Setting expectations for Illinois Basketball in 2024

Illinois is a basketball school anyways.

As October bleeds into November and the football team struggles, fans are turning their attention to Fighting Illini basketball. And for the first time in over a decade, that includes both basketball teams.

Both the men’s and women’s teams are ranked in the AP Preseason poll for the first time since 1999, and they are the only Big Ten team with both teams ranked this preseason.

The excitement around both teams is palpable.

On the men’s side, a great start to last season included wins over top-10 teams in UCLA and Texas, but a late season slide due to the team’s spacing and lack of a true point guard doomed them to a first round exit as a 9-seed.

On the women’s side, they upset Iowa, who made the national championship game, and while they struggled against top-tier competition in the Big Ten, they still won 22 games. Surprisingly, though, they were forced into the First Four of the tournament as an 11-seed and lost.

Still,…