When pursuing a degree in today's world, student athletes have many different options to choose from. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our Best Colleges for Division I Men's Basketball in Illinois ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.
Our analysis looked at 12 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for D1 Men's Basketball athletes in Illinois. Our ranking methodology focuses a number of different objective factors - such as the overall quality of the school, the school's athletic competitiveness, and the amount of athletic aid per student - to make this determination. Having a great sports team is not enough - the school must also focus on academic excellence.
We know that one set of rankings doesn't always help you determine the best school for you, so we've created the ability to narrow your list by location as well as alternative rankings that prioritize different factors such as those of importance to online students or returning adults or those who value diversity and value for your money.
You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. If you're torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.
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Top Colleges in Illinois for D1 Men's Basketball athletes in Illinois
Our analysis found Northwestern University to be the best school for D1 Men’s Basketball athletes in Illinois in this year’s ranking. Located in Evanston, Illinois, the large private not-for-profit school handed out 2,688 bachelor’s degrees in .
The team at Northwestern took home $12,188,897 in revenue and paid out $9,951,517 in expenses in recent times. Thus, the team actually made $2,237,380, which isn’t bad at all. The team had a perfect academic progress rate of 1000.
With a freshman retention rate of 99%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Northwestern did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our overall quality list.
Full Northwestern University Sports Report
Out of the 12 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the #2 spot on the list. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a large public school located in Champaign, Illinois that handed out 9,150 bachelor’s degrees in .
UIUC brought in $25,658,000 while tallying up $13,195,873 in expenses for its D1 Men’s Basketball team. That boils down to a yearly profit of $12,462,127 for the sports team. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 948.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. UIUC also took the #3 spot in our overall quality rankings.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Illinois State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Colleges for D1 Men’s Basketball athletes in Illinois list. Illinois State is a public institution located in Normal, Illinois. The school has a large population, and it awarded 4,495 bachelor’s degrees in .
The D1 Men’s Basketball team at Illinois State brought home $3,775,560 in revenue in a single year. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 961.
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Out of the 12 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Loyola University Chicago landed the #4 spot on the list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 3,286 students in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at Loyola Chicago took home $4,536,549 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 959.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. Loyola Chicago excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our overall quality list.
Read full sports report on Loyola University Chicago
Out of the 12 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Bradley University landed the #5 spot on the list. Bradley is located in Peoria, Illinois and, has a medium-sized student population. In , this school awarded 1,190 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at Bradley took home $3,412,945 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 995, signifying that team members care about their grades.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. Bradley also claimed a spot on our overall quality list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
Full Bradley University Sports Report
With a ranking of #6, DePaul University did quite well on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. DePaul is located in Chicago, Illinois and, has a large student population. In , this school awarded 3,047 bachelor’s degrees to qualified undergraduates.
On the financial side of things, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at DePaul made $7,614,927 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 968.
DePaul excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our overall quality list.
Read full sports report on DePaul University
With a ranking of #7, University of Illinois at Chicago did quite well on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Located in Chicago, Illinois, the large public school handed out 5,250 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at UIC took home $2,513,846 in revenue. The academic progress rate of the team is 954.
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Southern Illinois University Carbondale landed the #8 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. SIUC is a fairly large public school situated in Carbondale, Illinois. It awarded 2,016 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at SIUC took home $2,224,459 in revenue. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 962.
Read full sports report on Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Northern Illinois University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois list. Dekalb, Illinois is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelor’s degrees to 2,844 students in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at NIU took home $1,751,926 in revenue. The academic progress rate of the team is 951.
Read full sports report on Northern Illinois University
Eastern Illinois University landed the #10 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Located in Charleston, Illinois, the medium-sized public school handed out 1,132 bachelor’s degrees in .
On the financial side of things, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at EIU made $1,019,142 in revenue. The academic progress rate of the team is 955.
Full Eastern Illinois University Sports Report
Western Illinois University landed the #11 spot on the 2023 Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois ranking. Western Illinois University is a medium-sized public school located in Macomb, Illinois that handed out 1,237 bachelor’s degrees in .
Speaking financially, the D1 Men’s Basketball team at WIU took home $1,417,220 in revenue. The team has a great academic progress rate of 995, signifying that team members care about their grades.
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Chicago State University ranked #12 on this year’s Best Colleges for Division I Men’s Basketball in Illinois list. CSU is a public institution located in Chicago, Illinois. The school has a small population, and it awarded 301 bachelor’s degrees in .
The D1 Men’s Basketball team at CSU brought home $1,024,314 in revenue in a single year. The team has a respectable academic progress rate of 915.
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Best Colleges for D1 Men's Basketball in the Great Lakes Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*Avg Tuition and Fees and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top 12 schools only.
References
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
The academic progress rate (APR) of each team was made available by the NCAA.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
