Brad Underwood Reacts to Preseason Rankings and What They Mean to Illinois

Brad Underwood is giving the rankings a rest ... for now

Still, Underwood doesn't pretend that national rankings have no influence on perceptions that may be important to, say, NCAA Tournament seedings miles down the road."I'll pay attention again at some point to all of that," Underwood said. "I know we have a nice basketball team. We haven't seen our group in its entirety yet. That's been challenging."

The Illini will be missing four projected contributors Sunday against the Redbirds: Ty Rodgers (knee), Andrej Stojakovic (knee), Mihailo Petrovic (eligibility/hamstring) and Tomislav Ivisic (tonsils). Would Underwood rather have those players on the court, healthy and building chemistry? Of course. But, again, worries get you nowhere. Instead, it's a glass half full – an opportunity for young players (freshmen Keaton Wagler, Brandon Lee and Blake Fagbemi, and redshirt freshman Jason Jakstys) to get some early burn and others (Ben Humrichous, Jake Davis and Zvonimir Ivisic) to dabble in unfamiliar roles that could bolster Illinois' flexibility long term.

More than anything, Underwood seems to view the rankings as a potential distraction from the program's larger goals. The Illini have to beat the teams in front of them one way or another. Whatever number they're assigned – whether by AP voters or the NCAA Tournament selection committee – Underwood knows the rest will take care of itself from there.

"But, you know, the preseason is a time for everybody else to talk and speculate," he said. "I appreciate that. I think the respect that our program is getting, it's nice to have a good starting point. And yet, I think we're still striving for something much, much higher than that. Those are our standards here at the university, coming back right to the State Farm Center."