Illinois
Better Know a B1G: Adv. Stat Comparison Illinois Fighting Illini
Mark and Andrew had articles last week about getting to know one of the teams in the BigTen, Illinois. (https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2024/4/12/24127914/big-ten-newcomer-q-a-illinois-fighting-illini-uw-football and https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2024/4/12/24128205/better-know-a-b1g-when-the-other-juice-was-loose)
Another way to look at the teams in the BigTen is to compare some advanced-type stats between those teams and UW.
Composite Ranking Comparison
Let’s start first by looking at the final ranking in the Massey Composite (https://masseyratings.com/ranks) over the last 9 years.
As you can see, Illinois has only finished in the top 60 once in the past 9 years: 2022. That year they finished ranked 28. The other thing to notice is the significant dip in Jimmy Lake’s last season compared to the rest of the seasons. And that was the only time when Illinois finished ranked higher than UW.
SRS
The Simple Rating System, SRS, (https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2023-ratings.html) tries to rate and rank teams, not just in a season, but across seasons.
The results look similar. Illinois has had just one good season. The one difference is that UW was lower in the COVID 2020 season, which was again coached by Jimmy Lake. So here, the effect of Lake as the coach is more evident. It is also evident that the gains that Illinois made during 2021 and 2022 appear to have been erased by a poor 2023 season.
F+
I could go through a lot of the advanced stats like FPI, SP+, etc. Instead, I’ll just include one, F+, which is a combination of FEI and SP+. This should be representative of most of the advanced stats.
This graph is also similar to the others above. One difference is that Illinois actually ranked higher than UW in both 2021 and 2022. (In 2022 Illinois had a value of 1.06 while UW’s value was 1.04.)
Talent Comparison
While not normally an “advanced stat”, I thought that I would compare the talent for both teams each year over the same period. Here I’ll be using the average rating by 247Sports for all of the players. (https://247sports.com/Season/2023-Football/CollegeTeamTalentComposite/)
UW has clearly maintained a talent advantage over Illinois during this period. And you can see that both teams have improved their talent during this period, and that the improvements are similar.
Final Thoughts
UW last played Illinois in 2014 and is scheduled to play Illinois in conference play in 2025 when the Illini visit Husky Stadium. UW is scheduled to play at Illinois in 2028. (Note that although UW did a home-and-home with Illinois in 2013-2014, but they did not play at Illinois in 2013-instead they played the game in Chicago.)
Despite a tough 2023 season, Bret Bielema has Illinois playing better than they were the previous 5 seasons. They’ll have to be playing better considering that this year they are scheduled to play Oregon, Penn State, and Michigan, plus Duke in a non-conference game.
UW should be able to maintain a talent advantage over Illinois. But, as we’ve seen, talent alone isn’t enough. But if Fisch can do what he did at Arizona, UW should be able to be the better team when they meet next season.
Illinois
Daywatch: How Illinois hospitals ranked for safety
Good morning, Chicago.
Illinois ranks 30th in the nation for hospital safety, down two spots from the fall, according to new ratings released by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group today.
In all, 22% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades for safety from Leapfrog, compared to nearly 25% in the fall.
Illinois hospitals earning top marks include University of Chicago Medical Center and Rush University Medical Center. Five Endeavor Health hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park, Glenview, Elmhurst and Arlington Heights also earned As, as did six Northwestern Medicine hospitals in Huntley, DeKalb, Winfield, Geneva, Lake Forest and McHenry.
No Illinois hospital got an F grade this spring, though 15 hospitals across the state earned D grades.
Read the full story from the Tribune’s Lisa Schencker.
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Illinois
Illinois ranks 30th for hospital safety, down two spots from last year, says Leapfrog report
Illinois ranks 30th in the nation for hospital safety, down two spots from the fall, according to new ratings released by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group on Wednesday.
In all, 22% of Illinois hospitals earned A grades for safety from Leapfrog, compared to nearly 25% in the fall.
Illinois hospitals earning top marks include University of Chicago Medical Center and Rush University Medical Center. Five Endeavor Health hospitals in Evanston, Highland Park, Glenview, Elmhurst and Arlington Heights also earned As, as did six Northwestern Medicine hospitals in Huntley, DeKalb, Winfield, Geneva, Lake Forest and McHenry.
No Illinois hospital got an F grade this spring, though 15 hospitals across the state earned D grades.
The hospital safety grade report is released twice a year by the Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit founded by large employers and other organizations that buy health insurance. Leapfrog grades are based on 22 measures of safety, including hand hygiene, falls and trauma, and death rates among surgical patients with serious but treatable complications. Leapfrog gathers its data from the federal government and a survey it sends to hospitals.
Leapfrog is one of a number of organizations that grade or rank hospitals each year — a practice that often sparks debate. Hospitals that earn high marks often advertise those ratings in hopes of gaining an edge over competitors, while hospitals that do poorly sometimes take issue with the methodologies used to judge them.
Four of the 15 Illinois hospitals earning D grades this spring are part of Advocate Health Care, one of the largest hospital systems in the Chicago area. Those hospitals include: Advocate Good Samaritan in Downers Grove; Advocate South Suburban in Hazel Crest; Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn; and Advocate Trinity in Chicago. Five other Advocate hospitals earned Cs. The Advocate hospitals received the same grades in the fall.
Advocate said in a statement that while it believes safety and quality data should be transparent and publicly available, it can be challenging to accurately measure that data because of “varied factors and methodologies that contribute to providing great care.”
“Safety always has been and always will be our top priority, and we have robust plans in place to drive continued improvement,” Advocate said in the statement. “We’re proud of our safety record and the excellent outcomes we achieve for our patients.”
West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown also notched Ds. The for-profit hospitals underwent several ownership changes in recent years. Hospital chain giant Tenet Health sold the hospitals to California-based Pipeline Health in 2019. Pipeline then sold the hospitals to Resilience Healthcare in 2022, after Pipeline faced backlash from community members and politicians over its closure of Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park.
Attempts to reach Resilience for comment were unsuccessful Monday and Tuesday.
Thorek Memorial and Roseland Community hospitals in Chicago also received Ds. Attempts to reach them for comment were also unsuccessful.
In a bright spot, three Illinois hospitals, including University of Chicago Medical Center, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield and Endeavor Health Elmhurst Hospital are among 15 hospitals nationwide that have earned straight As since 2012.
University of Chicago Medical Center has a number of initiatives, such as those focused on reducing patient falls and infections, that help keep patients safe, said Dr. Tom Spiegel, UChicago Medicine chief quality officer.
“The continued As just really highlight the focus our front-line providers put on patient safety and just emphasize the care they use in their daily job,” Spiegel said.
Other large Chicago area hospitals had mixed grades.
Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood earned a C, the same grade as in the fall. Northwestern Memorial Hospital earned a B, up from a C in the fall. Different ratings organizations use different methodologies, often resulting in varying grades for hospitals. In contrast to Leapfrog, U.S. News & World Report ranks Northwestern Memorial as tied with Rush University Medical Center for best hospital in the state.
Illinois
Evansville’s Ben Humrichous commits to Illinois
Illinois needs some size in the worst way, and it picked up a big frontcourt presence.
Evansville’s Ben Humrichous (pronounced Hum-Rick-House) committed to the Illini with one year of eligibility remaining, according to an Instagram post Tuesday night.
The 6-foot-9 forward began his collegiate career at Huntington University (NAIA) in Indiana before transferring to Evansville last season. He’s a native of Tipton, Ind., just north of Indianapolis.
Take a look at some highlights below:
Humrichous averaged 14.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game last season for the Purple Aces, finishing 42% from three (on 82 attempts, so not a small sample size). He scored a season-high 29 points in a game against Chattanooga.
Not a high-major prospect, but definitely some upside there, especially once Fletch and Orlando Antigua get a look at him.
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