Illinois Basketball: The Almanac keeps Illini in the top 25

Illinois basketball has a chance to do something really special for the 2022-23 campaign.

I believe every Illini fan should be excited about the upcoming campaign. Finally, Illinois is not a team that rebuilds every few years. We are a team that reloads with talent and is ready to fight for a national title.

There are quite a few people who think Illinois is a legit team. Andy Katz, just a few days ago, released his Power 36, and he had the Illini as the No. 14 team in the country. A publication that is high on Illinois is The Almanac.

Now, I am not going to release too much information about what The Almanac says about the Illini because you can get all of the Illinois coverage, and more, for just $19.99. They put together an entire 2022-23 season review for each team. It is 600,000 words. It is pretty impressive.

But the tidbit I can give you, since the Illinois basketball Twitter account already tweeted it out, is that the Illini enter the season as the No. 21 team in the country, according to The Almanac.

Illinois basketball fans have responded to the No. 21 ranking by The Almanac.

Honestly, I think being ranked No. 21 is probably about right for the uncertainty that the Illini bring to the table early on. I have said this a few times, but I fully expect some struggles with chemistry in the first month or so.

Illinois is missing six out of their top seven scorers from the team last season, so being ranked in the top 25 is impressive. The haul we brought in this offseason is impressive as well. Give this team some time to gel, though. By January, we should be playing like a top 10 team in the nation.

With that being said, some Illinois fans chimed into the Illinois basketball Twitter post. It seems that the response is split right now. Half of the comments want the Illini ranked higher and half seem to think No. 21 is right where we belong.

Illini fans have to remember, this is just a ranking to start the season. It really doesn’t matter in the long run. As long as we win games, we will move up the rankings and make the postseason. But it is always fun to see how good people think this team will be in 2022-23.