22. Illinois (20-11)
When healthy and at their best, Illinois has shown that they can be a dangerous team this season. They knocked off Missouri and Wisconsin before New Year’s and blew out teams like Oregon away from home. However, we’ve seen the bad just as bad as the good, with offensive struggles and other issues rearing their ugly head for a team has rarely been fully healthy during Big Ten play.
We’ve seen more of the good to finish the season, going back to Sunday’s 93-73 win at Michigan. The Illini grabbed another ranked road win thanks to 19 points and 11 rebounds from Tre White and great efforts from the entire starting five. They used a strong push late for another ranked win on Friday, surviving Purdue for an 88-80 victory. All five starters were in double figures, highlighted by 22 points from Will Riley and a 20-point, 9-effort out of White.
When on their game, this rotation has the raw talent and potential to hang with just about anyone in the country. We certainly didn’t see them anywhere near their game in a 43-point loss to Duke two weeks ago, but Illinois has brushed off that shortcoming with this three-game winning streak. Brad Underwood and his squad heads into the Big Ten Tournament as defending champs though clearly the road to a title won’t come easy.