Most Illinois basketball fans still haven’t had the crash of the Final Four run that took place about a month ago.
We waited so long for the Illini to get back to around the pinnacle of the game. It was a special time for the program, the fans, and the community.
Why let the party end there, though?
The Illinois hype train is still full steam ahead. After a great run, Brad Underwood was able to retain quite a few players. We only lost one non-graduating player that mattered, and that was Keaton Wagler, who will be a first-round NBA Draft pick. On top of that, the Illini landed one of the best transfer portal players in Stefan Vaaks, and we pulled in a top 15 recruiting class.
With so much going right for the Illini, it is only natural for Jeff Borzello of ESPN to consider us one of the best teams in the country. He did just that on Monday afternoon in his way-too-early top 25 for the 2026-27 season.
Borzello has some of the big names up there at the top. Florida takes the top spot. Duke is No. 2. The defending national champion Michigan, is No. 3. And then you get to Illinois. We check in as the No. 4 team in the country.
Let that soak in for a second.
Illinois just reached the Final Four for the first time in over two decades, and now we are projected as one of the top five teams in the country entering next season.
It is a rarity for the Illinois basketball team to be ranked so high after having a great campaign
Now, I realize this isn’t an official ranking. And even if it was, the rankings don’t matter in the first month or so of the season, let alone six months before the season starts.
Let’s hypothetically say Illinois does start No. 4 in the country, or even in the top 10, as Borzello has us. That is something that isn’t seen often in Champaign.
You have to go back to the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons to find the last time Illinois finished ranked inside the top 10 in the AP Poll, and then start the following season ranked inside the top 10.
In fact, it has only happened five times in the 121-year history of the program. Harry Combes did it twice in the 1950s. I am pretty sure they were still using fruit baskets back then. It happened in 1983-84 and 1984-85, as Illinois was No. 6 and then started No. 2. And then it happened in 1988-89 and 1989-90, which was the Flyin’ Illini and the year after.
That is it. Underwood has done some impressive things during his tenure with the program, and if we could end a season in the top 10 and begin the next season in the top 10, that would continue adding to his legacy.
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