Good morning, University of Illinois: Strong UI presence among the top 100 players | Sports

Welcome to "Good morning, Irination". Daily college basketball news from Irini's beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scot Ritchie. Provide information every morning about the Blood Underwood team:

All college basketball season preparations include an extensive roster. Several shots will be in the top 25 of the preseason. Breakdown of the best transfers and the best freshmen. And the occasional ranking of the best players in the game.

Jonathon Warinner's ranking of the 100 best players of the year in Making the Madness fell at the end of last week. Illinois was one of 12 multi-player ranked programs, including Gonzaga, UCLA, Duke, Michigan, Villanova, Kansas, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Baylor and Oregon.

This offseason was turbulent for college basketball, but it's time to turn the pages on the 2021-22 season. This means it's time for the fourth annual Top 100 Players in College Basketball Rankings. https://t.co/rsI48h7yIc pic.twitter.com/sgkT3Ps0rZ

- Jonathon Warriner (@ Bracketologist3) August 6, 2021

Some points:

- It was no surprise that Kofi Cockburn was ranked the fifth best college basketball player. Duke's Paolo Bancello and Gonzaga's Chet Holmgren drew two freshmen in front of him, with only Gonzaga's Drew Timme and UCLA's Johnny Juzang in the top spots. There are cases that should be made for the top three seniors.

—Andre Curbelo, who ranked 100th, was surprising. Expectations in Champaign (and many college basketball corners across the country) are the breaking season for Illinois sophomore security guards. The most common idea is how he played in the three games Ayod Sungmu missed as the baseline for Kurubero from 2021-22. That would be pretty cool.

-Do not. 59 torrent flavorer is ok. If you can combine the freshman torrents from a scoring standpoint with the junior / senior torrents from a defensive standpoint, Illinois might have a serious baseline weapon.

- 14 freshmen are in the Top 100, Jay Lenduren has been reclassified to Memphis and the list has been released before he promises to play this season. Emoni Bates is expected to do the same. Care must be taken when classifying new students. They all may end up among the best players in college basketball. Or it may not be. There's really nothing to do, and that's why we've generally avoided including freshmen on the Associated Press preseason American ballots. It's not a hard and fast rule, but you can't be sure how new hires will work out at college.

- The other four Big Ten Players are Hunter Dickinson, Michigan (6th), Trace Jackson Davis, Indiana (7th), Jayden Ivy of Purdue University (9th) and EJ Liddell of Ohio State University (10th). ) Joined Cockburn in the Top 10. Not completely unreasonable, but probably the best setting for a reunion.

- If you need to pick a player who is too low-ranking, Texas Tech's Kevin Obanol will be number 90. If you need to pick two, add Michigan's Devante Jones to number 86. Obanol scored 1-2 with Terence Shannon Jr. for the Red Raiders, and Jones could make Mike Smith have a bigger impact on Wolverine than he did last year.

"If you need to pick a player who ranks too high and isn't a rookie, maybe Kansas mogul David McCormack is ranked 19th. At this point, McCormack will likely be a basketball player." A man averaging 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds without the benefits of becoming an elite defender doesn't exactly scream "Top 20 Players."