It didn’t take long for the national media to take notice of the Illinois basketball team.
Entering the 2025-26 campaign, the Illini were ranked as the No. 17 team in the country. This was an appropriate ranking considering most thought we would be a good team, but with so many new additions, who knows what the program would look like early on.
A solid 3-0 start helped Illinois climb a few spots. This past week was big for the Orange and Blue, though. After a massive win over a top-15 Texas Tech program, the Illini launched up the newest AP Top 25 rankings.