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Illinois basketball in a rare position in latest NCAA tournament bracket prediction

The Illinois basketball program has been winning at a high clip, and the potential for one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament is becoming more real by the day.
ByRees Woodcock|
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Jan 24, 2026; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood looks at a referee during the first half of a game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images
Jan 24, 2026; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood looks at a referee during the first half of a game against the Purdue Boilermakers at Mackey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

It is so hard to tell how the Illinois basketball season will finish, but boy howdy, the 2025-26 campaign has been fun.

The Illini are currently without our starting guard, Kylan Boswell. Despite that fact, we have rattled off nine straight, which includes wins over then-No. 19 Iowa, and a road win over a top 10 team at the time in Purdue.

That latest victory over the Boilermakers had Illinois cracking the top 10 in the AP Top 25. But when push comes to shove, it is the NET Rankings that really matter. The Illini are now the No. 6 team in the country after the huge win.

With Illinois being one of the top programs in the country, of course, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has to update his NCAA tournament bracket prediction. Just a few weeks ago, he had Illinois as a No. 4 seed. As each week passes, that number continues to improve.

In the latest update of Lunardi’s bracket prediction he published on Monday, he has Illinois still rising. The Illini are now projected to be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The top four seeds in the East Region include No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Illinois, No. 3 Texas Tech, and No. 4 Kansas.

If Illinois were to finish as a No. 2 seed or higher, it would be some rarified air within the program. It isn’t every season the Illini head into March as a top two seed.

The last time Illinois was a two seed or better was back in 2021. In the 121-year history of the Illinois basketball program, only five times have the Illini been a No. 2 seed or better in the NCAA tournament.

It is kind of impressive how tough Illinois basketball has had it this season

Illinois, on the No. 2 seed line, is pretty wild, especially considering Boswell is out for about a month. But when you step back and look at all of the top teams, it is pretty impressive the gauntlet the Illini will end up going through this season.

So far, the Illini have already played projected seeds of No. 1 UConn, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Texas Tech, and No. 3 Purdue. We still have games against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 2 Michigan State, and No. 1 Michigan in the final 11 games of the season, too.

Out of the projected top 16 teams laid out among the top four seeds in each region of the NCAA tournament, Illinois will have played seven games against a total of six out of those 16 teams. It is going to be hard to find another team that can say the same. I think we call this battle-tested.

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