Illinois Basketball: Illini drop in latest AP Top 25 poll

You will find the Illinois basketball team in a different spot on the AP Top 25 this week.

The Illini started the 2021-22 campaign off ranked as the No. 11 team in the nation. A 2-0 start bumped the program up to No. 10 just two weeks ago, but Illinois has dealt with some health issues as of late. These health issues hampered the program which resulted in back-to-back losses.

Despite winning the past two games and moving to 4-2 on the season, the AP Top 25 decided to drop the Illini. If you look at the top 25, you actually won’t see Illinois at all. You have to look at the others receiving votes to find the Orange and Blue.

Illinois basketball is outside the top 25 for the first time in nearly two seasons.

The Illini were the first team outside the top 25 on Monday. They received 111 votes to make the AP Top 25, but it is weird not seeing Illinois’ name up there with some of the elite in college basketball.

In fact, this is the first time Illinois hasn’t been in the top 25 since the week of February 24, 2020. It was quite a solid run of 23 straight weeks ranked as one of the best 25 teams in the country.

But there is honestly no reason to panic if you are an Illinois basketball fan. If other teams were dealing with the type of injuries we are dealing with, they would be losing too.

In the Marquette loss, Kofi Cockburn was still suspended. That is an All-American that the Illini didn’t have. The only legit loss in my eyes is against Cincinnati. We played some bad basketball in that game.

Illinois will eventually get healthy. We also have some big games coming up that would easily boost us into the top 25 once again. If the Illini can go 3-1 in the next four games, then we should be okay.