The 2009–10 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

in the

2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 9, 2009, and ended with the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament's championship game on April 5, 2010, on the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The opening round ...

. This was head coach Bruce Weber's seventh season at the school. They are members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and played their home games at

Assembly Hall An assembly hall is a hall to hold public meetings or meetings of an organization such as a school, church, or deliberative assembly. An example of the last case is the Assembly Hall (Washington, Mississippi) where the general assembly of the st ...

. The Illini finished the season 21–15, 10–8 in Big Ten play and lost in the semifinals of the

2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament The 2010 Big Ten men's basketball tournament was played between March 11 through March 14 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the thirteenth annual Big Ten men's basketball tournament. The championship was won by Ohio State who ...

. They were invited to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament where they advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

Pre-season

College GameDay

On Tuesday, August 18,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

announced that Illinois will serve as one of the host sites for the network’s popular basketball series, College GameDay, during the

. Two one-hour shows (10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Central) will originate from the

on February 6, 2010 for the Illinois vs.

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

game. This is Illinois’s first appearance on ESPN College GameDay. The series, which is in its sixth season, will make four first-time stops in 2010. Other first-time hosts include Clemson, Kansas State and Washington. The Illinois/Michigan State game will be the only Big Ten game featured this season.

Jeffrey Jordan

On October 6, 2009 it was reported that

Jeffrey Jordan Jeffrey Michael Jordan (born November 18, 1988) is an American former basketball player who played for the University of Illinois and the University of Central Florida. He is the oldest child of retired Hall of Fame basketball player Michael ...

was talking to former teammates and coaches about a possible return to the Illinois basketball team. Jordan had left the team in June, after his second season, to focus on school. October 16, 2009, coach Bruce Weber said that Jordan planned to return to the team.

Pre-season rankings

Various publications and news sources released their preseason rankings prior to the start of the 2009–10 season. Illinois has been ranked by the publications below. The Fighting Illini were ranked 23rd by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

in their pre-season poll released. The Illini received the 27th most votes in the Coaches poll and failed to make their Top 25.

Losses and additions

Illinois lost a good portion of their backcourt with the departure of 2008-09 senior guards Chester Frazier, Trent Meacham, and Calvin Brock. Freshmen Joseph Bertrand, Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson help fill the holes in the guard positions, while freshmen Stan Simpson and Tyler Griffey will add depth to the

frontcourt In the sport of basketball, there are five players play per team, each assigned to positions. Historically, these players have been assigned, to positions defined by the role they play on the court, from a strategic point of view. The three main ...

2009 additions

Roster

Schedule

Source * All times are

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, - !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;", Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;", Non-Conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;", Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38", Big Ten tournament , - !colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38", National Invitation Tournament The March 17, 2010 NIT first-round game was hosted by Stony Brook due to a previously-scheduled performance by

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

Season statistics

Rankings

Honors and awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009-10 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball seasons