Illinois ranked No. 14, Underwood hits new milestone

In his ninth season in Champaign, Brad Underwood keeps hitting new milestones.

Illinois (5-2) checked in Monday at No. 14 in the AP poll, one spot down from last week after a Black Friday loss to UCONN at Madison Square Garden.

According to TCR stats expert Jonathan Koon, it’s the 80th week Illinois has been ranked in the Underwood era (since 2017). That’s the third most of any head coach in program history:

1. Lou Henson – 137 weeks (21 seasons)

2. Harry Combes – 124 weeks (20 seasons)

3. Brad Underwood – 80 weeks (9th season)

4. Bruce Weber – 77 weeks (9 seasons)

In total, Underwood now accounts for 15.3% of Illinois’ all-time history of 524 weeks appearing in the AP poll.

Pretty impressive!

It’s a slow week for the Illini, who aren’t back in action until Saturday against Tennessee in Nashville.