Where Illinois stands in an 18-team Big Ten

Happy Sunday, Illinois Land!

Let’s try to unpack the evolving landscape of college athletics, the NCAA and specifically the changes in the Big Ten. The word “try” was chosen with prejudice.

After I make an attempt to make some sense of the brave new world, I’ll set the stage for how this benefits the Illini and Illinois fans in the two sports that caused all this movement in the first place: football and men’s basketball.

I’m not sure how anyone can put into words, with any sort of simplicity or specificity, how unrealistic and just how seismic the recent shift in conference alignment would have been just a few years ago.

A Richter Scale is not a large enough tool to measure these new…