Marquette is coming into this game with a 2-0 record this season and they are also ranked 5th in the country right now. They were a very good team last season as they finished 29-7 overall and were 17-3 in the Big East which does have the defending National Champions of UConn in it. They are also returning over 83% of their minutes played as well as their scoring from last year so they will not only be looking to replicate that great season last year, but they will be hungry for more this year and to try and improve their way to winning the Big East and the National Championship themselves. They are also off to a very good start this season as both of their wins have been very dominant wins by over 20 points in each. They are going up against an Illinois team that is also 2-0 this season and is ranked 23rd in the country right now. Illinois was not great last season but they were not bad either as they were 20-13 overall, but also struggled more against tougher Big 10 opponents as they were 11-9 in conference. The Big East is a very good conference with a lot of strong teams in it and Illinois is going to struggle against Marquette just like they struggled against better opponent last year. Illinois is also returning around 65% of their minutes played and scoring from last year but that along with the moves they made in the portal will not be enough to stop this much better Marquette team. Marquette will cover the spread in this game.