CHAMPAIGN — The fall semester has begun, and the Illini are finally whole.
With the official arrival of Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic on Sunday, Illinois finally has its complete roster at its disposal entering fall practices as it begins to gear up for the 2025-26 season. We’re currently just over seven weeks away from the Illini’s exhibition game versus Illinois State on October 19 and a little over nine weeks from the regular season opener against Jackson State on November 3.
Brad Underwood has once again constructed a roster projected to compete near the top of the Big Ten despite losing first-round draft picks Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, along with key contributors Morez Johnson, Tre White and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
Bart Torvik’s preseason projections slot the Illini as high as 7th nationally, which ranks third in the Big Ten behind Purdue (4th) and Michigan (3rd). ESPN recently ranked Illinois 16th nationally in its way-too-early Top 25.
This season’s roster has a lot more knowns than last season’s thanks in large part to a significant uptick in age and experience, mixing the highly valuable retention of key pieces with a talented group of newcomers. Still, there are plenty of questions that will need to be answered if the Illini are to ultimately challenge for the league crown and make another deep NCAA Tournament run.
Illini Inquirer broke down three reasons for optimism about Illinois basketball heading into the fall along with three major questions that will determine the team’s ultimate ceiling.