Coach Brad Underwood's Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team is ranked third in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and gunning for its first-ever national championship this season. 

Underwood's team is expected to tip off the regular season on Nov. 2 against Fairleigh Dickinson University at State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill., giving them less than two weeks to prepare. 

The Fighting Illini were impressive on Oct. 17 at Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena, winning 105-96 and leaving a lasting impression on Bearcats coach Jerrod Calhoun, who described what shocked him about the Illinois offense recently. 

Calhoun (no relation to former UConn coach Jim Calhoun) came over from Utah State this offseason to coach the Bearcats. He remarked on the unique talents of Illinois after his team's exhibition loss. 

"This is a team that will expose those (defensive) breakdowns because they have five guys on the floor that can make a shot," Calhoun said. "Typically, you don't play a team like this. That's why they made the Final Four. They got 7-foot-1, 7-foot-2 guys making threes," Calhoun said. 

He said he's never seen anything like Underwood's offense, which is predicated on shooting threes and rebounding long-range misses. 

"And they're elite cutters," Calhoun added. "Their offense is like nothing I've seen. They kind of took everything, I believe, from the Milwaukee Bucks. They've spent a ton of time with the Bucks' coaching staff. And Tyler (Underwood) has done a great job with it. They just put you on closeouts and they put a ton of pressure on you every possession. It was very, very unique seeing it live. I saw it on film. 

"We showed film. But it was more impressive live." 

Illinois is preparing to take on Baylor at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Ill. on Friday, October 23, a game that will give the team's young and veteran players alike more chances to get game reps in for the regular season.

Six Fighting Illini players scored in double-figures against the Bearcats including three-star freshman guard Ethan Brown, who had 15 points. 

The Bears finished 20-15, 10-10 in the Big 12 last season, led by former national championship-winning head coach Scott Drew. 

Drew's team brought in five-star guard Dylan Mingo of Brookville, New York this offseason along with four-star small forward Elijah Williams of Birmingham, Mich., and should prove to be an exciting warm-up game ahead of October 28's preseason finale in Champaign against the UIC Flames.