The Illinois basketball program has completely flipped from what we were once used to.
Every Illini fan wants to forget the mid-to-late 2010s. There were a lot of bad seasons, and we were a team going nowhere. Brad Underwood took over in 2017, and everything changed, including expectations.
The first couple of seasons were rough under Underwood, but Illinois was getting a level of talent we weren’t used to. Just getting back to the NCAA tournament, an achievement that hadn’t happened in the four years prior to Underwood taking over, was the goal.
Illinois was a lock for the NCAA tournament in 2020, but COVID ruined that season. The following year, we were back in the postseason as a No. 1 seed. That is the year expectations changed again. We now wanted to be a regular Sweet 16 program and get to the second weekend every year.
Underwood failed to get us to the second weekend until three seasons later. A magical Elite 8 run showed that Illinois has staying power. We finally got to the second weekend.
The 2025-26 campaign rolled around. Illinois once again made the second weekend, and we even advanced to the Final Four.
Illinois isn’t that little engine that could that we saw pre-pandemic. This program is a monster, and we have shown that to be a fact over the last half-decade. In 2017, expectations were to make the NCAA tournament every year. In 2022, expectations were to make the Sweet 16 every season. Now, after the 2026 NCAA tournament, expectations have changed once again.
National championship.
We aren’t playing around anymore. First round exits and any seed that is lower than a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament are unacceptable. By the way, Underwood has had six straight years of postseason play, and Illinois has been a top-four seed in four of those seasons.
This is where the rubber meets the road for Underwood and his career at Illinois. There is no going back. He has raised the expectations and level of excellence so high that he has to continue recruiting, developing, and most importantly, winning, or the seat gets extremely hot quickly.
Illinois basketball fans don’t have to worry about Brad Underwood slowing down anytime soon
It is crazy to think about what Underwood has built in Champaign. We have been ranked inside the top 20 at one point in time in each of the last seven seasons. On top of that, we have finished ranked inside the top seven in three out of the last six seasons.
While the stress test is on for Underwood, and he has to keep up a level of excellence that very few Illinois coaches have had to meet, I don’t think there is any worry that he is going to slow down.
Underwood meets any bumps in the road and changes in the college landscape head-on. He adjusted so well to the transfer portal. The ability to build a staff that has recruited so well overseas has been vital. It is a testament to what Josh Whitman has helped build that Underwood hasn’t bolted for a bigger program.
Illinois is in one of the golden eras of the program. Underwood has built something special in Champaign, and in the blink of an eye, we have national title expectations.
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