CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois (3-0) is ranked No. 25 in this week's Associated Press Top 25, its first appearance in a 2024-25 AP poll. The Illini check in at No. 20, meanwhile, in the latest Coaches poll.
Head Coach Brad Underwood now has the Fighting Illini program ranked for a sixth consecutive season, a streak that dates back to the 2019-20 campaign.
Illinois appeared in eight AP polls that season – Underwood's third in Champaign – finishing the year at No. 21. The Illini were then ranked for every poll of the 2020-21 season before registering a final AP ranking of No. 2, the second-highest finish in school history.
Illinois was in 13 polls in 2021-22 and finished at No. 19, its third straight year in the final AP poll. The Illini were then part of the first seven AP polls of 2022-23.
Illinois spent all but one week ranked last season, ending 2023-24 with its highest placement of the year by the AP at No. 6. That marked Illinois' fourth Top-25 finish in the last five years, and its second Top-10 tally of the Underwood era.
No. 25 Illinois is back in action Wednesday night, taking on No. 8 Alabama (3-1) in the C.M. Newton Classic in Birmingham (8 p.m. CT, SEC Network).
