Illinois #9 in 3/9 AP Poll
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9th This week heading into the tourney. Let’s go on a run and have a great March boys!
Top 10 for sure. Possibly 8.
Dan
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Illinois #9 in AP Poll
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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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lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Finished this regular season at:Illinois #9 in AP Poll
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.
#9 AP Poll
#5 KenPom
#6 Torvik
#6 NET
24-7
15-5 in the BIG / T2nd
Only losses to ranked opponents / receiving votes.
4 ranked wins / 2 of them on the road / 1 on a neutral.
11 of our 24 wins were by 20 points or more.
On pace for a 2 seed / 3 at worst.
If you only read this board, you'd think we're on the bubble.
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This!! If you show me this before the season, I would be escatic!
pruman91
- interviewing new NL's daily....I really really am
2 thoughts from a feeble mind.....................Illinois #9 in AP Poll
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.
uconn should be penalized 4 spots for having a jackazz coach looking like an asinine fool on the sidelines.....
wonder how long it's been that UK got ZERO votes on an AP Poll............lol..........one of my buds who is a diehard UK fan called earlier today to congrat me on Illini being # 9 and then started cussing like a banshee about Pope..........he really really did.....lol.....
I'll just say that the comments about the whole season being a disappointment if we don't make it to 2nd weekend are hard for me to understand
If this team finishes with a 27-9 record and played 14+ Q1A games or whatever it is and won half (or more) of them and you claim to have gotten zero enjoyment out of that as a whole, that's hard for me to understand... like maybe find a different hobby?
(I'm not saying people can't fan however they want to, go ahead and knock yourself out, I'm saying I don't understand it)
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
To add one more point. Comparing this season to the TJ E8 season:
That team had 1 ranked win (Iowa St in the S16) against teams that finished the season ranked. This team currently has 4.
Heading into the B1G tournament, that team had 1 Q1A win (@Wisconsin). This team currently has 6.
That team had a Q3 loss. This team doesn’t. That team had a Q2 loss. This team doesn’t.
Yet, we all loved that team. This has arguably been a much better season and a much better team, yet the mood of the board has been far more disappointed all season long.
This has been a great season. Lots of great wins, almost all our losses were within a possession. Top 3 for Brad along with Ayo's last year and TJ's last year.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Robert puts it best:
If you're a "the only thing that matters is the NCAA tournament" fan, you're not built for college basketball.
You're built for the NBA. 32 teams. 16 teams make the playoffs, where you play a 7 game series and the winner of the series is likely the better team.
The NCAA tournament is a single elimination event created specifically for upsets.
To say, "if we lose in the S16, this entire season has been a disappointment" is nuts.
Assuming we make the S16, we'll be playing a top 10'sh team in a 50/50 game that we might be favored in by a point or two. If we lose a coin flip game, the entire season has been a disappointment? Come on.
Edit: Found Robert’s tweet:
Ehhhhhh, I think there's a middle ground here. We've seen a lot of good basketball this year, and that has certainly been enjoyable, but based on the talent we have, there really isn't much excuse not to make it to the 2nd weekend unless there's some major extenuating circumstance. You just don't have a team capable of getting a 1 or 2 seed all that often, so when you do have one of those teams, it's very difficult to swallow going home early.
We've had 4 1 or 2 seed teams the past 25 years:
2001: 1seed. Lost in Elite 8
2005: 1seed. Lost in National Championship
2021: 1 seed. Lost in 2nd Round
2026: 2 seed.
2001 and 2005 is basically the average expectation when you get that sort of seed (Final 4 team). So if we were to go out 1st weekend as a 2 seed this year, there's going to be significant questions whether we like it or not, even if Brad made the Elite 8 as a 3 seed only 2 years ago. 1 and 2 seeds simply can't go out 1st weekend without fans thinking it's a failure unless something truly significant happens like a major injury. And even then you'll get fans upset.
So while most years I'd agree with you that making a Sweet 16 isn't the be all end all for a successful season, when you're one of the Top 8 teams in the country going into the tourney, the math changes. Losing in the 1st or 2nd round is just no longer an acceptable outcome for most fans and won't be seen as anything other than a failure to them.
Was seeing a lot of talk about this earlier when it comes to Nebraska. The question was similar - if Nebby gets beat in the first round, is the season a failure? And the answer from their fans was no, because this season is already their best season ever as a program.
Some people are extremely short sighted. They'd view a 13-19 season(worst team in the league), but finding a miracle to get the auto bid, then winning two games in the tournament as a good season, but being 24-7(top 2 team in the league), but only winning one game in the tournament as a failure.
One additional win at the end of the year is how the season is viewed. Is it disappointing to not win the extra game? Absolutely. Is being the worst team in the league from November to the start of March better? Absolutely not. That type of season is completely unsustainable. Good luck recruiting.
The problem with this line of thinking is you're setting yourself up to have your enjoyment of the season to be negatively correlated with how good the team is. The higher a seed a team gets, the less likely they are to meet or exceed their "seed line" expectations, and the more likely they are to fail to meet them. For example, a 1 seed can only "exceed" expectations by winning the whole thing (and even that may only be meeting expectations). Whereas if a 16-seed wins a single game, it has VASTLY exceeded expectations, and if it gets absolutely crushed to a pulp, it has met them.
For a P4 team then, would it be more enjoyable for you to follow a team that barely gets in, maybe gets an 11-seed, and hey, if they win that first round you're happy! If they make the Sweet 16 you're ecstatic. Is that really more fun than watching a team who wins big games all year, plays really good basketball, and ends up with a 2-seed, even if they also only make it to the Sweet 16?
This is the same reason I fail to the see 2021 team as a failure. Winning the Big 10 tournament, getting a #1 seed, beating Michigan by 23 on their home court when they were ranked #2, beating a highly ranked Iowa team twice, seeing Kofi and Ayo both win AA honors and seeing Ayo win the Cousy award - all of that stuff was fun. One bad game in the tournament doesn't take any of that stuff away unless you let it.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
If the information about players missing and MP's season was included...
I'd say it was pretty miraculous.
The context is great and good to keep in mind. I think the winning streak through January set the bar super high, for better or worse.
I totally agree there’s a middle ground. I’d be upset with a 1st weekend exit, but it doesn’t ruin the whole year/experience for me though.
During our win streak, lo those many moons ago, I thought we had a decent shot at a FF slot, and a hope of even more. I no longer feel that way. That is my disappointment. We are still a very good team, but greatness seemed so nearly within our grasp...
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