Illinois Basketball: Illini jump up in the AP Top 25 after strong week

After a strong week by the Illinois basketball team, we find ourselves moving up in the latest AP Top 25.

The Illini schedule is a bit of a roller coaster right now. Just two weeks ago, Illinois dropped both of their games and fell from No. 17 to No. 24 in the polls. A strong rebound week that featured wins over No. 10 Michigan State and in-state rival Northwestern have the Orange and Blue on the move once again.

In the newest AP Top 25 poll released on Monday, Illinois moved from No. 24 in the rankings all the way up to No. 18. The Illini jumped over teams like USC, Iowa State, Xavier, Tennessee, and Marquette, a team that beat Illinois earlier this year.

This move doesn’t come as much of a surprise. When we beat No. 10 Michigan State without our best player in Kofi Cockburn, that says a lot about this program. If we would have fallen to Northwestern, this move-up wouldn’t have happened, though. I am sure glad we avoided that trap game.

The Illinois basketball schedule is looking pretty tough in the coming weeks.

It is great moving up to No. 18 in the country, but things are about to get extremely serious over the next month or so.

Illinois’ next game is this Wednesday against No. 11 Wisconsin. Thankfully, the Badgers come down to Champaign for that tilt.

Out of the next seven games, the Illini have to play four ranked opponents. No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 4 Purdue, No. 13 Michigan State, and No. 16 Ohio State are all in the next four weeks. Illinois also has to travel to Indiana in that stretch. This program is going to be tested.

When the season is all wrapped up, Illinois is going to have the schedule to put together quite the resume for the NCAA tournament. If we can knock off three of the four ranked opponents down the stretch, then I think the Illini are in legit contention for a top-three seed in the postseason.