Number Twelve

I know, I know. I've gone heavy on trying to remind Andy Bernard that these are the Good Old Days. But I can't help it. Having lived through the 2010's, promising myself on every drive back to St. Louis after a Wednesday evening loss that I would never not appreciate Illini Basketball in the top-25, I'm now obligated to say this over and over. We're #12 in the new poll today, and that's amazing.

Maybe it's because I experienced something similar when I was a student in the early 1990's. Here's how it went for me:

• Ranking in the Selection Sunday AP Poll the eight years leading up to my freshman year on campus: #7, #14, #19, #12, #19, #4, #20, NR. And the "not ranked" was a year when we went 21-7 and finished 3rd in the Big Ten but were ineligible for the postseason because of the Bruce Pearl sanctions.
• Ranking in the Selection Sunday AP Poll the five seasons when I was a student (1991-92 through 1995-96): NR, NR, NR, NR, and NR.

If you wonder why people my age never shut up about Bruce Pearl, that's why. I was going to join Krush and watch teams that would be ranked every season. And then there were five total Big Ten home games where we were ranked (never once #12 or higher) in my five years as a student. A freshman student right now has already seen seven. And in every one of those games we were ranked 14th or higher.