It has been a great start to the 2025 season for the Illinois basketball program.
We are just finishing up a great win over now-No. 20 Tennessee. The Illini had to head to Nashville for the game, which was a foreshadowing of what was to come for the Illinois football program.
That great victory over the Volunteers was just one of many tough games Illinois will play this season. While the schedule looked difficult to begin the 2025 campaign, with each passing AP Top 25, the road to the NCAA tournament gets tougher and tougher.
In the latest AP Top 25, Illinois managed to move up one spot with that win over Tennessee. We are now the No. 13 team in the country. But what the AP Top 25 also did was rank some future Illinois opponents.
The Illinois basketball program has a myriad of ranked teams to come on the 2025 schedule
Well, so far this season, Illinois has played the current No.5, No. 12, No. 16, and No. 20 teams in the country. We are 2-2 against those programs.
On Tuesday night, the Illini play Ohio State. It is crazy that a Big Ten team can be 7-1 and not have a single vote to be in the top 25, yet Miami (Ohio) has two votes. What are we doing?
While the AP Top 25 left the Buckeyes out of the festivities, they did include more Big Ten teams.
Illinois takes on Nebraska on Saturday. The No. 23-ranked Cornhuskers are back in the rankings for the first time since December 31, 2018. We play Nebraska twice this season, too.
The Cornhuskers aren’t the only new Big Ten team in the AP Top 25. They also added UCLA to the mix. The Bruins are ranked No. 25 in the country.
So, Illinois now has three more ranked games on the schedule this season. For those counting at home, that is a projected 10 ranked games for Illinois this season. That number could easily grow, too. Iowa got the most votes to be in the AP Top 25. USC had the third-most votes. Wisconsin and Indiana both received votes as well.
The Big Ten is tough, and the Illinois basketball schedule is proving to be a gauntlet. Brad Underwood has this squad ready for the challenges ahead.