The newest AP Top 25 poll was released on Monday, and there is an understandable head-scratch to the results.
I always like to stress that the AP Top 25 poll doesn’t mean much. It is just a fun measuring stick to see where the team stacks up to years past. There is no hard data to show that the AP Top 25 really means much in the grand scheme of things. For the Illini, that seems to be the case right now.
In the most updated AP Top 25, Illinois did end up moving up in the rankings. We are now No. 13 in the country after moving up nine spots. In a normal week, this would be a nice bump, as we weren’t even a top 20 program. But only moving up nine spots and not even cracking the top 10 is a bit of a head-scratcher.
Illinois’ week was huge. We went on the road to Eugene to take on the then-No. 9 Oregon Ducks. This wasn’t a close game either. Illinois trounced Oregon by 32 points, 109-77.
Brad Underwood then led the Illini into Washington to take on the Huskies. A two-game West Coast road trip is never an easy task, but Illinois was up for the challenge. We didn’t have the letdown game despite a big night from DJ Davis.
The Illini have now won back-to-back games on the road in the Big Ten, and we have won four in a row overall. On top of that, we have a good record, sitting at 11-3 overall. Yet, the AP Top 25 has us at No. 13 in the country.
AP Top 25 is not a serious poll anymore, as the NET Rankings is what Illinois basketball fans should keep an eye on
Having Illinois ranked outside the top 10 is a joke. Point blank, end of sentence. What we saw against Oregon and then icing the cake with the Washington win is one of the top programs in the country.
When it comes to the NCAA tournament, the thing that actually matters, the AP Top 25 isn’t really looked at as a measuring stick. It is the NET Rankings that matter the most.
Illinois’ standing in the NET Rankings is pretty impressive. We are currently the No. 7 team in the country. This includes a 4-3 record in Quad 1 games. Quad 1 games are home games against teams ranked 1-30, neutral games against teams ranked 1-50, or away games against teams ranked 1-75.
When you look at the competition, Illinois has the fourth-most Quad 1 wins in the country. There are only six teams in the nation with four Quad 1 wins, and we already beat one in Oregon.
It was a great week for the Orange and Blue, but the AP Top 25 didn’t give us enough love. It is time to shift some focus to the NET Rankings and take the AP Top 25 with a grain of salt.