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Illini creeping on Top 25

Posted by: Paul Klee

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 10:22 AM

It's been 33 months, 11 days days since Illinois was in the AP Top 25.

That was 83 games ago, and the News-Gazette has submitted 41 AP Top 25 ballots since then.

So you can see it's been a while.

The latest AP Top 25 poll, released Monday, has the Illini receiving 15 votes, unofficially placing them at No. 34.

The company line goes like this: polls don't mean anything and we don't pay attention to that stuff. The reality is, the Illini know right where they stand, and what it's going to take to return to the Top 25 - and the SportsCenter highlight reel - for the first time since Illinois was No. 13 in the final poll of the 2005-06 season.

"I think you've got to have a marquee win," Bruce Weber said after a practice session this week. "I thought if we found a way to beat Clemson and then finished this stretch, we might have got people start talking about us and then got our way in."

Returning to the Top 25 is something the Illini have thought about. It would be a sort of next step in turning this thing around. A win against Missouri won't put Illinois in the Top 25, but it would put them on the doorstep. A loss would be even more damaging for those hopes, especially with road games at Purdue and Michigan to start to the Big Ten season.

"I don't know if you want to call it a goal, but it's something we're fighting to get to," Weber said of a Top 25 appearance. "It's not the ultimate. The ultimate is, if you continue to have success, you're fighting for a Big Ten championship and then get in the NCAA tournament. If you do those things, you might sneak back in there. But it's going to take a marquee win to do it."

Missouri received 44 votes (No. 28) in the latest poll. So the Tigers probably have thought about it, too.

- Watched the Rockets play the Nuggets last night. Luther Head didn't check in until 9:53 remained in the second quarter, and all I could think about was how he was on the wrong bench, and how well he would fit with the Nuggets.

I do think this is the last season you'll see Head in Houston, though. The only Rockets that have played fewer minutes are Von Wafer and rookie Joey Dorsey.

- Former Illini Rodney Alexander had 30 points for Oklahoma City University on Tuesday.

- Only two Big Ten players in the top 40 of Chad Ford's Top 100 draft prospects.

- D.J. Richardson wasn't in attendance at the Shootout at the Hall, but his absence reminded me what a difference he can make next season. As good as the UI recruits were, high school stars rarely make defense a priority. That's what separates Richardson.

"I think he's a guy with a scorer's mentality. He can do a lot of things. He can play a lot of positions," UI assistant and Richardson recruiter Wayne McClain said as he watched Peoria Manual in the Shootout. "But the thing I like about him most is how tenacious he is on defense."

- Talked to Marcus Liberty yesterday. Here's what he had to say about the Braggin' Rights series.

- Chat with you later.

pklee@news-gazette.com

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