Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into league play

By Ryan Kay

ANN ARBOR, MI - FEBRUARY 08: Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans battle for position against Austin Davis #51 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first half of the game at Crisler Arena on February 8, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
ANN ARBOR, MI - FEBRUARY 08: Marcus Bingham Jr. #30 of the Michigan State Spartans battle for position against Austin Davis #51 of the Michigan Wolverines in the first half of the game at Crisler Arena on February 8, 2020 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /
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Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Fighting Illini . 4. team. 481. . 5-2.

Wins

*North Carolina A&T
*Chicago State
*Ohio
*Minnesota
*@No. 10 Duke

Losses

*No. 2 Baylor (Neutral site)
*@ Missouri

KenPom ranking: 11

Reasons for Hope: They have one quality win as they beat No. 10 ranked Duke on the road by double digits. They also defeated Minnesota by 27 points. The Fighting Illini’s offense has been very efficient and productive this season. Illinois has scored 92 points or more this season. They have two very talented players in Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn who have both played very well this season.

Reasons to be Pessimistic: Illinois should have beat Missouri as they outplayed the Tigers in the second half. The Fighting Illini got beat by Baylor by 13 points which is not horrible but losing to Missouri which is not a bad team, keeps Illinois out of the top 3 this week.

Brief Overview of the Season

Illinois did not lose a lot of key players from last year’s team. The Fighting Illini did bring back a good amount of their core players from last season in Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, Giorgi Bezhanishvili, and Da’Monte Williams. However, the biggest impact player for Illinois has been sophomore Kofi Cockburn, who leads the team in scoring.

The Fighting Illini brought back their top two scorers from last season but the season thus far has not gone as planned with a disappointing loss to Missouri. Illinois was young last season but talented and even though they didn’t win the Big Ten last season, they showed progress near the end of the season and beat some quality teams.

Head coach Brad Underwood will is in his fourth season as the head of the program for the Fighting Illini and he and his team look to take the program to another level during the heart of Big Ten play and look to hopefully compete to win the Big Ten title this season. They will have an opportunity to do so as they host ranked Rutgers Sunday.

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