lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Since 2010, there have been roughly 75,000 D1 college basketball players. Of those, 4 of the top 16 are playing this year. 3 of the 4 in the B1G:
Illini Basketball 2025-2026
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Big Jack
- Decatur
LOL he was buying like crazy the other night... I was actually wondering if he was passing counterfeit 100s. Brought mine home and sold it on marketplace for 130 made $15 over the cost of the tickets
I know it probably will be Lendeborg, but just for the comparison, boy those splits are terrific for Wagler.
Awesome video
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
In honor of us once again making the NCAA Tournament rather easily, I wanted to post a list of current Power Conference schools by number of NCAA Tournament appearances all-time (and yes ... vacated appearances are not counted). It's a good reminder that while we can rightfully get frustrated over some of the heartbreak we have experienced, we have had it SO much better than many fans. To even feel that you have reasonable grounds to *expect* to be a clear-cut Tournament team (much less top 25 team more often than not) is a precious gift. Hell, just imagine how great our stats would look without the 2008-2019 spell...
For fun, I gave every team with a #7 seed or above on the current Bracket Matrix an extra (presumed) appearance for this year, and those teams are italicized! Tie breakers (as far as the order listed) went to the team(s) with more Final Four appearances (yes, we have more Final Fours than Arizona!) and then who made it most recently.
60+ Appearances
Kentucky - 63
55+ Appearances
North Carolina - 55
50+ Appearances
Kansas - 53
UCLA - 51
45+ Appearances
Duke - 48
40+ Appearances
Louisville - 41
Indiana - 41
Villanova - 41
35+ Appearances
Michigan State - 39
Texas - 39
UConn - 38
Arkansas - 37
Syracuse - 37
Marquette - 37
Notre Dame - 37
Illinois - 36
Arizona - 36
Purdue - 36
30+ Appearances
Oklahoma - 34
Cincinnati - 33
BYU - 33
Kansas State - 32
Ohio State - 31
Georgetown - 31
St. John's (NY) - 31
West Virginia - 31
Maryland - 30
Xavier - 30
25+ Appearances
Michigan - 29
Oklahoma State - 29
Wisconsin - 29
Utah - 29
Iowa - 29
Missouri - 29
Tennessee - 28
Houston - 27
NC State - 27
Virginia - 27
Pitt - 27
Alabama - 26
Creighton - 26
Iowa State - 25
20+ Appearances
Florida - 24
LSU - 24
Wake Forest - 23
Providence - 22
Texas Tech - 21
USC - 20
15+ Appearances
Oregon - 19
Cal - 18
DePaul - 18
Florida State - 18
Boston College - 18
Baylor - 17
Georgia Tech - 17
Washington - 17
Stanford - 17
Vanderbilt - 17
Texas A&M - 17
Arizona State - 17
Colorado - 16
Butler - 16
10+ Appearances
Auburn - 14
Seton Hall - 14
Clemson - 14
Mississippi State - 14
Miami (FL) - 13
Virginia Tech - 13
SMU - 12
Georgia - 11
TCU - 11
South Carolina - 10
Penn State - 10
Ole Miss - 10
Minnesota - 10
Fewer Than 10 Appearances
Nebraska - 9
Rutgers - 8
UCF - 5
Fewer Than 5 Appearances
Northwestern - 3
So yeah, we should feel a lot luckier than we do, IMO. We are 16th on that list, with 8 of the 15 ahead of us arguably "Blue Bloods" and us within being 2 appearances of the next 5 ahead of us. There are also some schools ahead of us that have pretty clearly had less accomplished histories. Notre Dame might have one more NCAA Tournament appearance than we do, but we have been to ONE Final Four (compared to our 5), and we have been back twice since Notre Dame last went for the only time ever. Texas might have (a surprisingly impressive) 3 more than us, but we've been to the Elite Eight 2 more times than them, the Final Four 2 more times than them, they've never made the title game, etc.
It's actually pretty shocking to wonder just how high up this list we'd be if we didn't make 2 NCAA Tournaments the entire decade of the 2010s...
For fun, I gave every team with a #7 seed or above on the current Bracket Matrix an extra (presumed) appearance for this year, and those teams are italicized! Tie breakers (as far as the order listed) went to the team(s) with more Final Four appearances (yes, we have more Final Fours than Arizona!) and then who made it most recently.
60+ Appearances
Kentucky - 63
55+ Appearances
North Carolina - 55
50+ Appearances
Kansas - 53
UCLA - 51
45+ Appearances
Duke - 48
40+ Appearances
Louisville - 41
Indiana - 41
Villanova - 41
35+ Appearances
Michigan State - 39
Texas - 39
UConn - 38
Arkansas - 37
Syracuse - 37
Marquette - 37
Notre Dame - 37
Illinois - 36
Arizona - 36
Purdue - 36
30+ Appearances
Oklahoma - 34
Cincinnati - 33
BYU - 33
Kansas State - 32
Ohio State - 31
Georgetown - 31
St. John's (NY) - 31
West Virginia - 31
Maryland - 30
Xavier - 30
25+ Appearances
Michigan - 29
Oklahoma State - 29
Wisconsin - 29
Utah - 29
Iowa - 29
Missouri - 29
Tennessee - 28
Houston - 27
NC State - 27
Virginia - 27
Pitt - 27
Alabama - 26
Creighton - 26
Iowa State - 25
20+ Appearances
Florida - 24
LSU - 24
Wake Forest - 23
Providence - 22
Texas Tech - 21
USC - 20
15+ Appearances
Oregon - 19
Cal - 18
DePaul - 18
Florida State - 18
Boston College - 18
Baylor - 17
Georgia Tech - 17
Washington - 17
Stanford - 17
Vanderbilt - 17
Texas A&M - 17
Arizona State - 17
Colorado - 16
Butler - 16
10+ Appearances
Auburn - 14
Seton Hall - 14
Clemson - 14
Mississippi State - 14
Miami (FL) - 13
Virginia Tech - 13
SMU - 12
Georgia - 11
TCU - 11
South Carolina - 10
Penn State - 10
Ole Miss - 10
Minnesota - 10
Fewer Than 10 Appearances
Nebraska - 9
Rutgers - 8
UCF - 5
Fewer Than 5 Appearances
Northwestern - 3
So yeah, we should feel a lot luckier than we do, IMO. We are 16th on that list, with 8 of the 15 ahead of us arguably "Blue Bloods" and us within being 2 appearances of the next 5 ahead of us. There are also some schools ahead of us that have pretty clearly had less accomplished histories. Notre Dame might have one more NCAA Tournament appearance than we do, but we have been to ONE Final Four (compared to our 5), and we have been back twice since Notre Dame last went for the only time ever. Texas might have (a surprisingly impressive) 3 more than us, but we've been to the Elite Eight 2 more times than them, the Final Four 2 more times than them, they've never made the title game, etc.
It's actually pretty shocking to wonder just how high up this list we'd be if we didn't make 2 NCAA Tournaments the entire decade of the 2010s...
Good Morning, Illini Nation: How have former Illini fared?
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn is putting up numbers in Las Vegas
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
They’re selling for about $150-$170 now on eBay and there are tons more listed for much more that haven’t sold. I don’t fully understand the economics of these cards, but it seems to me that if there were 15,000 given out at three games (45k total just at Illinois alone)) the supply is greatly going to outweigh the demand.
blackdog
- Champaign
There are a lot of people that play/collect the cards. Between all the games they are giving them away its about 100k cards. In the grand scheme of how many of each card they typically produce that's still a small number.
I went to the game with a friend. made friends with the older couple next to me. the husband told me to go turn it on and that they were worth a lot of money. since we were now bffs I told him he could have mine. he took it ran down and turned it... then he gave it back to me and refused to keep it even after I insisted. good guy
anyway I gave it to my friend after he says he was going to Japan for work and they were big there. he then sold it on the way out for $100 after not turning his in. and kept the money. Jackass. (I made him buy drinks with it so it worked out)
wettsten
- Chicago
arkansas is the surprising one ahead of us that i didn't expect. what don't i know about their history?
Illwinsagain
- Cary, IL
Should be "moving up" on the list this year. Some of those immediately ahead of us will not be dancing this year.
On a completely separate and off the wall topic from the majority of the post's in this forum. Anyone that is close to Jake Davis, please ask him to chuck one up from the State Farm logo before his career at Illinois is over. Just once I want to hear the announcers say "Jake, from State Farm". Sure coach Underwood will go bonkers over that, but it would still be great!! Especially if it goes in! Thanks in advance!
Texas Tech, but I had to go back and look. But I agree that we just can't seem to close out close games!! Very frustrating to say the least.
Need to look at more than the final score
vs Texas Tech, as you pointed out, but other than that...
vs Tennessee was a 6 pt game with 4:21 left
at Ohio State was a 3 pt game with 1:19 left
at Iowa was a 4 pt game with 1:53 left
at Northwestern was a 6 pt game with 4:13 left
at Purdue was a 2 pt game with 45 seconds left
Main thing is that for the most part Illinois has demolished any and all non-Q1 competition (sans Wisconsin when Kylan and Andrej both were out) so really limits the number of 'close' games played.. the 5 Q2 wins have been by an average of 22 points..
Retro62
- North Bethesda, Maryland
That may be one of the fairest assessments I have seen from SI concerning a BIG team. Very hard to argue with it, although it doesn't mean it will continue to play out that way.
Brad Underwood Saved Illinois Basketball – But Has He Hit the Ceiling?
The Illini have consistently been one of the better teams in the country in recent years, but have they gone as far as they can go?www.si.com
Keaton Wagler belongs in the rafters. I'm okay with him making either AA team if it achieves that goal
Side note-
Will Braden ride his past success into another AA? He's been great but I'm not sure that he warrants it this year. I do think a lot of voters will give it to him on name recognition come voting time.
I'm not here to argue the fairness of the assessment... I agree that its fair for SI standards but unfortunately these days not a very high bar...
With that said, it's a wild move for Pranav to write this right before going into the NCAA Tournament with perhaps our best or second-best roster of a really good Underwood era. It seems like one of the worst positions that you can put yourself in as a beat writer is to write an article like this and then have to secretly root against your team so that it can validate a take like "perhaps Brad Underwood has hit his ceiling."
I mean its just an opinion piece. I could write an opinion piece "Matt Painter Unlikely to Make Another Final Four" and break down some bullet point reasons why with a small bit of extrapolation/summarization for each point
My favorite onion-style headlines for Pranav's article would be:
"Area Man Furious That Basketball Program Is Now Good Enough To Be Disappointed By"
"Report: Illinois Basketball Program Hits Ceiling, Forced To Play Remainder Of Season In Crawlspace"
"Illinois Basketball Fan Rescued From Burning Building Complains About Lack Of Central Air"
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You could have a point, but I will share the concern that I don't have a lot of confidence in this team in a hypothetical scenario where we score to go up one, the other team has the ball with 20 seconds left and we need to get a stop to advance. I would love for these guys to prove me wrong, but I think the only piece missing from this squad that could POTENTIALLY cause us heartache in the NCAA Tournament is the ability to make a defensive stand vs. a desperate opponent when it's win or go home. You can explain away any one instance, sure ... Nebraska buzzer beater was a lucky shot, the MSU 3-pointer took an unlucky bounce, we were too focused on not fouling at UCLA, etc. The results can still rightfully concern fans.
We will certainly have a chance here soon to quiet that narrative, and I would love it if we did!!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Agreed. What were people saying Underwood's ceiling was before the Elite Eight run in 2024? The NCAA Tournament isn't pure luck and chaos, and certain coaches definitely have the "crunch time skills" to more often put themselves and their teams in the position to succeed ... but it's still a single elimination tournament.
I think we would all agree Jay Wright hadn't "hit his ceiling" after these results...
2010 - Second Round as #2 seed
2011 - First Round as #9 seed
2012 - No NCAA Tournament
2013 - First Round as #9 seed
2014 - Second Round as #2 seed
2015 - Second Round as #1 seed
Because then in 2016, he won the National Championship and he won another one in 2018!
I think the assessment is fair in some ways and unfair in other ways. A lot of slanting or just flat out omitting material facts in the tourney success/beat the teams you are supposed to beat section in the tourney. Namely that although we were the higher seed we were the underdog against Houston and although Kentucky was a favorable draw and very beatable, we still lost to a higher seed. Which really only leaves Loyola. But even the great ones. self, Izzo, painter, and even Coach K had multiple upsets in the early rounds to teams not nearly as formidable as Loyola.
Much more fair is the in game adjustments side, but I think the Michigan game is a poor example of that. For better or worse, our offense is built around stretch bigs to knock down shots or provide spacing to attack the paint, which is a perfect matchup for Michigan on paper. However when your 4 bigs combine to shoot 3-13 it’s going to be a long night. Maybe we should have adjusted and told our bigs to stop shooting, but I think it’s fair to keep attacking Michigan in that way and hope for a positive regression. If anything, it felt like there were too many adjustments on the defensive side against Michigan. LaTulip said it felt like we were searching and I agree. Now, nothing was working but you change coverages too many times it can result in confusion and thinking too much. All that said, I think Michigan is a better team. First to go undefeated on the road since Indianas undefeated squat 50 years ago.
To me the biggest examples of lack of in game adjustments were against Loyola and UConn.
Loyola we just continued to run the ball screens when it was clear for whatever reason Ayo didn’t have it that night and couldn’t handle the blitzing. I spent most of that game screaming for them to pivot to the horns set they had just absolutely torched Michigan with a few weeks before, so much so that Michigan wound up copying it.
And for UConn sticking with the attack Clingan strategy when it clearly wasn’t working. UConn was the better team and probably wins regardless but I think we got in our own heads which lead to the painful 30-0 run. We had to know they would cross match Clingan on Ty as that’s what Purdue did with Edey. If I were coaching I would have immediately subbed Goode for Ty and gone 5 out and made Clingan guard on the perimeter. If the goal was to get Clingan in foul trouble I think you have a better shot making him do something he’s not used to doing.
But overall I feel like in game adjustments have been pretty good this year, and we do seem to have more levers we can pull from a personnel and scheme standpoint this year. Hopefully we can get our legs back and be playing our best for the tourney.
Much more fair is the in game adjustments side, but I think the Michigan game is a poor example of that. For better or worse, our offense is built around stretch bigs to knock down shots or provide spacing to attack the paint, which is a perfect matchup for Michigan on paper. However when your 4 bigs combine to shoot 3-13 it’s going to be a long night. Maybe we should have adjusted and told our bigs to stop shooting, but I think it’s fair to keep attacking Michigan in that way and hope for a positive regression. If anything, it felt like there were too many adjustments on the defensive side against Michigan. LaTulip said it felt like we were searching and I agree. Now, nothing was working but you change coverages too many times it can result in confusion and thinking too much. All that said, I think Michigan is a better team. First to go undefeated on the road since Indianas undefeated squat 50 years ago.
To me the biggest examples of lack of in game adjustments were against Loyola and UConn.
Loyola we just continued to run the ball screens when it was clear for whatever reason Ayo didn’t have it that night and couldn’t handle the blitzing. I spent most of that game screaming for them to pivot to the horns set they had just absolutely torched Michigan with a few weeks before, so much so that Michigan wound up copying it.
And for UConn sticking with the attack Clingan strategy when it clearly wasn’t working. UConn was the better team and probably wins regardless but I think we got in our own heads which lead to the painful 30-0 run. We had to know they would cross match Clingan on Ty as that’s what Purdue did with Edey. If I were coaching I would have immediately subbed Goode for Ty and gone 5 out and made Clingan guard on the perimeter. If the goal was to get Clingan in foul trouble I think you have a better shot making him do something he’s not used to doing.
But overall I feel like in game adjustments have been pretty good this year, and we do seem to have more levers we can pull from a personnel and scheme standpoint this year. Hopefully we can get our legs back and be playing our best for the tourney.
He's an EE junior. Mad props to getting an SI contract as a college student!
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
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