Illinois basketball: 5 best seasons in Fighting Illini history, ranked

Ranking the five best Illinois basketball seasons.

Outside of the well-known blue blood programs stands Illinois, a program filled with a rich history in tradition and winning. With former coaches Lou Henson, Bill Self, and Lon Kruger and players like Deron Williams, Kendall Gill and Kenny Battle, it’s easy to see why the Fighting Illini program has the history it does.

While the Illini have had their fair share of great teams, there are a certain five that standout amongst the others. These five proved their worth and carried on the legacy of Fighting Illini basketball at its finest.

Here are the top five Fighting Illini basketball teams in the rich history of the Illinois program.

Illinois basketball has resurgent year in 2019-2020.

In a season that was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic, this version of the Fighting Illini proved the doubters wrong, rebounding from a dismal 12-21 campaign the season prior. Their 21-10 finish was good for a top-4 finish in the super-competitive Big Ten and, with a big win in the season finale against No. 25 Iowa, earned them a double-bye in the Big Ten tournament.

Head coach Brad Underwood was finally able to turn things around in his third season at the helm with the help of All-Big Ten first-teamer Ayo Dosunmu and Big Ten freshman of the year Kofi Cockburn. These two became catalysts for the Illini and gave them an almost unbeatable inside-out duo, something they had lacked in the past.

Dosunmu proved to be the star of the show for the Fighting Illini though, hitting multiple game-winning shots throughout the season. Perhaps his biggest came against Michigan in Ann Arbor where Dosunmu made a tough contested lean-in shot over Zavier Simpson to push the Illini winning streak to six games at the time. Ask any Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State, or Iowa fan and they will tell you that Dosunmu is something special.

Unfortunately for the Illini, the Covid-19 pandemic canceled the remainder of the college basketball season before they were able to play a postseason game. This version of the Fighting Illini could have very well made a deep run into March while surprising a lot of people along the way. Although they finished ranked No. 21 in the final AP poll, the play of the team in this shortened season anchors their spot at No. 5 in the rankings.