Illinois is drawing plenty of preseason love entering the 2026-27 college basketball season, but not everyone is ready to put the Illini atop the national pecking order.
Brad Underwood’s team is expected to bring back five of its eight rotation players from last season’s Final Four run, which has kept Illinois in the No. 3-5 range in most early rankings. Still, when CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander reportedly surveyed nearly 100 coaches - from “high-profile names” to “assistants at low-major programs” - on who will be the best team in the country next season, the Illini barely registered.
Florida took the top spot in a landslide, pulling 55 percent of the vote, while Illinois received just 5 percent. Norlander noted the polling came after news broke that David Mirkovic had undergone foot surgery.
One coach who backed Illinois pointed to the ingredients already in place, saying, “they have the skill, toughness and chemistry.” But the skepticism came through just as clearly from another respondent who passed on the Illini: “Illinois would be my choice if they had reliable point guard play. I’m not sold that Quentin Coleman can be the point guard they need as a freshman.”
That concern is easy to understand. Keaton Wagler’s 2025-26 season has clearly raised the standard in Champaign to a level that’s hard for any freshman to match right away. Expecting Coleman to arrive and immediately look like a finished product is asking a lot.
The better question is what Illinois actually needs from him.
That won’t fully come into focus until the season starts, but there are other options in the mix. Stefan Vaaks is expected to be the de facto lead guard when the season tips, and Mirkovic, if healthy, can help with playmaking too. Tomislav Ivisic can also create from the interior.
If that’s the setup, Coleman may not need to be the full-time conductor. Illinois could simply ask him to score, defend and rebound at a high level for his position. If he does that, the Illini are in very good shape.
And there’s plenty to like there. Coleman should not have trouble putting the ball in the basket, and his motor and athleticism should translate on defense and the glass. Any extra passing he provides could be a nice bonus rather than a requirement.
Of course, there’s also a scenario where Illinois leans on him more heavily as a facilitator than expected. His high school résumé suggests that’s possible, and Illinois has a track record of identifying and developing capable decision-makers. But as always with freshmen, there’s plenty of projection involved before the games begin.
So when that anonymous coach picked Florida over Illinois as the preseason favorite, the logic wasn’t hard to follow.
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