RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Illinois #5 in 2/2 AP Poll
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I no doubt see this as an incredible testament to what a great job Underwood has done here (especially given what he inherited), but I also love that Illini success has been so spread across numerous coaches in different eras. JMO and all, but I always sort of liked that we didn't have this ONE legendary coach who was responsible for the bulk of our all-time stats. While it might not be worth much at the end of the day, I like that 5 of our last 6 coaches have won a Big Ten Championship, 4 of the last 6 have made at least an Elite Eight, 4 of the last 6 have earned a #1 seed, etc.
P.S. Such an interesting near miss for Weber to not be on this list in 2006. We were #6 and 15-0 before looking like absolute crap in a 63-48 loss at Iowa. We only dropped to #7, but we then lost at #13 Indiana and dropped to #8. After three straight wins, we climbed to #6 again and were 20-2 on February 4. Enter the epically disappointing loss to Penn State on Saturday, February 4, where a McBride buzzer beater was waved off after official review, and our 38(?)-game home winning streak was broken. We would get as high as #8, but we would never be a real threat to get into the top 5 again, and of course we would eventually be a #4 seed that went down in the Second Round (i.e., we were clearly not "really" a top 5 team this year).
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Design your own NCAA Revenge Tour (based on reasonable seeding possibilities)
For me it’s:
Austin Peay (87)
Loyola (21)
Villanova (88)
Vanderbilt (93)
Michigan (89)
UConn (24)
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Uhhhhhh…..yeah no. Maybe AP voter humanity.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
I haven't really watched them yet this year. If like most Zags teams my sense would be I'd be surprised if they had someone on the roster that could guard Wagler in a man on man situation. Could they throw a garbage D to slow him down - sure, could he have an off shooting night - sure, but I suspect he'd feast in the paint on the blow by. Once he does that it's a pick your poison scenario. He either drives to the hole or dishes to the open shooter.
We also have a sort of unique roster where we have 2 really good penetrators in Boswell & Wagler when both are healthy. Also Andrej & Mirkovic are pretty adept at it in the "crafty white guy" sort of way.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Just one of the top basketball programs in America, simple as that.
That's what's nice about the stat, we all know that Combes, Henson and Self were special figures on a level that Weber doesn't deserve consideration among despite his limited spell of magic with the team he inherited. And what Underwood is doing puts him among that "true greats" group. And I'm sure there are other ways to chop up the numbers where Self's lack of tenure excludes him too, but we know he had the program in a special place while he was here, and we are back in a special place now.
Formative Gritty memory. Being in the non-Krush student section up in C section at that moment, and everyone around me shooting upwards with joy in the same moment as I crumpled downwards in disappointment, immediately having recognized that he didn't get the shot off before the buzzer. One of the great correct pessimists was born!
Two other notable teams to top out at #6 (both in the final postseason poll) were 2024 and 1984, two very different Elite Eight exits.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
I would have probably guessed Weber in back-to-back seasons. Self, always an amazing coach.
Throughout our entire history we've always had the $$$, institutional support, culture and fanbase to put a contender/year-over-year elite program on the court. Some guys have been able to capitalize, some haven't....but these factors haven't changed. There's a reason why to this day Self still waxes poetically about how relatively easy it is to build a great program at Illinois.
Also why we've historically been a coveted job (able to poach Kruger, Thad wanting the job after Self, etc) until Weber, Guenther, and Mike Thomas took a flamethrower to our national perception. Won't ever forgive that holy trinity of grim reapers for destroying our program and leading to a lost decade. (Yeah, yeah...time heals all wounds and all that, but Weber has always been a clown.) Used to be the thought of a VCU coach turning his nose up at the Illinois job for any reason would've been unthinkable....thankfully I think we're back to that status again!
Good call.
nice to see jake davis getting some of the spotlight.....for a guy who used to spend most of the time on the bench he has quietly become a cog in the wheel of this gritty team.
Thank GOD!! I was in an argument with a moronic Iowa State fan on Instagram this morning, who said that Iowa State is a better team and that they should be ranked higher than Illinois even the polls came out. He argued that they were better just because Iowa State beat Purdue by 23 at Mackey, while we "only" beat them by 6 at Mackey. And also that they've beaten pretty much every team by double digits. I countered by informing him that he should look at Iowa State's schedule and who they've beaten and then look at Illinois' schedule and who we've beaten. When you do that, there IS no comparison. We've played and beaten MUCH tougher opponents than Iowa State has. Iowa State is still a great team, but their resume is nowhere near as impressive and Illinois' resume so far.
ISU has an absolutely BRUTAL stretch coming up in a couple weeks. 5 of their 6 games, starting on Valentine's Day, are at home vs Kansas, at home vs Houston, on the road vs BYU, at home vs Texas Tech, and on the road vs Arizona. So far, Illinois has handled their own tough stretch of games - WITHOUT their senior leader - extremely well and have won every game. We'll see if ISU can have a similar stretch of impressive performances. As it stands right now, though, Illinois has had a MUCH more impressive resume.
Glad the pollsters got it right this week! GO ILLINI!!!
ISU has an absolutely BRUTAL stretch coming up in a couple weeks. 5 of their 6 games, starting on Valentine's Day, are at home vs Kansas, at home vs Houston, on the road vs BYU, at home vs Texas Tech, and on the road vs Arizona. So far, Illinois has handled their own tough stretch of games - WITHOUT their senior leader - extremely well and have won every game. We'll see if ISU can have a similar stretch of impressive performances. As it stands right now, though, Illinois has had a MUCH more impressive resume.
Glad the pollsters got it right this week! GO ILLINI!!!
PizzaHutParkingLot
- Vodice, Croatia
Would love for BU to give Hurley a metaphorical wedgie. And honestly? Maybe a literal one too…
LouHenson
- Naples Florida
I really thought Brad had us there with Kofi and Ayo? That disappointment was tough to shake. TJ’s team was really special, got to see them in Boston and they were a great team. I never thought they could win it all. Really thought Brad was sort of a “hindrance” to that team. Very good coach but not the one to get the NC?
Now, with what this team has already done, and the big thing is the euro thing. We are leading the change in college basketball. We are tremendous at analytical basketball. Underwood deserves to be in the conversation with Lou and Bill. If he completes it, whole nother level.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is of course to some extent subjective, but I definitely agree. Any program needs a good coach to be successful, and a bad coach is unlikely to be successful anywhere; however, I think when people are talking about how good a given job is, they are mostly talking about the situations between those margins. Whereas your average program likely needs a "very good" coach (however you want to define that) to get them into the national conversation, the historical evidence for Illinois actually seems to indicate that it takes especially negative circumstances to remove us from that group. It's actually incredibly impressive that as soon as certain unusual obstacles are removed from our path (e.g., the Bruce Pearl setback or Mike Thomas' reign), we have routinely jetted back into top 15 status at a pretty alarmingly quick rate!
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Yeah, in the 2005-2006 season, the Illini were completely disrespected in the preseason AP poll. I believe that they started the season at #17 after the runner-up finish (happily NC was nowhere to be found). I believe the Illini worked up to the #6 spot a couple of times before slightly fading to #13 in the final poll.
What would be true is Weber having back-to-back seasons of Coaches Poll top 5. The Illini were ranked #5 once in the 2005-2006 season using the Coaches Poll.
Someone needs this as their profile pic pronto!
Talk to your kids about top-5 Illinois today.
Did anyone see what Nebby fans were doing? I love a little bit of this, but he's a young guy and could lose his head if he's not careful.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
That would be a heck of a matchup to watch.
Could 2021 speed us up? How would the twins handle Kofi? How much would Frazier be able to disrupt Wagler?
At the end of the day, if it comes down to who can get that clutch bucket, I am still keeping my money on Ayo.
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