Brad Underwood Reveals Illinois Basketball's New Hurdle

It has been 22 years since Illinois entered a college basketball season ranked in the top five of the AP poll. Said campaign culminated in a trip to the national championship game – which is the furthest the Illini program has ever trekked in the Big Dance.

Can Illinois, which many expect to find itself in the top five of this year’s preseason poll, replicate that success in 2026-27 – and then carry it one game further?

Those questions – which are very realistic entering a campaign for the first time since 2020, when an Ayo Dosunmu- and Kofi Cockburn-led Illini squad ranked No. 8 in the preseason poll – are the exact sort of questions creating a sky-high level of buzz in Champaign. And that buzz is naturally putting pressure on this Illini squad – a hurdle they’ll have to leap.

Illinois' Brad Underwood pinpoints keys to a Final Four run in 2026-27

“Managing an expectation,” Brad Underwood said in response to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein asking about the biggest keys to another Illini Final Four run. “I think there’s going to be a lot of chatter early about this group. We’ve got to learn to handle that.”

As you can tell, the chatter has already started. And the Illini have no choice but to face the not-so-unwelcomed music. Of course, Underwood and Co. don’t want their club consuming the so-called “rat poison,” as Nick Saban would put it. Still, it’s unavoidable.

Admittedly, there is a massive difference between being a team capable of a Final Four run vs. a team that “should” be playing in the season's final weekend. The former scenario sounds like an expectation-free joyride. The latter is a pressure cooker on a stove with the flame turned up high. And if Illinois wants to be a perennial powerhouse, it had better get used to the latter.

Moving to a more hoops-centric, micro-level lens, Underwood touched on the lessons the Illini learned from last year – and one distinct difference in this season's club.

Illinois' close-game woes haven't been overlooked by Brad Underwood

“I think the other thing is, we lost nine games last year,” Underwood told Rothstein. “We lost five overtime games. We lost two shots at the buzzer. And in most of those games, we got an initial stop and didn’t get a rebound – a second shot beat us. I think we’ve got to learn how to handle the margins better. Just the small one or two possession things we have to clean up. And I think this team is more athletic.”

Unpacking the first part of that statement, the initial thought is this: The Final Four run really brushed how atrocious Illinois was in close games under the rug. Even in the tournament, the Illini were fully in control in the final minutes for all of their victories (although Iowa tried to make things interesting in the Elite Eight).

To maximize its potential this year, Illinois must be better in close games – and, evidently, Underwood and his staff recognize that. Whether they’re actually taking steps to remedy the situation, though, is uncertain. (Hint: Rebounding wasn't the only factor in those tight losses.)

As for this group's athleticism, 1) Illinois is going to play faster, which Underwood has already vowed; and 2) the Illini may have more defensive upside. Athletes don’t always equate to elite defenders – but it certainly helps from an on-ball standpoint.

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