Illinois Basketball: 3 effects of the Illini cracking the top 25

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 11: Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) reacts after a play during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 11, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

1. We are inside the bubble

Being in the top 25 is something many Illinois fans are not used to. If you are younger than 15 years old, you don’t know what it is like to be consistently in the top 25.

Back in the day – old person talk here – Illinois used to own the top 25. That means we were in the NCAA tournament just about every season. That has since ended, but could it all be coming back with a great season on the horizon?

Now that Illinois dons that top 25 at No. 24, this means a few things for the program. One of the meanings of being in the top 25 is the fact we aren’t on the bubble. Illinois should be inside the bubble with room for a loss or two down the stretch.

On paper, if you break it down, Illinois should be roughly a six-seed in the NCAA tournament right now. Four teams for each seeding and that shakes out to No. 24 being a six-seed. I would be happy with that if the season ended today. But the season isn’t over.

Illinois is now comfortably inside the bubble for the NCAA tournament. There is room for improvement to, potentially, work their way up into an even better seed. But there is also room to drop out too. I believe this team will stay strong and continue to win, though.

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