Despite good week, Illinois basketball not seeing love from AP Top 25

Coming into the home stretch of the 2023-24 season, Illinois basketball remains in the middle of the AP Top 25.

The Illini are playing some great basketball right now, scoring over 90 points in the last three games and four out of the past six contests. While defense hasn’t been our specialty, the offensive has been playing at a national championship level.

This past week featured two games on the docket. Illinois took care of business against a pesky Minnesota bunch in Champaign. This was a Quad 3 game, so it was projected as a win. Saturday against Wisconsin was a different story, though.

Illinois traveled up to the Kohl Center for a matchup against the Badgers in what is the first of three Quad 1 games to end the season. The Illini were also underdogs heading into the game, but we found a spark and were able to close out Wisconsin on the road, 91-83.

With a nice little streak of winning - three in a row and five out of six - I was thinking Illinois could see a strong bump in the latest AP Top 25. That isn’t the case. On Monday, the new rankings were released, and Illinois only moved up one spot from No. 13 to No. 12.

Illinois basketball has a chance to jump up in the AP Top 25 with a good week

It is a bit surprising the AP Top 25 didn’t give more love to the Illini. We went on the road and beat a Quad 1 team. Kansas and Auburn both dropped below Illinois, and Baylor made the jump four spots to No. 11.

While the love wasn’t felt this week, I believe if Illinois can win the final two games of the season, we could secure a spot in the top 10.

On Tuesday, the Illini welcome in No. 3 Purdue. Despite the Boilermakers winning three in a row and 12 out of the last 13, they dropped a spot from No. 2 to No. 3. This might make the game a little tougher, as Purdue will likely be playing with a chip on their shoulders. They will also be fighting for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Illinois then rounds out the season on the road against Iowa. The Hawkeyes are fighting for their NCAA tournament lives, so they will be playing at an extra level on Sunday. This is the final game of the season, so knocking off a top-15 Illinois program would look good on their resume.

If Illinois beats both Purdue and Iowa, both Quad 1 games, then I think we move up into the top 10. This would give us three straight Quad 1 wins as well.