All of those teams, other than OSU are absolutely stacked with upper classmen. Mizzou, Penn St, and NW are among the oldest teams in college basketball. We are among the youngest.18 vs Penn State
35 vs Mizzou
13 at Northwestern
21 vs Indiana
17 at Penn State
18 vs Northwestern
15 at Ohio State
None of those teams have as much talent as Illinois. Mizzou was a team put together with mostly transfers with a first year coach. Ohio State is bad. Penn State probably misses the tourney. Northwestern is a solid team but certainly not more talented than Illinois. The only loss in this group that is forgivable loss is Indiana. When you have games you get behind that much, with superior talent, that’s a coaching issue IMO. If it was just 1 game, that happens. This has been going on all season. So 11-9 with a big talent advantage isn’t a good precursor to the future IMO when that talent advantage may not be there.
In basketball, as in life, experience often trumps talent. We have not played well together. Partly because our guys haven't played much in their respective careers and have played together even less.