Illinois #25 in preseason AP Poll

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#1      

Dan

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1. Kansas
2. Duke
3. Purdue
4. Michigan State
5. Marquette
6. UConn
7. Houston
8. Creighton
9. Tennessee
10. Florida Atlantic
11. Gonzaga
12. Arizona
13. Miami FL
14. Arkansas
15. Texas A&M
16. Kentucky
17. San Diego State
18. Texas
19. North Carolina
20. Baylor
21. USC
22. Villanova
23. Saint Mary's
24. Alabama
25. Illinois

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.
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#3      
PizzaHutParkingLot
Vamos Lets Go GIF by Travis

Non-conference schedule should be fun
 
#5      
Fighter of the Nightman
Fun fact: This is the fourth straight year we have been ranked preseason - the most in school history! We had several streaks of three straight broken up by a gap year:

2023-24: #25
2022-23: #23
2021-22: #11
2020-21: #8

2005-06: #17
2004-05: #5
2003-04: #13
--- Even though we finished #11, we started 2002-03 unranked ---
2001-02: #3
2000-01: #8
1999-00: #16


1989-90: #8
1988-89: #9
--- Even though we finished #16, we started 1987-88 unranked ---
1986-87: #14
1985-86: #7
1984-85: #2
--- Even though we finished #6, we started 1983-84 unranked ---

Also just for some reference, here is the NCAA Tournament seeds some Illini teams in the past have received in the past compared to their finishes in the AP Poll:

2022: AP #19 ---> #4 seed
2000: AP #21 ---> #4 seed
1998: AP #22 ---> #5 seed

So again, not an exact science by any means and it depends on a lot of factors, but we are projected to be in that #6 seed zone and fighting for a #5 or #4 seed if we can move up a little! That would be a welcome change from a #9 seed if you ask me...
 
#7      
lstewart53x3
I’ll just get this out of the way:

“I wish we’d enter the season unranked, so that we have a chip on our shoulder”.

Even though the top teams, who get the best recruits, are ranked the majority of the season every year.
 
#8      
thefalcon5
lstewart53x3 said:
I’ll just get this out of the way:

“I wish we’d enter the season unranked, so that we have a chip on our shoulder”.

Even though the top teams, who get the best recruits, are ranked the majority of the season every year.
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I think this team has plenty of opportunities to get humbled very early on. Marquette, FAU, and Tenn all before the new year. Not to mention Rutgers and Mizzou.

I’d like to think this team is mature enough to realize that little number next to your name means diddly.
 
#9      
illiniguy24
thefalcon5 said:
I think this team has plenty of opportunities to get humbled very early on. Marquette, FAU, and Tenn all before the new year. Not to mention Rutgers and Mizzou.

I’d like to think this team is mature enough to realize that little number next to your name means diddly.
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Id also hope they wouldn’t beat a top 3 team at MSG, then come home and party until 2am before Penn State and get blown out at home. But maybe I’m getting old 😉
 
#12      
NCIllini10
Johnny Lawrence said:
Cue Underwood detractors: "Pre-season #25 is unacceptable for a top 10 paid coach in the country."
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Any coach who is paid as much as Brad who doesn’t start the year within the top 10 is a failure! It doesn’t matter if he has turned around the program and has had us in the mix to win the Big 10 annually. Anything less than top 10 rankings perennially and perennial sweet 16 or better is an absolute disaster!
 
#19      
danielb927
Fighter of the Nightman said:
So again, not an exact science by any means and it depends on a lot of factors, but we are projected to be in that #6 seed zone and fighting for a #5 or #4 seed if we can move up a little! That would be a welcome change from a #9 seed if you ask me...
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I want to dream a little bigger - #2 or #3 seed please, would love to be in the "bottom half" of a region this year.
 
#20      
Fighter of the Nightman
danielb927 said:
I want to dream a little bigger - #2 or #3 seed please, would love to be in the "bottom half" of a region this year.
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Amen to that! It seems like we literally never are. I would argue there is actually sort of a cutoff at a #5 seed where you are seen as a clear "favorite" in your First Round matchup and can therefore dream of the Second Weekend as a reasonable goal. Since the modern seeding started in 1985, this is where we have ended up with top 5 seeds...

TOP HALF
1986: #4
1989: #1
1990: #5
1998: #5
2000: #4
2001: #1
2002: #4
2003: #4
2004: #5
2005: #1
2006: #4
2009: #5
2021: #1
2022: #4

BOTTOM HALF
1985: #3
1987: #3
1988: #3

That is actually pretty crazy, as it is not like we just can't get better than a #4 seed ... we have been a #1 seed FOUR times! That is once per decade in the modern era!!

If you want to push it back to top 6 seeds to be more favorable to the bottom of the bracket in this count, we also got a #6 seed in 1993 and 1997. Either way, we have not had a "good team" show up in the bottom of the NCAA Tournament bracket since 1997 at best and 1988 at worst... I always wonder if that is why Illini fans (including me!) sort of romanticize the bottom of the bracket, but I really do believe that if you are not a #1 seed, you DEFINITELY want to be in the bottom half.
 
#22      
Navy_illini
NCIllini10 said:
Any coach who is paid as much as Brad who doesn’t start the year within the top 10 is a failure! It doesn’t matter if he has turned around the program and has had us in the mix to win the Big 10 annually. Anything less than top 10 rankings perennially and perennial sweet 16 or better is an absolute disaster!
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Last year UCONN was ranked 27th. I don’t care where we start the season.

I want to finish the season strong
 
#24      
Bigtex
Could care less who starts games. I want to see who finishes games

Ok to be ranked in preseason but rather be ranked in march followed by ncaat run
 
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