Illinois
Why Illinois Basketball Is Strangely Sinking in KenPom Rankings
About two weeks ago, Illinois was fresh off a bounce-back win over then-No. 20 Wisconsin and sitting at 7-2 (1-1 Big Ten).
Even considering the previous Friday’s overtime loss to Northwestern – which hadn’t won a high-major game at that point – and the fact that Illinois had dropped out of the AP Top 25 poll, the Illini were still well-respected by the metrics, landing at No. 15 in the KenPom rankings.
Fast forward to present day, after the Illini have played two more games. A heart-breaking two-point home loss to No. 1 Tennessee and a commendable 80-77 neutral-site win over a 10-2 Missouri squad in St. Louis.
Still braggin’ 🏆#Illini | #HTTO | #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/jS70685xfF
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) December 22, 2024
Naturally, one would think 40 competitive minutes against the top team in the country and a victory over a high-quality SEC team (especially in a rivalry game) would boost not only Illinois’ reputation but also its standing in metrics such as KenPom.
Actually, the opposite was the case.
In fact, Illinois dropped all the way to No. 23 – no longer even among the top five in the Big Ten (Maryland, Oregon, Michigan State, UCLA, and Michigan are all ranked above).
Even more surprising, this came during a time when the Illini’s defensive efficiency actually climbed, from 17th all the way up to 11th over the past two weeks.
The issue, as has been the case all season, lies on the other end of the floor.
Over that two-week stretch, Illinois’ offensive efficiency has fallen from 25th to 37th. Given that KenPom’s metrics use a combination of data from the box score and play-by-play, it’s likely that Illinois’ KenPom offensive efficiency has continued to falter due to its combined 40-for-108 shooting (37.0 percent) against Tennessee and Missouri.
It’s important to note that it is only late December and Illinois has played just two conference games, which means two things: 1) KenPom isn’t working with a great deal of data just yet, and 2) the Illini will get a boatload of opportunities to prove themselves moving forward.
And those opportunities are coming sooner rather than later, as Illinois gets its last tune-up game of the season against Chicago State on Sunday before diving head-first into conference play and kicking the New Year off with a matchup against No. 9 Oregon in Eugene on January 2.
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CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
Freeze Watch
from MON 12:00 AM CDT until MON 9:00 AM CDT, Lake County, Kankakee County, La Salle County, DuPage County, Northern Will County, DeKalb County, Southern Will County, Kendall County, Southern Cook County, Northern Cook County, Grundy County, Eastern Will County, Kane County, McHenry County, Lake County, Newton County, Jasper County, Porter County
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