The reason I bring up the prospects of next season is due to the fact that Joe Lunardi of ESPN has released his first Bracketology predictions for the 2020-2021 season. Yes, that is right, there is already a bracket out for the upcoming NCAA campaign.
In the bracket by Lunardi, he has the Illini as the No. 8 seed in the West Region. They would be taking on No. 9 UConn. This would be fitting because, I believe, UConn was one of the teams Kofi Cockburn was thinking about playing for before he committed to Illinois.