A payback win over ranked Michigan on Wednesday added to the Illini’s list of winter break upsets – including a Dec. 30 win over Purdue – and boosted the men’s basketball team to a 15-2 record (3-1 in Big Ten) and into prime territory for the remaining months.

Yes, you read that correctly. And no, it’s not 2005 again.

While students went on break and perhaps remembered the one-year anniversary of the Illinois Rose Bowl appearance, likely lamenting it, Bruce Weber and company went on a spree, winning six out of seven games. The Illini’s two wins over ranked opponents have persuaded the country and Illinois fans to take notice again after a 16-19, oft-cursed, 2007-08 campaign.

Illinois has received Associated Press poll votes eight weeks running, although all landed the Illini on the outskirts of the Top 25. With high-profile wins in pocket and Saturday’s contest against No. 7 Michigan State looming, there’s no better time to familiarize yourself with the team for the stretch run, the remaining month and a half of the regular season. Here’s a quick study on what you may have missed in the last month, and what lies ahead for Illinois in this rebound season.

You may have missed …

… Every game for the past month. If so, here’s what happened: wins against Detroit, Missouri, Eastern Michigan, then-No. 9 Purdue, Indiana and No. 24 Michigan and a road loss to Michigan 10 days earlier.

… Mike Tisdale averaging 14.7 points per game over break, despite nine total points against Michigan on the road and at home against Indiana. Otherwise, the sophomore center put together five straight games of 12 points or more and three games of at least 24 points, spelling relief for fellow sophomore standouts Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis.

… Alex Legion’s first few games as an Illini. Legion logged 18 minutes in his first game action in nearly a year and posted solid back-to-back games against Purdue and Michigan, with 12 and 10 points in those contests, respectively. His minutes have wavered from game to game as he readjusts to the speed of college ball, but his shot could get hot any time.

… Illinois receiving a verbal commitment from 6-foot-1 Mount Carmel guard Tracy Abrams for the 2011 class. Abrams is one in a group of Chicago area recruits that some analysts consider the best in decades. Abrams, as it happens, is also friends with a few other notable recruits. Connect the dots, if you wish.

… Overall consistency. After lacking any sense of positive momentum for much of last season, the sudden influx of confidence and team play, including 19.4 assists per game and assists on 71.3 percent of its baskets, is as noticeable as any other statistic. Although, righting itself from the free throw line, shooting 73 percent this season, hasn’t hurt.

What lies ahead …

… Fourteen regular-season Big Ten games, obviously enough. The season’s success, as it always does, hinges on the outcome of those contests, and given the Big Ten’s improvement from a year ago, none of those will be cakewalks (cough … Indiana). As it stands, only Northwestern and Indiana have fewer than 11 wins.

… The Big Ten Tournament. This annual showdown begins Thursday, March 12, in Indianapolis. As a No. 10 seed last season, Illinois fought its way into the title game but lost to Wisconsin after upset wins against Penn State, Purdue and Minnesota. This four-day event will help decide whether Illinois makes the NCAA Tournament field of 65 after failing last year for the first time since the 1998-99 season.