The Illinois basketball team is in a prime spot, as they began their 2025-26 campaign ranked No. 17 in the country and with the nation expecting them to climb rather quickly.
Brad Underwood's bunch has climbed as high as No. 8 after the Colgate game, but sadly dropped to No. 13 after the Illini fell to Alabama.
Illinois is in a promising spot at this point in the season, taking out the likes of Long Island and UT Rio Grande Valley in what people were calling 'tune-up games.' But that didn't stop Underwood from critiquing his team a bit after their 87-73 win against the Vaqueros.