UIC enters the new basketball season with something more demanding than optimism: a place near the top of the Missouri Valley Conference’s preseason expectations. The Flames were picked third in the poll released October 13, receiving 466 points and six first-place votes. Illinois State finished just five points ahead of them, while Murray State occupied the top position.
The poll does not award victories, but it establishes how differently UIC is being viewed after last season’s progress. Rob Ehsan’s team won 19 games, reached the Arch Madness championship game for the first time and earned the program’s first National Invitation Tournament berth since 2003. The next season begins with opponents expecting a contender rather than treating that run as an isolated surprise.
UIC returns four starters and another player who started part of last season. According to the school’s preseason announcement, the returning players account for 59 percent of last season’s minutes, the highest share in the conference. Ten newcomers, split between five transfers and five freshmen, will join that established group.
Continuity gives the Flames a starting point
Returning minutes do not guarantee that a team will improve. They do reduce the number of things a coaching staff must rebuild from the beginning. UIC’s veterans have already experienced the conference’s road environments, the physical demands of its schedule and the particular pressure of a tournament run that ended one victory short of the league championship.
That experience matters most when newcomers enter the rotation. A team with familiar decision-makers can introduce new players without asking every lineup to establish its identity at the same time. The challenge for Ehsan is to make the returning group an organizing force while still finding roles for the additions who can raise the team’s ceiling.
The Flames’ returning contributors include guards Andy Johnson and Rashund Washington Jr., forward Jayce Nathaniel and veteran starters Ahmad Henderson II and Mekhi Lowery. Johnson earned a place on last season’s MVC All-Freshman Team. Their development is part of the reason the team’s outlook is more substantial than a ranking on a preseason ballot.
The poll places UIC inside a close contest
Murray State received 517 points and 32 first-place votes. Illinois State’s 471 points and seven first-place votes placed the Redbirds second, with UIC immediately behind. Belmont, Valparaiso and Bradley completed the six positions announced by the conference.
The narrow difference between second and third is useful context. It suggests that the voting panel saw UIC close to another leading Illinois program, rather than separated from the top group by a large gap. It does not mean the two teams will finish five points apart in anything that matters once games begin.
A preseason ranking is a collective forecast based on roster information and previous performance. UIC’s actual position will come from its ability to execute against the teams on that ballot. A loss to a lower-ranked opponent will count exactly the same in the conference standings as any other loss. The attention that accompanies a higher forecast therefore needs to produce preparation, not comfort.
The schedule will test the progress
UIC opens its exhibition schedule at Illinois on October 28 before hosting St. Francis of Illinois in the regular-season opener on November 2. Robert Morris visits for the Homecoming game on November 6. The Flames then travel to Saint Mary’s on November 13, a considerably different setting from the early home dates.
The nonconference schedule also includes a November 18 home meeting with Chicago State and a neutral-site game against Miami of Ohio in Jacksonville. UIC’s schedule announcement identifies three regular-season opponents that reached last spring’s NCAA Tournament: Saint Mary’s, Miami and Northern Iowa.
Those games provide opportunities to demonstrate improvement beyond the conference’s preseason assessment. They also require the Flames to remain functional when the opponent, location and style of play change. A team trying to build on a postseason appearance benefits from having those questions answered before its league schedule reaches its most difficult stretches.
Expectations are now part of the job
UIC’s recent gains have shown up in measures beyond its win total. The school reported its highest overall KenPom position since 2004 and its best defensive-efficiency placement since 2008 after last season. Those figures describe progress already made; they are not current-season rankings and should not be read as a forecast of the new team’s performance.
The important shift is that UIC has a clearer body of work to defend. A tournament-final appearance, returning experience and a meaningful nonconference schedule give supporters concrete reasons to follow the team. They also give opposing staffs a reason to prepare seriously for it.
For a Chicago college program, that combination can help turn a promising season into sustained attention. The team has games readers can plan around and a conference race with significant Illinois representation. The next step belongs on the court: demonstrate that the experienced core and new additions can produce another season worthy of the expectations now attached to the Flames.
