Illini in Top 25?
The Associated Press college basketball poll will be released later today and Illinois, fresh off a Maui Invitational championship, will receive votes. Will the Illini break into the Top 25? That remains to be seen.
John Groce's club made my Top 25 that I sent to The Associated Press last night. Here's how I voted:
1. Indiana
2. Duke
3. Ohio State
4. Michigan
5. Syracuse
6. Louisville
7. Florida
8. Kansas
9. Kentucky
10. Arizona
11. Gonzaga
12. Creighton
13. North Carolina
14. Missouri
15. Oklahoma State
16. Michigan State
17. Colorado
18. Georgetown
19. Cincinnati
20. Illinois
21. North Carolina State
22. Minnesota
23. Oregon
24. Alabama
25. UNLV
I still think Indiana's the best team in the country so I wouldn't quibble at all with them being No. 1. But based on what's actually happened so far this year- neutral court wins over Kentucky, Minnesota, VCU and Louisville- I would have to have Duke at No. 1.
I'm not sure if we "should" be ranked or not (whatever that means at this point in the year). But with Memphis, Wisconsin, UNLV and UConn all losing, I'd probably have us ranked this week also.
Why do some Illinois fans keep insisting they should not be ranked so far. They're playing like a top 25 team right now and that's what the ranking is about. A lot of fans keep saying that they don't like being ranked because they want to Illinois to be hungry. Well, not being ranked would involve us not playing like a top 25 team. We can be ranked and still be hungry for a higher spot.
Because we haven't beat a Top 25 team. Usually if you start out not receiving votes, you have to beat a ranked team or two to get ranked. Especially if you're a team that struggled last year AND lost a lottery pick. We've also had two probably-should-have-been losses against teams a Top 25 team should beat.
That'd be why. I'm not saying that line of thought is correct, but with nothing truly proven so far it's as valid as thinking we should be ranked. Like I said in my post, especially when you consider some of the teams that lost last week I'd probably have us ranked, too. Even if we didn't beat UNC or even Marquette last week, we were clearly the best team at Maui (not saying we ARE the best, but we clearly were that week), something that almost always portends to good things.
Your criteria of "playing like a Top 25 team" is mostly nonsense, by the way. What does that mean? How do you measure that? (These are rhetorical questions. Please don't attempt to answer them. What you said is beyond arbitrary and ventures into the totally meaningless.)
Perception is reality in college basketball. That's why UCLA started the year in the pre-season top 25 even though they are playing poorly and just lost to Cal-Poly. It is why NC State will still be ranked in the top 25 even though they lost to Oklahoma State and just squeeked by UNC-Ashville. The pollsters still remember the Illini taking a historic nose-dive last season.
The Illini are playing very well right now. But they have a number of areas for improvement, such as rebounding, which will be exploited during the Big Ten season. We are not going to be un-defeated this year.
Good Job by Coach Groce and the entire team! Keep winning games and the rankings will take care of themselves.
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