerseys ... pretty much knew we were screwed under Groce after that, lol.

Compare that to the end of the 2019 season - an absolute shellacking (82-63) at the hands of Iowa at the United Center to end our season and give us our 21st loss of the year. I was at that game, and it was rough. However, I walked away from that game with immense hope for our program with Underwood finally getting his players another year and watching a freshman Ayo.
Also there were some circumstances that really took their toll. Not having Nunn hurt. I felt like groce have me hope early on because he could recruit decently. That quickly faded and I was already jaded after the last 10 years.

I feel ya on the 2015 game...I watched it with my friend why was a Michigan fun, yuck.

After that, I think Trent staying sustained us then ayo committing changed the game.
 
#52      
I think what's happened since the exhibition is that we've realized that Kansas is not #1. They're a top-10 team, sure - but the drop in quality from the true #1 to teams in the 6-10 range is about the same as the drop from 6-10 to 31-40. In other words, beating a top-10 team at home is nothing to disregard, but it would also be the expectation for most ranked teams, so that result is not much of an outlier versus our performance the rest of the season.
And this is why I think we are going to beat FSU, TN and get to a #15 ranking.
 
#53      

band camp

STL City
And this is why I think we are going to beat FSU, TN and get to a #15 ranking.
Florida Atlantic Football GIF by FAU Athletics
 
#54      
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

Clemson over #23 Alabama
Georgia Tech over #21 Mississippi State
Saint Joseph’s over #18 Villanova
Drexel over #18 Villanova
Virginia over #14 Texas A&M
UNC-Wilmington over #12 Kentucky

#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
 
#55      
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

{snip}
#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
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#56      
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

Clemson over #23 Alabama
Georgia Tech over #21 Mississippi State
Saint Joseph’s over #18 Villanova
Drexel over #18 Villanova
Virginia over #14 Texas A&M
UNC-Wilmington over #12 Kentucky

#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
Two teams with a 1 in the 10s place would look nice for ESPN’s nationally televised game; conspiracy theorist in me says no worse than 19. (And, yes, I know that’s not really how it works. Need to put the foil hat back in the closet now).
 
#57      
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

Clemson over #23 Alabama
Georgia Tech over #21 Mississippi State
Saint Joseph’s over #18 Villanova
Drexel over #18 Villanova
Virginia over #14 Texas A&M
UNC-Wilmington over #12 Kentucky

#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
I'm curious, does James Madison keep moving up? I mean, they beat something called Keystone today. Does that warrant moving up in the rankings?
 
#59      
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

Clemson over #23 Alabama
Georgia Tech over #21 Mississippi State
Saint Joseph’s over #18 Villanova
Drexel over #18 Villanova
Virginia over #14 Texas A&M
UNC-Wilmington over #12 Kentucky

#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
Miss St is surely falling out now having just lost to 1-6 Southern.
 
#61      

DeonThomas

South Carolina
Well, we’ll definitely go up on Monday, but who knows how much? The following all happened this week:

Clemson over #23 Alabama
Georgia Tech over #21 Mississippi State
Saint Joseph’s over #18 Villanova
Drexel over #18 Villanova
Virginia over #14 Texas A&M
UNC-Wilmington over #12 Kentucky

#23 Alabama, #21 Mississippi State and #18 Villanova probably all fall out, right? So a linear jump up puts us at #21. Personally, I think our performance at RU today should push us into the top 20.

Either way, though, we’ll have two CLEAR opportunities next week to really rise up!
Thinking we move up 5 spots, ahead of even Kentucky. #19 heading into Tuesday night's game!
 
#67      
Thinking we move up 5 spots, ahead of even Kentucky. #19 heading into Tuesday night's game!
Agree we’ll move up a good amount but this stage in the season you also gotta look at teams behind us with good records that then pop off a big win. Example - wouldn’t be shocked if NW, with 1 loss and now a win against #1 is ahead of us in the rankings
 
#70      
Rutgers checks in at 72. We all need to be pulling for the Scarlet Knights the rest of the season. (Except for Jan 21st of course)
Yep! Go Rutgers!! In theory, we need the "bad-ish" teams we play ON THE ROAD to keep winning, and the "bad-ish" teams at home to only keep winning if it doesn't affect the first group. It will be huge for our resume if some of these fringe Big Ten teams that we are (more than) capable of beating on the road to remain in the top 75.

Two H-U-G-E opportunities this week! I'll be more than pleased with 1-1, but I must admit I am getting cautiously greedy with this squad!!
 
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