The One Reason Illinois Basketball Falls Just Short of Powerhouse Status

In any sport, the best measure of success is simple: winning. And in its 120-year history, Illinois has done a lot of that. In fact, the program’s 1,927 wins ranks 16th in all of Division I – more than notable programs such as Villanova, Michigan State, UConn and Michigan.

Still, on any list of the best college basketball schools, Illinois sits firmly behind the majority of the aforementioned programs, along with a handful of others – specifically, the blue bloods: Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA.

And although there’s no argument that can currently be made for Illinois to be mentioned in the same breath as any of those historic programs (or even relative new kids on the block Villanova and UConn), a case can be made for the Illini having a comparable resume to Michigan State, Arizona, Purdue, Gonzaga and the second-tier studs – though not just yet.

Illinois is missing one tiny little element: a national title. Sounds like a memo from Captain Obvious, right? But Purdue and Gonzaga, which basically show up every year to post 25 wins and make an NCAA Tournament run, are in that next echelon of powerhouses without having won an NCAA championship. The Illini – who haven’t had the clockwork consistency of those two programs – would need a title to push into that tier anytime soon.