Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Indiana

4. Illinois is a legit title contender

With everything that has gone on with the Illinois basketball team, I wasn’t sure how far we would be able to get this season.

The year started off with Kofi Cockburn being suspended. Austin Hutcherson would then go out with an injury and is done for the season. Andre Curbelo would be out for a couple of months with a head injury. He then missed time due to health and safety protocols.

Kofi would then miss more time with his head injury. We couldn’t get a full team on the court this season leading up to this past week. So, I wasn’t sure if we were going to gel in time to get everything going.

Well, now that the Illini have had their full lineup on the court the past couple of games, I can confidently say, Illinois is a title-contending team this season.

It is amazing how well we are playing right now and really for the whole season. We could have knocked off a top 10 Arizona team but the turnover at the end by Alfonso Plummer gave away the game.

We could have taken down a top-five Purdue team but barely lost in double overtime. In the past couple of weeks, Illinois has beaten No. 10 Michigan State. We then beat No. 11 Wisconsin by double digits on Wednesday.

And, on Saturday, Illinois took down an Indiana team that is competing for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. We beat them by 17 points at the fake Assembly Hall. That is an incredible performance.

So, I firmly believe this Illinois basketball team can win the national title. The Illini are as healthy as they can be right now. If we can stay healthy, we can win it all.