I was thinking more about what a great draw this was for us, and I wanted to look back at our "favorable" First Weekend locations over the years. Keep in mind that the top 4 seeds are considered officially "protected," in that the Committee at least tries to put them in a location that is favorable. In other words, if you are placed in a favorable location as a #5 seed or higher, it's all luck! So, we should be thankful. I'm excluding 2021 since it was all in Indianapolis, and I am of course being subjective about what constitutes a "favorable" location for a large Illini contingent of fans (e.g., Milwaukee might be 3.5 hours from Champaign, but it is under 1.5 hours from Chicago, so it is just as favorable in my eyes as Indianapolis).
1984: Milwaukee, WI as a #2 seed. We beat Villanova before moving on to Lexington, where we'd get that infamous Elite Eight loss to Kentucky on their home court.
1989: Indianapolis, IN as a #1 seed. We won both games before moving on to Minneapolis for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight.
2002: Chicago, IL as a #4 seed. We won both games by double digits before heading to Madison for the Sweet Sixteen, where we lost to #1 seed Kansas in a close game.
2003: Indianapolis, IN as a #4 seed. We won our first game, but we went down to the Second Round to #5 seed Notre Dame. I would have to rely on someone who attended that disaster, but I would not be surprised whatsoever if there were more Illini fans in Indy than Notre Dame fans for hoops...
2005: Indianapolis, IN as a #1 seed. We won both games before heading to the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight in the even more favorable location of Rosemont! That 2005 team got SUCH a nice path, going from Indy to Chicagoland to St. Louis ... played virtual home games in all six games.
So this is really the first time since 2005 where we have been placed in a First Weekend location where we are likely to have an Illini-friendly crowd. And in our history, we are 8-1 in First Weekend games in front of Illini-friendly crowds ... so hopefully that is a good omen!
P.S. Fun fact, but our 2005 team set an attendance record for a Second Round NCAAT game, drawing 40,331 for our game vs. #9 seed Nevada at the old RCA Dome in Indy. I believe that attendance record still stands (considering most First Weekend games are in basketball arenas with smaller capacities), but I am not 100% sure.
While there is plenty of Kentucky blue (they shared that site with us that year), I think we clearly outdrew Big Blue Nation in 2005 ... let's hope that is ALSO a good omen for this weekend.
