Expert Places Illinois Basketball in Tier 1 of College Basketball

College basketball is right around the corner, and preseason rankings are starting to surface. Analytical guru Evan Miyakawa previewed his rankings on his podcast and will release his full predictions on his website on Friday. His website is known as one of the best analytical resources in the sport.

Illinois is ranked No. 3 in Evan’s preseason rankings and is considered by him to be a Tier One team. Florida and Duke are slightly ahead of Illinois, but all three teams are firmly in the first tier, according to Evan.

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“Duke and Florida are really neck and neck here. And Illinois is a little bit behind them, but they are still comfortably ahead of the rest of the teams in this top 10,” said Evan Miyakawa.

The 2025 NCAA champion Florida Gators are projected to be the best team in the sport with a rating of 31.5, followed by Duke at 31.1 and Illinois at 30. The Illini are expected to have the top offense in the country, while their defense ranks eighth in Evan’s rankings. Florida and Duke rank first and second in defense, while ranking second and third in offense.

All three teams were among the top teams in the nation last season and did a great job of keeping talent within their programs. Florida was a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament but lost to Iowa in the Round of 32, while Duke lost in the Elite Eight and Illinois fell in the Final Four to UConn.

“All three of these teams did a great job of roster retention and getting key pieces here, especially in the cases of Florida and Illinois, who returned pretty much everything that they’re possibly able to get,” Miyakawa added.

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Evan is very bullish on the Illini this season for many of the same reasons as college basketball fans. They bring back 57.3% of their minutes from last year’s Final Four team and have multiple future pros on the roster. In terms of talent, Illinois is ranked second nationally behind only Duke on Evan’s site.

Jim Root of Three Man Weave joined Evan on the show and is less bullish on the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/expert-places-illinois-basketball-tier-130008118.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-18 13:00:00

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