Illinois Basketball: New AP Top 25 poll strengthens the Illini schedule

It is extremely early in the season, but the Illinois basketball team is already on the rise in the AP Top 25.

Over the past couple of years, the AP Top 25 has been something Illini fans have been familiar with. During the 2020-21 campaign, Illinois started the season ranked No. 8 and never dropped out of the top 25, only bottoming out at No. 22 in the country.

This past season, there was a slight hiccup for the Orange and Blue. A double-digit loss to Cincinnati dropped the Illini out of the AP Top 25 for six straight weeks. We would finally reenter the rankings on January 10 and continued being ranked the rest of the season, climbing as high as No. 10 all season.

To start the 2022-23 campaign, Illinois made the initial AP Top 25 at No. 23 in the country. A good start for what is pretty much a brand-new team. After back-to-back wins to start the season, the Illini have now moved up four spots to No. 19 in the country.

Illinois basketball will have a tougher schedule moving forward.

It is great to see Illinois moving up in the rankings this early in the season, but we have to take a step back and look at who we have played.

Taking down Eastern Illinois and Kansas City has its benefits. Illinois needed a couple of games to gel, and these were perfect warm-up games. But, from here on out, things get a lot tougher for the Illini.

After Monday night’s game against Monmouth, the Orange and Blue then take on No. 8 UCLA. Regardless of a win or loss against the Bruins, the Illini will then take on either No. 5 Baylor or No. 16 Virginia to round out the Continental Tire Main Event.

The Illinois schedule doesn’t get much easier from there. After an easy Lindenwood game, the Illini then take on Syracuse, Maryland, No. 11 Texas, and Penn State. Two games later, Illinois then takes on Missouri in the Braggin’ Rights game.

In the coming months, we will know what this Illinois basketball team is made of this season. There is a chance we could struggle and potentially drop out of the AP Top 25. But there is also a chance we knock it out of the park. If we can forge ahead and only drop a game in the non-conference and the two random conference games, then we will be a top 10 team heading into the meat of the Big Ten schedule.

Illinois has at least three top 20 programs coming up on the schedule. There is potential that all three of those games are against top 10 teams when the contest takes place. I love this type of schedule. It strengthens the team and makes us more prepared for the road ahead.