Coming off a solid weekend, the Illinois basketball fanbase was waiting to see where we would end up being ranked.
The AP Top 25 releases their rankings at midday every Monday. The Illini started the season off ranked No. 23 in the nation. After a 2-0 beginning to the 2022-23 campaign, we jumped up to No. 19. I was fully expecting to see another substantial jump for the Orange and Blue this week. That didn’t happen, though.
Illinois did move up in the AP Top 25. We went from being ranked No. 19 to being ranked No. 16 in the country. A three-spot rise on a normal week would have been good, but this subtle jump doesn’t sit right with me.
Illinois basketball should be ranked much higher than No. 16 in the nation.
When I first saw Illinois with a No. 16 next to the name, I had to double-check to make sure this was the right ranking. I came into Monday fully expecting the Illini to make a big jump in the AP Top 25.
The reason I believed we could have seen Illinois jump higher in the rankings is the fact our schedule was so tough this past week, and we performed pretty well.
Illinois took down Monmouth 103-65 to start the week. The Illini beat then-No. 8 UCLA 79-70. UCLA is now ranked No. 19 in the country. Lastly, Illinois had then-No. 16 Virginia on the ropes and even had the lead with less than four minutes to go in the game. The Cavaliers are now No. 5 in the country.
POLL ALERT: North Carolina and Houston top men's AP Top 25, followed by Kansas, Texas. Virginia climbs 11 spots to No. 5 after week marred by tragedy.
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) November 21, 2022
See the full poll: https://t.co/ZJG5mhe2jI pic.twitter.com/pyy9oj6zHD
So, the Illini sit with a 4-1 record, a victory over a top 20 program, and our only loss was to the No. 5 team in the nation in the waning moments. There is no reason Illinois is not a top 12 team or even a top 10 team at this point.
How in the world is Illinois behind a 3-2 Kentucky program? They have two losses, one to Michigan State and the other by 16 points to Gonzaga.
Somehow Indiana is still ahead of the Illini. While they are 4-0, they haven’t beaten anyone this season. The best win was by two points against a Xavier team that hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2017-18.
I could continue on, but my point is, you know how good of a basketball team Illinois is right now. They have an extremely talented roster. We took down a tough UCLA team. And, honestly, we should have beaten No. 5 Virginia. Illinois is one of the top 10-12 teams in the country, and only moving us up to No. 16 is a Will Smith to Chris Rock type of slap in the face. Keep my team’s name out of your mouth.