CHAMPAIGN — The national media spotlight turned on Champaign when Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn announced they would be return for another season at Illinois in 2020-21.

The hype around the Illini has come from all corners. Andy Katz of BTN, long the driver of the Illinois bandwagon, was joined by college basketball writers and analysts nationwide. The growing consensus? Brad Underwood’s got himself a top-10 team in the country in just his fourth year leading the program.

“Illinois has truly unlimited potential this season,” said Jon Crispin, the former Penn State guard turned ESPN college basketball analyst. “The pieces are there for a return to the national scene for the Illini — great guard play and multiple dominant occupants in the post. If consistent three-point threats are established and space is created on the offensive end, the Illini will be one of the toughest teams to cover in the country.”

The Illinois men’s basketball players know what’s being said about their team. They understand how the conversation about the program has shifted from just a year ago when the Illini were coming off a 12-21 season and weren’t on anyone’s radar.

It’s not just the external conversations about Illinois basketball that have changed either.

“I’ve won championships before — not at the college level yet — but there’s a certain feeling you have when everyone knows,” redshirt junior wing Jacob Grandison said. “Last year I noticed people would always talk about how bad we used to be the last three or four years, relatively. This year is a different. It’s a different vibe.

“We’re not talking about the past. We’re talking about the future. Last year we weren’t talking about national championships. We talked about how we only won 12 games. Right now we’re looking at the future, and that’s a tell-all sign. We are truly ready.”

The progression from finishing near the bottom of the Big Ten to challenging for a Big Ten championship into the last week of the season and now winding up a potential title favorite wasn’t quick. Or easy. Those 21 losses in the 2018-19 season were the most in program history — a program that dates back more than a century.

Illinois’ successes in the 2019-20 season were a fairly long time coming. The fourth-place Big Ten finish was the program’s best since 2010-11. What would have been an NCAA tournament appearance before the season fell victim to the coronavirus pandemic would have been a first since 2013. Only a handful of power conference programs have longer droughts.

“It’s not an overnight thing,” Grandison said about the rebuild he became a part of last August when he transferred in from Holy Cross. “We’ve got to grind every day. We’ve got a lot of hours to put in before anything.”

In that regard, nothing has changed for Illinois despite the elevated level of expectations. Redshirt junior guard Austin Hutcherson, newly eligible himself like Grandison after a sit-out season, said the message from Underwood has remained the same.

“Coach says it all the time — everyday guys,” Hutcherson said. “No matter what people are saying about us, if they rank us high or low, if we win or lose, we come in every single day and we work. We attack like we’re not ranked. I think that mentality is why we’re going to be so good.”

Grandison said Underwood has delivered another reminder along with his daily motto. It’s pretty straightforward. These Illini still “haven’t done anything” just yet.

“We haven’t won a tournament game in this run of the program,” Grandison continued. “We’re highly ranked, but we’ve got a lot to prove. You might say there’s a lot of underdogs on this team. The only thing an underdog loves more than anything, really, is just a chance and an opportunity. We’ve just got to capitalize.”

Illinois, like every other Division I college basketball team, will need a season to capitalize on arguably its best team in nearly two decades. The projected start date for the 2020-21 season — potentially Nov. 25 — should be official this coming week.

The Illini are kept abreast from the coaching staff about every possibility in team-wide Zoom calls, but Grandison said he’s trying not to expend too much energy thinking about the uncertain nature of the 2020-21 season.

“It’s wasted energy,” he said. “We’re either going to play or we’re not. It’s going to be OK. Whatever happens, happens. All I need — and we need — is an opportunity.”

Scott Richey is a reporter covering college basketball at The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).