NCAA Basketball: Preseason Top-25 power rankings for 2020-21 season

The 21 regular-season wins and top-4 finish in the Big Ten made for a successful season for Illinois Basketball. But the feeling was that they were going to have to rebuild in the offseason, operating under the assumption that stars Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu were going to declare and stay in the NBA Draft.

Yet the rather surprising decision by both of them to come back for another year vaulted them from unranked to a clear-cut top-10 team and a potential national title contender. Dosunmu has high potential as a scoring guard, while Cockburn is one of the best bigs in NCAA Basketball.

Even without Andres Feliz and outgoing transfer wing Alan Griffin, the Illini still has plenty of surrounding talent for the duo. Forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili will be back for his junior campaign, while seniors Da’Monte Williams and Trent Frazier provide scoring depth in the backcourt.

The team also has a pair of top-50 guards in Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo, who could help with the program’s collective postseason ceiling. If either Jacob Grandison and Austin Hutcherson can slide in at the small forward position, then Illinois can make the case of having the best overall starting lineup in all of the Big Ten.

This team still has a clear weakness in terms of three-point shooting, with not a single returning player making over 31% from deep. That may be where the newcomers make the biggest impact on the roster, helping to improve Illinois offense overall. If that happens, as well as Cockburn taking another step in his development, then this team can make a real push to win the conference.