Illinois Quickly Rises in Jon Rothstein's Rankings – But Should the Illini be Higher?

As for CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, well, he doesn’t have the same excuse. After the Illini’s encouraging 81-77 victory over the Red Raiders, Rothstein still placed them just outside his top-10 rankings, at No. 11.

It's worth noting that Rothstein had Illinois at No. 21 on his AP poll ballot, a steep drop from the voter consensus, which pegged the Illini at No. 14 on Monday. Clearly, Rothstein is lower on Illinois than the rest of the country.

But even with that in mind, on the heels of the Texas Tech triumph – which was accomplished without the likes of big man Tomislav Ivisic and guard Mihailo Petrovic, among others – one would expect the Illini to at least crack Rothstein’s top 10.

For his part, Rothstein was quite complimentary of Illinois and coach Brad Underwood, in particular. On X, Rothstein said Underwood has brought “Bo Ryan type consistency” to Illinois, which is perhaps the highest praise that can be paid to a Big Ten coach.

At Wisconsin, where Ryan led the way for 14-plus seasons, he oversaw 14 NCAA Tournament trips, and the squad he coached for 12 games before Greg Gard took over in 2015-16 also earned a trip to the Big Dance. Ryan's Badgers regime represents the pinnacle of consistency, and in the eyes of Rothstein, it appears Underwood is nearing that status.

Still, that doesn’t change the utterly perplexing fact that Rothstein rates Illinois outside his top 10. Argue about where the Illini belong within that grouping, but there’s no discussion to be had about whether they belong there. Tuesday proved it.

Somehow, despite laying three eggs against measly mid-major squads, UCLA still sits at No. 8 in Rothstein’s rankings, while Michigan – which escaped with a one-point win in overtime against Wake Forest in Detroit on Tuesday – remains at No. 6.

The analytics support the Illini (both Bart Torvik and KenPom have Illinois in their top five), and after the win over the Red Raiders, it’s no longer up for debate: Illinois is currently one of the country's top-10 men's basketball programs.