The Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team is expected to enter the 2026-27 college basketball season with big goals and enough talent to make them a reality.
The Fighting Illini hope to achieve what only two Big Ten teams have done since the year 2000 by winning the first national championship in program history.
Recently, Big Ten Network college hoops analyst Andy Katz shared his list of the best Big Ten teams since 2000, and it includes a cherished Illinois team in the third overall spot.
2004-05 Illini Ranked Third
Katz chose the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines national championship team as his best team since the 2000 season from the Big Ten Conference after the Wolverines finished 37-3 overall and 19-1 in the Big Ten Conference. The Wolverines' lone Big Ten loss was to Wisconsin at Crisler Arena.
The 1999-2000 Michigan State Spartans ranked second on Katz's list having gone 32-7 including 13-3 in the Big Ten, overcoming an injury to star point guard Mateen Cleaves to win the national championship that season.
Third on Katz's list was the Bruce Weber-coached 2004-05 Fighting Illini, who were led by the three-guard lineup of Dee Brown (defensive stopper), Deron Williams (floor general), and Luther Head (athletic scorer). Roger Powell Jr. and James Augustine rounded out Weber's starting lineup as the Illini went 37-2 on the season including 15-1 in the Big Ten.
The 2004-05 Fighting Illini basketball team lost 75-70 in a hard-fought national championship game to coach Roy Williams, Sean may and the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Weber's cheerful demeanor and high-scoring guard-oriented lineup made his team one of the most famous and popular in 2000s college basketball history, but they fell short of their ultimate goal.
2025-26 Illinois Snubbed From Katz's List
The rest of the list is occupied by five national runner-up teams, one Final Four team and one Sweet Sixteen team.
2014-15 Wisconsin was ranked fourth, led by Frank Kaminski and Sam Dekker. 2023-24 Purdue was fifth, led by Braden Smith and Zach Edey. 2006-07 Ohio State was sixth, led by Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. 2012-13 Michigan, led by Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., was ranked seventh.
Rounding out the list were 2018-19 Michigan State, 2008-2009 Michigan State, and 2012-13 Indiana, which finished 29-7 but was eliminated in the Sweet Sixteen.
It's easy to take issue with Katz's list considering teams like last year's Illinois Final Four squad and Michigan's 2017-2018 NCAA runner-up team were excluded. The feeling around Brad Underwood's team is that the 2026-27 team could join the Wolverines and Spartans as the Big Ten Conference's only national champions in recent memory.