Week of 1/6 Bracketology

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#26      
skyIdub
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Haha, it is definitely funny from a "size of market" perspective. However, I think it is a cool idea for a state flagship school to play games in every corner of the state. I am not that knowledgeable about all of the old school arenas around the state of Illinois, but I think it would be really cool for the Illini to either play one cupcake game or even an early season exhibition game in a cool and SMALL arena (so we would sell it out) in an era of the state where our fan support isn't as strong as in Central Illinois in an effort to shore up those areas. Maybe Rockford, extreme Southern Illinois, the Quad Cities, etc. This would not have to be an every year thing, but doing something like that every 3-4 years might be a cool way to "give up" a not very desirable home game and serve as both a gesture to Illini fans in those areas and an effort to get kids in those areas to grow up accustomed to the Illini as "their team."
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Meh, I think the people in those markets that make sense for this....Peoria, Springfield, Decatur...are already coming to CU. The United Center game is enough for northern IL..Rockford and burbs...and Bragging Rights in STL takes care of our southern IL fans.

It was def a giggle at the difference in size on that list, but also because every time I walk through the Moline/Quad Cities airport, I harass the gift shop employees about only having Iowa gear. "You guys know you are in Illinois, right?" Three or four racks of Iowa crap...not a single UofI item.
 
#27      
Fighter of the Nightman
skyIdub said:
Meh, I think the people in those markets that make sense for this....Peoria, Springfield, Decatur...are already coming to CU. The United Center game is enough for northern IL..Rockford and burbs...and Bragging Rights in STL takes care of our southern IL fans.

It was def a giggle at the difference in size on that list, but also because every time I walk through the Moline/Quad Cities airport, I harass the gift shop employees about only having Iowa gear. "You guys know you are in Illinois, right?" Three or four racks of Iowa crap...not a single UofI item.
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It would literally never happen, but a Braggin' Rights style atmosphere for an Illini/Iowa game in Moline would be absolutely lit, haha. Maybe someday if we have two years in a row of just playing each other once, who knows? But yeah, I just can't wrap my head around that no matter how old I get ... I literally don't care if Iowa City were FIVE times as close as Champaign; it just feels at least in some sense pathetic and self-hating in a sports context to just proudly cheer for another state's flagship team if you didn't go there, lol. It just will never end in a scenario where the joke isn't SORT of on you ... like the people in Davenport and Bettendorf are cheering for the Hawkeyes because they're very proud from Iowa, and the people of Moline and Rock Island are just sort of like, "Yeah, can we do that, too?? Can we leach onto this Hawkeyes thing??"

Guess I'm just a state pride kind of guy, though.
 
#28      
FeelYourPaign
Fighter of the Nightman said:
^ On the neutral court note, I'll just limit this to the Big Ten and SEC ("Power Two") to save time, but the following teams have all moved home games to the following locations in the last couple of seasons. I'm not counting tournaments or events that a school was "invited" to (e.g., Maryland playing Syracuse in Brooklyn was very clearly Syracuse just finding an opponent for that game). Whether it is to try to play in a recruiting hotbed, to try to reward a fan base by playing in their backyard or to try to court potential fans in an "expansion" market of sorts like South Dakota below, clearly programs think this is important. And I agree with them.

BIG TEN
Indiana: Indianapolis, IN
Iowa: Moline, IL and Sioux Falls, SD
Maryland: N/A
Michigan: Detroit, MI
Michigan State: Detroit, MI
Nebraska: Sioux Falls, SD
Northwestern: N/A
Ohio State: Cleveland, OH
Oregon: Portland, OR
Penn State: Philadelphia, PA
Purdue: Indianapolis, IN
Rutgers: New York, NY and Newark, NJ
UCLA: Inglewood, CA
USC: San Diego, CA
Washington: Seattle, WA (downtown and not on campus)
Wisconsin: N/A

SEC
Alabama: Birmingham, AL
Arkansas: Little Rock, AR
Auburn: Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA
Florida: Jacksonville, FL and Sunrise, FL (Miami suburbs)
Georgia: Atlanta, GA
Kentucky: N/A
LSU: N/A
Mississippi State: Jackson, MS, Tupelo, MS and Southaven, MS (Memphis suburbs)
Missouri: Kansas City, MO
Oklahoma: Oklahoma City, OK and Tulsa, OK
Ole Miss: Biloxi, MS and Southaven, MS (Memphis suburbs)
South Carolina:
Tennessee: Nashville, TN
Texas: Dallas, TX and Houston, TX
Texas A&M: Houston, TX
Vanderbilt: N/A

Some others I came across while looking these teams up was Arizona hosting UCLA in Phoenix, Syracuse hosting Maryland in Brooklyn, Wake Forest hosting Michigan in Greensboro, North Carolina hosting Michigan in Charlotte, Stanford hosting Oregon in San Jose, and Baylor hosting Arkansas in Dallas.

So again, I TOTALLY understand the argument in favor of the season ticket holders, but the fact is programs are doing this. And I think that is because they think it is important/beneficial, and I agree with them. Hell, Illinois is likely even more reliant on our major metros than many of these other schools. On that list of 34 Power Two teams, we are actually only 1 of 4 that has not done this in the last couple years ... and we are fixing that next year, so the ratio will now be 31 out of 34 or over 91%.

TL;DR

I think it is very important for us to get the United Center game back on the schedule over Christmas Break. Season ticket holders got by for two decades with this arrangement, and I think it will be fine once again; they should get a discounted ticket or something like that. Let's remember that once upon a time the irreplaceable atmosphere of Braggin' Rights was "giving up a home game" every other year. I also don't think this means we have to give up key home games with the way Brad is scheduling!
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I think the DIA should hire you as a research consultant. Probably part-time, but you dig through data like nobody's business
 
#29      
the juiceman cometh
Fighter of the Nightman said:
^ On the neutral court note, I'll just limit this to the Big Ten and SEC ("Power Two") to save time, but the following teams have all moved home games to the following locations in the last couple of seasons. I'm not counting tournaments or events that a school was "invited" to (e.g., Maryland playing Syracuse in Brooklyn was very clearly Syracuse just finding an opponent for that game). Whether it is to try to play in a recruiting hotbed, to try to reward a fan base by playing in their backyard or to try to court potential fans in an "expansion" market of sorts like South Dakota below, clearly programs think this is important. And I agree with them.

BIG TEN
Indiana: Indianapolis, IN
Iowa: Moline, IL and Sioux Falls, SD
Maryland: N/A
Michigan: Detroit, MI
Michigan State: Detroit, MI
Nebraska: Sioux Falls, SD
Northwestern: N/A
Ohio State: Cleveland, OH
Oregon: Portland, OR
Penn State: Philadelphia, PA
Purdue: Indianapolis, IN
Rutgers: New York, NY and Newark, NJ
UCLA: Inglewood, CA
USC: San Diego, CA
Washington: Seattle, WA (downtown and not on campus)
Wisconsin: N/A

SEC
Alabama: Birmingham, AL
Arkansas: Little Rock, AR
Auburn: Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA
Florida: Jacksonville, FL and Sunrise, FL (Miami suburbs)
Georgia: Atlanta, GA
Kentucky: N/A
LSU: N/A
Mississippi State: Jackson, MS, Tupelo, MS and Southaven, MS (Memphis suburbs)
Missouri: Kansas City, MO
Oklahoma: Oklahoma City, OK and Tulsa, OK
Ole Miss: Biloxi, MS and Southaven, MS (Memphis suburbs)
South Carolina:
Tennessee: Nashville, TN
Texas: Dallas, TX and Houston, TX
Texas A&M: Houston, TX
Vanderbilt: N/A

Some others I came across while looking these teams up was Arizona hosting UCLA in Phoenix, Syracuse hosting Maryland in Brooklyn, Wake Forest hosting Michigan in Greensboro, North Carolina hosting Michigan in Charlotte, Stanford hosting Oregon in San Jose, and Baylor hosting Arkansas in Dallas.

So again, I TOTALLY understand the argument in favor of the season ticket holders, but the fact is programs are doing this. And I think that is because they think it is important/beneficial, and I agree with them. Hell, Illinois is likely even more reliant on our major metros than many of these other schools. On that list of 34 Power Two teams, we are actually only 1 of 4 that has not done this in the last couple years ... and we are fixing that next year, so the ratio will now be 31 out of 34 or over 91%.

TL;DR

I think it is very important for us to get the United Center game back on the schedule over Christmas Break. Season ticket holders got by for two decades with this arrangement, and I think it will be fine once again; they should get a discounted ticket or something like that. Let's remember that once upon a time the irreplaceable atmosphere of Braggin' Rights was "giving up a home game" every other year. I also don't think this means we have to give up key home games with the way Brad is scheduling!
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I'm pretty surprised Maryland hasn't done this in DC or LSU in NOLA. Also pretty funny that Tennessee went and played a home game in the city of one of its conference rivals. Maybe we should schedule one home game a year in Evanston.
 
#30      
RabidDawgClassic
Fighter of the Nightman said:
It would literally never happen, but a Braggin' Rights style atmosphere for an Illini/Iowa game in Moline would be absolutely lit, haha. Maybe someday if we have two years in a row of just playing each other once, who knows? But yeah, I just can't wrap my head around that no matter how old I get ... I literally don't care if Iowa City were FIVE times as close as Champaign; it just feels at least in some sense pathetic and self-hating in a sports context to just proudly cheer for another state's flagship team if you didn't go there, lol. It just will never end in a scenario where the joke isn't SORT of on you ... like the people in Davenport and Bettendorf are cheering for the Hawkeyes because they're very proud from Iowa, and the people of Moline and Rock Island are just sort of like, "Yeah, can we do that, too?? Can we leach onto this Hawkeyes thing??"

Guess I'm just a state pride kind of guy, though.
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I love your posts as they’re always well thought out and insightful. I’ve noticed one thing though, and I’m wondering only if it’s me. When I read your posts on my phone, I read them normally. But when I read them on my laptop, where I can see your avatar, I read them as if Charlie Kelly is saying them. It’s really quite amusing. Would it kill you to toss in a few bird law reference. 😂
 
#31      
BigOnILL
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/s...logy-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

Latest ESPN Bracketology has Illinois as a 3 seed. I am actually ok with that seeding, at least they didn't put Oregon ahead of us.

Funny thing is Kansas is a 3 seed twice. I am sure a typo and was supposed to be Texas A&M as I can't find them on there anywhere.

Screenshot 2025-01-07 at 12.16.45 PM.png
 
#32      
Fighter of the Nightman
RabidDawgClassic said:
I love your posts as they’re always well thought out and insightful. I’ve noticed one thing though, and I’m wondering only if it’s me. When I read your posts on my phone, I read them normally. But when I read them on my laptop, where I can see your avatar, I read them as if Charlie Kelly is saying them. It’s really quite amusing. Would it kill you to toss in a few bird law reference. 😂
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I honestly totally should be talking more like Charlie, I kind of always forget my posts will be read with his face to the left. :ROFLMAO:
 
#33      
BackThatPassUp
the juiceman cometh said:
I'm pretty surprised Maryland hasn't done this in DC or LSU in NOLA. Also pretty funny that Tennessee went and played a home game in the city of one of its conference rivals. Maybe we should schedule one home game a year in Evanston.
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Because College Park is so close to DC it would be like moving a game from Oak Park to the United Center just to have a change in atmosphere. I think the biggest appeal in having "neutral site" games in recruiting hotbeds and alumni markets is to dramatically increase accessibility. I think this issue is at best more of an issue for flagship schools more than 90 minutes away from their main alumni base and recruiting grounds. Even in states where the flagship school is in a major metro area (Ohio State, Minnesota, etc), a good number of flagship schools are even only 45 min to an hour away from a big base (i.e Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana) and in that instance, its probably just more appealing to people that want to haphazardly go to a game. This geographic conundrum is more of an issue for schools like us and Penn State.
 
#34      
Illwinsagain
#35      
Fighter of the Nightman
BackThatPassUp said:
Because College Park is so close to DC it would be like moving a game from Oak Park to the United Center just to have a change in atmosphere. I think the biggest appeal in having "neutral site" games in recruiting hotbeds and alumni markets is to dramatically increase accessibility. I think this issue is at best more of an issue for flagship schools more than 90 minutes away from their main alumni base and recruiting grounds. Even in states where the flagship school is in a major metro area (Ohio State, Minnesota, etc), a good number of flagship schools are even only 45 min to an hour away from a big base (i.e Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana) and in that instance, its probably just more appealing to people that want to haphazardly go to a game. This geographic conundrum is more of an issue for schools like us and Penn State.
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Yep, I think the best comparisons to us as far as "instate fan dynamics" are easily the following:

State Flagship in Smaller College Town ---> Major Market for Flagship Team ---> Smaller/Private School Located in That Metro

Illinois ---> Chicago ---> Northwestern
Tennessee ---> Nashville ---> Vanderbilt
Georgia ---> Atlanta ---> Georgia Tech

Obviously it varies by situation, but all three of those state flagships have a "soft rivalry" with the smaller school and have more fans in the major metro. It seems like when Tennessee fans get up for the "Vanderbilt rivalry" or Georgia fans play an "away" game vs. Georgia Tech in Atlanta, the dynamic is very similar to our dynamic with Northwestern and Chicago in general. Other state examples are different for one reason or another, it seems. For example, it seems like Georgetown/Marquette/Villanova have MUCH stronger presences in their main metros than the schools listed above and often have more fans than the comparable flagship programs (Maryland, Wisconsin and Penn State, respectively). In other states, the major metro seems to have a much more "local" and less transplant-heavy feel that allows the flagship team to enjoy unusual "hometown" support there, such as Indiana with Indianapolis. Others are just so close and/or IN major metros that it is simply apples to oranges, such as Minnesota being in the Twin Cities themselves.
 
#36      
IlliniFanTX
RabidDawgClassic said:
I love your posts as they’re always well thought out and insightful. I’ve noticed one thing though, and I’m wondering only if it’s me. When I read your posts on my phone, I read them normally. But when I read them on my laptop, where I can see your avatar, I read them as if Charlie Kelly is saying them. It’s really quite amusing. Would it kill you to toss in a few bird law reference. 😂
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SAME. I think my brain is convinced Charlie Day is secretly an Illini-obsessed genius on a laptop in the basement of Paddy's Pub :ROFLMAO:
 
#37      
OrangeBlue98
Fighter of the Nightman said:
It would literally never happen, but a Braggin' Rights style atmosphere for an Illini/Iowa game in Moline would be absolutely lit, haha. Maybe someday if we have two years in a row of just playing each other once, who knows? But yeah, I just can't wrap my head around that no matter how old I get ... I literally don't care if Iowa City were FIVE times as close as Champaign; it just feels at least in some sense pathetic and self-hating in a sports context to just proudly cheer for another state's flagship team if you didn't go there, lol. It just will never end in a scenario where the joke isn't SORT of on you ... like the people in Davenport and Bettendorf are cheering for the Hawkeyes because they're very proud from Iowa, and the people of Moline and Rock Island are just sort of like, "Yeah, can we do that, too?? Can we leach onto this Hawkeyes thing??"

Guess I'm just a state pride kind of guy, though.
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It also doesn't help the Illini's case that the main paper in the area has multiple articles every time Kurt Ferentz passes gas while they only cover Illinois if they are good. I get it - Iowa City is an hour away and the paper serves both Iowa and Illinois. But they could at least make somewhat of a better effort to cover Illinois.

And since it's been years since I've actually been inside the gates at the QC Airport, they actually have a gift shop?
 
#38      
OrangeBlue98
BigOnILL said:
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/s...logy-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

Latest ESPN Bracketology has Illinois as a 3 seed. I am actually ok with that seeding, at least they didn't put Oregon ahead of us.

Funny thing is Kansas is a 3 seed twice. I am sure a typo and was supposed to be Texas A&M as I can't find them on there anywhere.

View attachment 38663
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At least they have been kind enough to Kansas to have both of their paths start in Wichita. Could you imagine having to travel to Seattle or Raleigh for a game on Friday or, even worse, Providence or Lexington the same day? :ROFLMAO:
 
#39      
OrangeBlue98
I would not be against an early-season Illini game every 2-3 years or so in Moline, particularly if there's a player from the area on the team. No real need for a game in Springfield or Peoria for reasons mentioned (no offense to posters from those fine cities on this board).

Iowa played in the Quad Cities this season, but a big reason was they have two Moline graduates/teammates on their team. It's also an hour-long bus ride from Iowa City with no overnight hotel stay for the Hawkeyes, so relatively speaking a pretty quick and inexpensive trip. An Illini game would be more expensive for the athletic department with the team staying overnight.
 
#41      
Battle89
OrangeBlue98 said:
It also doesn't help the Illini's case that the main paper in the area has multiple articles every time Kurt Ferentz passes gas while they only cover Illinois if they are good. I get it - Iowa City is an hour away and the paper serves both Iowa and Illinois. But they could at least make somewhat of a better effort to cover Illinois.

And since it's been years since I've actually been inside the gates at the QC Airport, they actually have a gift shop?
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Your opening sentence works just fine for Chicago too. Maybe sub Freeman for Ferentz.
 
#42      
Fighter of the Nightman
OrangeBlue98 said:
It also doesn't help the Illini's case that the main paper in the area has multiple articles every time Kurt Ferentz passes gas while they only cover Illinois if they are good. I get it - Iowa City is an hour away and the paper serves both Iowa and Illinois. But they could at least make somewhat of a better effort to cover Illinois.

And since it's been years since I've actually been inside the gates at the QC Airport, they actually have a gift shop?
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As a stark comparison, imagine St. Louis as the Quad Cities, the Missouri side as Davenport/Bettendorf and Metro East as Moline/Rock Island. Someone correct me, but I don't think our fan presence on the Illinois side of each metro is THAT different ... maybe a little more pro-Illini in the Metro East? Either way, the St. Louis media, while obviously leaning toward Mizzou, is actually pretty damn good about covering the Illini, all things considered. LIGHT YEARS ahead of the Quad Cities media, anyway.
 
#45      
Old Farm Illini
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Theoretically in the 2/3 seed range right now with an outside shot at a 1 seed if we stay hot and string together a special string of games to end the season (like 2021). Simply winning the games we "should" from here on out sets us up really nicely for March ... that's what the Oregon win did for us.
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Key will be compiling as many road wins. Right now, it looks like we might have a slight advantage in comparison to other teams potential 2-3 seeds like Houston, Kansas, Michigan, and Gonzaga. Plus other potential 2-3 seeds like Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Kansas, and Michigan have a Quad 2 loss. We're taking care of business so far.
 
#46      
Illini2010-11
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Theoretically in the 2/3 seed range right now with an outside shot at a 1 seed if we stay hot and string together a special string of games to end the season (like 2021). Simply winning the games we "should" from here on out sets us up really nicely for March ... that's what the Oregon win did for us.
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Looking at the schedule, there are a lot of good opportunities available (I simply can't say any road game is a gimme in the B1G, though Minnesota is the closest to it). We will know a lot about this team next week with road games against IU and Michigan State. A split there (assuming a win on Saturday), then I think the 3 seed range is very accurate to the team right now. Win both those games (both solid Q1 games), then this team is a solid 2 seed, knocking on the door to an outside chance of 1 seed. A lot of basketball to play though, and I am sure there will be at least one unexpected stumble along the way. The Feb/Mar schedule will certainly be a great challenge for this team. I am more optimistic of the team right now than I was of last year's team at this point (and that team went on to make the Elite 8). Extremely excited for the road ahead!
 
#47      
OrangeBlue98
I know that the Big Ten tournament championship game has zero impact on the brackets because of the timing associated with the game leading into the Selection Show (but I still wish they would make that a Saturday night game both for prime-time viewing and for that game to have an impact on seeding), but I feel like this year will be a year where conference tournaments will have a reasonable impact on final seedings. Teams are just bunched too tightly together, so some element of the "hot team" seems like it will have at least something of a tie-breaker effect on seedings.

In other words, it would be really good for Illinois to make the BTT final again.

On a side note - could you imagine a Fox Saturday night doubleheader of the Big East final at the Garden at 7 ET/6 CT followed by the Big Ten final? Hell, if the Big East throws a fit, switch the game order. I really don't care. That would just be a fantastic night of college basketball.
 
#48      
Old Farm Illini
Illini2010-11 said:
Looking at the schedule, there are a lot of good opportunities available (I simply can't say any road game is a gimme in the B1G, though Minnesota is the closest to it). We will know a lot about this team next week with road games against IU and Michigan State. A split there (assuming a win on Saturday), then I think the 3 seed range is very accurate to the team right now. Win both those games (both solid Q1 games), then this team is a solid 2 seed, knocking on the door to an outside chance of 1 seed. A lot of basketball to play though, and I am sure there will be at least one unexpected stumble along the way. The Feb/Mar schedule will certainly be a great challenge for this team. I am more optimistic of the team right now than I was of last year's team at this point (and that team went on to make the Elite 8). Extremely excited for the road ahead!
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If we win on the road against IU and Michigan State, we'd jump Tennessee and Iowa State as potential 1 seeds.
 
#49      
Illini2010-11
OrangeBlue98 said:
I know that the Big Ten tournament championship game has zero impact on the brackets because of the timing associated with the game leading into the Selection Show (but I still wish they would make that a Saturday night game both for prime-time viewing and for that game to have an impact on seeding), but I feel like this year will be a year where conference tournaments will have a reasonable impact on final seedings. Teams are just bunched too tightly together, so some element of the "hot team" seems like it will have at least something of a tie-breaker effect on seedings.

In other words, it would be really good for Illinois to make the BTT final again.

On a side note - could you imagine a Fox Saturday night doubleheader of the Big East final at the Garden at 7 ET/6 CT followed by the Big Ten final? Hell, if the Big East throws a fit, switch the game order. I really don't care. That would just be a fantastic night of college basketball.
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The B1G has the exclusive timeslot right before the bracket reveal. It is hard to see why the conference would ever want to compete with the ACC Tournament final on Saturday night. By the time of the championship game (either Saturday or Sunday), I do not think seeding would change much at all. Much of the high seed lines are baked in before the start of the conference tourneys. I personally love having the semifinals in a prime slot on Saturday afternoons and the exclusive slot on championship Sunday.
 
#50      
Illini2010-11
Old Farm Illini said:
If we win on the road against IU and Michigan State, we'd jump Tennessee and Iowa State as potential 1 seeds.
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Obviously, all of this is premature, but if the teams above Illini win their games, the Illini would not be projected as a 1 seed in any bracket even with wins through the Michigan State game.

You would have Auburn, Duke, Alabama, and Florida (to name a few) all likely ahead of Illinois for 1 seeds. Illinois would be a solid 2 in most brackets. I also do not think Illinois should jump Tennessee (they did beat us in Champaign). Either way, a lot of basketball to play and opportunities for Illinois to get into the talks for an outside chance of a 1 seed.
 
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