There aren’t many Illinois basketball coaches who have had to follow up a Final Four run.
That is what Brad Underwood is facing for the 2026-27 season. The Illini are coming off an incredible run to the Final Four, where we fell just short of seeing our second national championship in the last couple of decades.
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Underwood now faces the difficulty of following that great run up with another deep postseason adventure. Thankfully, he has laced the Illinois roster with talent capable of a Final Four repeat.
On Wednesday, Andy Katz of the Big Ten Network and the NCAA agrees. In fact, he has Illinois as one of the best teams in the Big Ten entering next season.
Katz published his offseason Big Ten men’s basketball power rankings. The top spot goes to the Michigan Wolverines. The defending national champs deserve to be No. 1.
You don’t have to go too far to find Illinois, though. We sit as the No. 2 team in the conference.
Illinois, being the No. 2 team in the Big Ten, is pretty remarkable, considering we lost a four-year guard in Kylan Boswell, a sharpshooting three-point shooter in Ben Humrichous, and a top 10 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Keaton Wagler.
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Those departures would kill any program, but Underwood rebuilt the Illini into not just a good team, but a Big Ten contender once again.
Illinois basketball is going to have to reverse the trend against Michigan if we want to take the Big Ten over
Illinois will have the horses to win the Big Ten in 2026-27, but the Wolverines will have a say in how the conference shakes out.
Historically, the Illini lead the series between them and Michigan, 96-86, but the Wolverines were able to get the best of us in the last matchup.
Illinois fell to Michigan 84-70 in a game that the Wolverines were in control of for much of the contest. They had a great team last season, and they will reload just like the Illini.
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This isn’t your Juwan Howard Michigan squad. Dusty May is a great coach, and Illinois can’t let this one loss become a trend. We have beaten up on the Wolverines the last decade, and I want that to continue this upcoming season.
This article was originally published on www.writingillini.com as Brad Underwood has Illinois basketball in reach of the Big Ten crown.
