Where Does Illinois Basketball Rank on Jay Bilas' Top 68 Teams List?


Where Does Illinois Basketball Rank on Jay Bilas' Top 68 Teams List?

ESPN's Jay Bilas speaks during ESPN's 'College GameDay' broadcast ahead of No. 4 Tennessee's basketball game against No. 10 Texas at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Kns Ut Basketball College Gameday / Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

It's just one man's opinion, as they say, but when that opinion belongs to the college basketball voice at the World Wide Leader - that being ESPN's Jay Bilas - hoops fans are going to notice.

So when last week brought the release of the Bilas Index - the list of the list of the NCAA's 68 best teams of the season as selected by the former Duke center and longtime college basketball analyst - we were curious: Where does Illinois fit in?

The quick answer is this: No. 27.

And at first glance, that sounds about right. Consider that the Illini (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) landed just outside the 2024-25 preseason AP Top 25 poll - ranked at No. 26, unofficially. That's a widely crowdsourced projection. Also keep in mind that Bilas released his rankings last Thursday, before Illinois thumped SIU-Edwardsville, before Rutgers (No. 25 on Bilas' list) fell to St. John's and before UCLA (No. 24) was cut down by New Mexico.

But still.

A preseason media poll projected Illinois to finish fourth in the Big Ten - ahead of both Rutgers and Oregon (No. 26 on Bilas' list). The Illini, even given the inevitable chemistry questions, welcomed a fantastic freshman class and several impact transfers to Champaign in the offseason. Given that level of talent, the program's recent pedigree and Illinois' upward-tacking momentum under coach Brad Underwood, any ranking outside the top 25 seems a bit of a surprise. Admittedly, after two dominant and dazzling games, anything else seems almost ludicrous.

A few notes in Bilas' defense:

In any case, it'll be interesting to see how the first AP poll of the 2024-25 regular season shakes out when it's revealed sometime Monday morning/afternoon. Bold prediction: Illinois will sneak in.

Just remember that it's not where you start that counts but where you finish.

Previous articleNext article

POPULAR CATEGORY

corporate

10801

tech

11464

entertainment

13286

research

6078

misc

14132

wellness

10780

athletics

14145