Is Illinois basketball now the Big Ten Favorite in 2025-2026?

Per BartTorvik.com, Illinois is currently projected as the 14th team in the country. However, Illini Inquirer’s Derek Piper did note that these rankings do not include forward Ben Humrichous. Humrichous may have drawn the ire of a majority of Illini fans for not meeting some pretty hefty expectations this year. Recently, on social media, Humrichous posted a photo of him working out on the Illinois campus.

For the 2025-2026 season, Humrichous projects as more of a bench player. Ben has a lot more help at the power-forward position given the return of Ty Rodgers and the addition of David Mirkovic which should slide him into the appropriate role.

If Humrichous is included in the Bart Torvik projections, Illinois basketball jumps up to number 7 in the country. That would make them third in the Big Ten conference behind Purdue and Michigan.

Bart Torvik projections for other teams in the Big Ten:

2nd: Purdue 

5th: Michigan

8th: UCLA

16th: Michigan State

19th: USC

23rd: Ohio State

The theme for Michigan and Purdue is certainly age and experience. Purdue returns All-American point guard, Braden Smith and key players such as Trey Kaufmann-Renn and Fletcher Loyer. Illinois basketball returns key players such as Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic, and all their additions have rather robust experience at the college or international level. In fact, incoming point guard Mihailo Petrovic is 22 years old.

On top of this, the Illini will only play the above schools once. With a favorable schedule, Illinois basketball should be considered a favorite in the Big Ten.

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