NCAA Basketball: 2022-23 Christmas wishlist for each top 25 team

16. Illinois Fighting Illini – Consistency from those not named Terrence Shannon

For the season as a whole, Illinois has a ton of firepower, with five players averaging at least 9.0 ppg. Shannon leads the way with 18.2 ppg. He’s been the one consistent player for the team on a nightly basis, with the others either going for 15+ in one game or literally nothing in another, such as Skyy Clark and RJ Melendez going scoreless in Thursday’s blowout loss to Missouri.

The good news is that after a very slow start, Baylor transfer Matthew Mayer has played much better as of late. But the guards and centers haven’t, which explains the recent skid of Illinois. What they need is a collective effort going forward, including some leadership from the veterans to stable what’s currently a rocky ship.

15. Mississippi State Bulldogs – Hope that they don’t get exposed in SEC play

The Bulldogs were an early season surprise, starting out the season with an 11-0 record. But with just a pair of three-point wins over both Utah and Marquette on the early-season resume, there’s some concern as to how “real” they are. A recent neutral site defeat to Drake has only exacerbated that.

New head coach Chris Jans has done a good job at Mississippi State so far but the schedule gets brutal starting next week, with four ranked opponents in the first six games. If they can somehow go 3-3 in that stretch, the Bulldogs will start to get some believers going forward.