Illinois #3 in Preseason AP Poll

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#51      
Combo
Brosky said:
Only 2 B1G teams in the top 15. That surprises me. I'm also a little surprised Indiana doesn't show up in the poll. IMO, it looks like they're going to be a lethal bunch.
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IMO MIchigan should be easily top 15. Certrainly not as loaded as last year, but still a very talented team.
 
#52      
OrangeBlue98
RollChief said:
"This song is dedicated to CJ Moore of the Athletic and Percy Allen of the Seattle Times"

All votes can be found here, UConn Beat Writer Dave Borges is Illini Hater of the Week:

Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball at College Poll Tracker

collegepolltracker.com collegepolltracker.com
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For some weird reason, UConn people really seem to hate Illinois. Perhaps it’s because we aren’t afraid to call Dan Hurley out for what he really is since so many of us were familiar with a certain Robert Montgomery Knight……
 
#54      
Fighter of the Nightman
The "official" listing of our top 25 games this year, as of today!

Tuesday, Nov. 10 - #3 Illinois at #19 Texas Tech
Tuesday, Nov. 17 - #3 Illinois at #2 Duke
Friday, Dec. 4 - #4 UConn vs. #3 Illinois (Chicago, IL)
Wednesday, Jan. 27 - #21 USC at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Feb. 2 - #22 UCLA at #3 Illinois
Friday, Feb. 5 - #6 Michigan State at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Feb. 9 - #3 Illinois at #16 Michigan

And we have the following games vs. teams receiving votes:

Sunday, Dec. 20 - #3 Illinois vs. RV #26 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
Tuesday, Jan. 5 - RV #28 Purdue at #3 Illinois
Saturday, Jan. 9 - RV #29 Ohio State at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Jan. 19 - RV #27 Nebraska at #3 Illinois
Sunday, Jan. 24 - #3 Illinois at RV #36 Indiana
Saturday, Jan. 30 - RV #30 North Carolina vs. #3 Illinois (Nashville, TN)
Friday, Feb. 12 - #3 Illinois at RV #28 Purdue
Sunday, March 6 - RV #34 Iowa at #3 Illinois

Not to mention plenty of other "good" games like two against Wisconsin and Maryland. Gonna be a very fun year!!
 
#55      
Calvin
doowink said:
I believe the program is currently where most of us have hoped that someday it would and could be.....listing a few reasons why I believe this is the best era of Illini basketball in my lifetime (and I'm 75 years old) and looks to be in a position to sustain that level of excellence for several years....ranked in the top 10 (hopefully most of the season) and every year...possible back to back final four appearances, and a good chance to hang a national championship banner, if not every year, at least every 2-3 years....conference championship contender every year....gaining the attention of multiple 5 star recruits each year and hopefully landing at least one if not a couple each year...and now the era of NIL and I would say leading in the portal recruiting wars....absolutely killing it in the overseas battle for top tier talent...possibly the best all around coaching staff in the conference and for sure top 5 in the country....not to mention one of the best if not the best strength and conditioning programs in division 1 basketball....putting players in the NBA each and every year adds to the validity that this program is a destination for young talented players that want a championship ring and are striving to reach that next level and become some of the best players (and at some point highest paid players) in the league....Illinois has had good teams and made some good runs throughout my lifetime...but this seems more (at least at this point in time) sustainable than any other time in the past 60 years....I really hope this year ends the drought, and we are able to hang a national championship banner... but if not....I have confidence that next year 27-28 and beyond will have us in the mix for that elusive national championship...so I'm really enjoying last season...this season....and beyond....I really, really, really am!
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I'd add to this -
The staff are good people. We're 10 seasons into Brad Underwood, and this is not a scandal plagued program or one living on the edge -- you see players who genuinely want to come back here after they've made it, and guys who could shop for a bag that stay. We won't win all those, but they've got a great record.
Josh is amazing and supports his guys 100%
Fan support and boosters willing to put their $ and time to help the program believe in them too.
How can you not be excited as a fan with the trajectory of this program? Feels like a dream going into last season and now this one.
 
#56      
Illini2010-11
Fighter of the Nightman said:
The "official" listing of our top 25 games this year, as of today!

Tuesday, Nov. 10 - #3 Illinois at #19 Texas Tech
Tuesday, Nov. 17 - #3 Illinois at #2 Duke
Friday, Dec. 4 - #4 UConn vs. #3 Illinois (Chicago, IL)
Wednesday, Jan. 27 - #21 USC at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Feb. 2 - #22 UCLA at #3 Illinois
Friday, Feb. 5 - #6 Michigan State at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Feb. 9 - #3 Illinois at #16 Michigan

And we have the following games vs. teams receiving votes:

Sunday, Dec. 20 - #3 Illinois vs. RV #26 Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
Tuesday, Jan. 5 - RV #28 Purdue at #3 Illinois
Saturday, Jan. 9 - RV #29 Ohio State at #3 Illinois
Tuesday, Jan. 19 - RV #27 Nebraska at #3 Illinois
Sunday, Jan. 24 - #3 Illinois at RV #36 Indiana
Saturday, Jan. 30 - RV #30 North Carolina vs. #3 Illinois (Nashville, TN)
Friday, Feb. 12 - #3 Illinois at RV #28 Purdue
Sunday, March 6 - RV #34 Iowa at #3 Illinois

Not to mention plenty of other "good" games like two against Wisconsin and Maryland. Gonna be a very fun year!!
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Given how loaded that November/early November schedule looks, the Illini could easily be #1 going into the second week of December or near the back end of the top 25. No matter what, we are going to have a lot of eyeballs on our early product.

I am so happy that Brad has the schedule stacked year in and out early in the season...though it does bring out the negative nellies complaining when we have 2-3 losses in December.
 
#58      
wncillini
I am 65 and I agree with you very much. As good as our teams of the 1980’s to even the early 2000’s our teams were always dependent on Chicago area talent (or early on Peoria would produce tremendous talent)? It was always a Livingston, a Cliff, an Anthony Davis that would disappoint and determine a great deal of our fate.

This feels totally different, it feels much more sustainable than the total reliance on Chicago players. Now if they want to play in Champaign if not that’s fine. We are really looking for “fit” now anyways?
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I dont expect us to be duke with the yearly talent haul. Even uconn has had some down years with ratings and talent..so for me where we are as a program will be telling next year.

Deep tournament runs involve a little luck but outside of injuries and a really bad draw I dont see how we dont at least make the sweet 16 and being favorites for an elite eight. However for program resilience and longevity im looking more to the next year. With a huge talent loss and turnover can we still finish the season top 15ish the year after AND feel optimistic at the end of next year that we can be better going into the next season. For me that will determine if this has some staying power. If I had to bet on it I would be on the optimistic side but we will see.
 
#59      
Brosky
that may be true but it's better than the coaches poll... which is filled out by coaches (or their assistants) who don't watch other teams in a broad sense every week.

the AP poll is flawed but still attempts to maintain the smallest level of "journalistic integrity" which is on extremely short supply these days.

that's why I prefer analytic based rankings. harder to add bias... just takes a few games to be accurate
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I have no disagreement with ya! I was only referring to the AP poll, not anything "analytic based." Actually I prefer those too--kenpom for instance.
 
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