The way I see it, Ayo returning seems to be worth a consensus ~20 spots in the preseason polls. National CBB pundits like Rothstein seem to have us ranked in the mid-30s without Ayo and breaking the top 10 with him. Illini fans on this board seem to think we’re around 25 without him and a potential FF team with him. I think that’s testament to how important of a player he was last season. Most teams won’t jump from out of the polls to “consensus top 10 team” with the return of just one player.