We’ve seen the forecast, and here’s what it says about the 2019-20 Illinois basketball team:
The NCAA Tournament drought is over, baby. A thing of the past. Yesterday’s news. So long, sucker. Poof! Gone.
Maybe.
A preseason poll, conducted in tandem by The Columbus Dispatch and The Athletic, of 28 Big Ten beat writers — two per school — landed Illinois at seventh in the league, behind sixth-place Wisconsin by the narrowest of margins.
An upper-half finish by the Illini? That hasn’t happened since the 2010-11 season, Bruce Weber’s next-to-last at the helm.