The state of Illinois finally ended its shutout streak in the NCAA Tournament with Northwestern going dancing. Aside from that? It was a somewhat disappointing year. UIC reached the CBI semifinals and Illinois made the NIT quarterfinals, but the state had a legitimate chance to send…
Upstate, Northwestern made the biggest play in program history. Down in St. Louis, Illinois State had its chance to lock up a NCAA Tournament bid but failed to do so. With that, Northwestern is the new No. 1 in this week’s rankings. 1. Northwestern (22-9, 11-7…
We’ve got a conference champion in Illinois for the first time in four years, and suddenly there’s two Big Ten teams from the state on the NCAA Tournament bubble. All that and more in this week’s Illinois Rankings. 1. Illinois State (25-5, 17-1 MVC) Last week: 1…
Not a whole lot of good things happened for teams in Illinois last week. In fact, Southern Illinois was the only team to make it out unscathed. But all the losses mean we’ve got some big changes in this week’s Illinois Rankings. 1. Northwestern (18-5,…
Illinois has not had a team finish a season in the Kenpom Top 40 since the Illini in 2012-13. Well, with February nearing, the state has two such teams in Northwestern (No. 31) and Illinois State (No. 37). These are pretty exciting times for both programs, and…
What a week in the state of Illinois. Illinois State took control of the MVC with a big win against Wichita State, Northwestern blew people’s minds with a 35-point win against Iowa, and UIC climbed into fourth place in the Horizon League. That and more in…
For the first time this year, we have a new No. 1 team. Northwestern’s reign ended after losing a tight game to Minnesota, and Illinois State took the Wildcats’ vacated spot. That and more in this week’s Illinois Rankings. 1. Illinois State (12-4, 4-0 MVC)…
Conference play began last week, and it brought plenty of surprises around the state. Despite losing, Northwestern clings to its No. 1 ranking just ahead of surging Illinois State. 1. Northwestern (12-3, 1-1 Big Ten) Last week: 1 After thrashing Penn State in the Big…
Last week was a rough one for Illinois. While Northwestern and Illinois kept their winning streaks going into Big Ten play, they struggled against some not-so-good teams. Meanwhile, Loyola’s winning streak ended at Toledo and Eastern Illinois’ streak ended at Indiana State. All that and…
Last week was filled with local matchups. Chicago State and UIC each played two schools from the Chicago area, and Northwestern and Illinois competed in separate games at the United Center. While the top teams stayed put, the bottom two thirds of the Illinois Rankings…
