Still a decent chance at a 7 seed. Need to win 2 and Oregon lose 1.
Week of 2/24 Bracketology
- Status
Still a decent chance at a 7 seed. Need to win 2 and Oregon lose 1.
That was the Lunardi bracket. The first two rounds in that part of the bracket would be in Raleigh.
Think we punched our ticket tonight.
Question is if we split our last 2 does that bump us up a seed line?
With a healthy Tomi I think we can beat either or both.
Got to rebound better though!
Question is if we split our last 2 does that bump us up a seed line?
With a healthy Tomi I think we can beat either or both.
Got to rebound better though!
Honestly it’s probably be better to lose both instead of splitting. Splitting probably puts you in the 8/9 game.
Lose both probably a 10 which is a better spot
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
A frustrating Brad season still has us firmly in the tourney with weeks to spare. After everything we went through in the 2010s, don't take that for granted.
Honestly if you want perspective just compare Underwood's career to Henson's and he's beating his pace in terms of performance and accolades thus far.
Sigh of relief. Playing for seeding now. Probably need 1-1 in last two plus a win in the BTT to stay out of the 8/9 game, which is very doable.
If we show some signs of life these last few games we may even get a injury/illness bump because this team passed the eye test in so many games (hate it or not they use it as a factor) and honestly we may get some love because people see how talented we are... I know this is opposite of what we expect usually. Plus we have metrics on our side
Once again after only having two returnees, one that redshirted and the other barely played, Illinois has accomplished their mission. This team wasn't preseason top 25 but they will be going to the BIG DANCE!! They won't do much in the tournament but they will hang another banner in the rafters.
Ummmm, I'm not sold on this, assuming you are talking B1G tourney banner (what else is there?). Honestly, I don't even care about the B1G tournament at this point. I think, AND HOPE, that BU's sole focus is on getting us healthy come game 1 in the NCAA tourney. For me, nothing else matters. I'd rather lose game 1 in the B1G tourney and use that down time to practice and make sure everyone is healthy, use that time to get Morez back into game shape. I'd rather have a Sweet 16 than a B1G tourney 1st/2nd place (or lower) finish. I think that would do more good for the program after fighting through this years ups and downs.
For as much as we've struggled (for whatever the reasons), we've consistently taken care of business against inferior (Q2+) opponents. You want to see more big wins and avoid the disturbing blowouts, but we'll likely finish the season with only one Q2 loss and no Q3 or Q4 losses. Thats pretty solid. Not great. But solid. And right now, given this rollercoaster of season, I'll take solid.
Last edited:
If Morez is able to come back and KJ starts to look more like himself, the Illini could be the under-seeded team that no #2 seed or even a couple of #1 seeds would not like to play in the second round. A healthy and out-of-the-doghouse White makes a big difference on this team.
OnlyOrange
- Belleville, IL
Just one clown's opinion here, but there's only one #1 seed I think we'd have any prayer against - Auburn would steamroll us, Duke already did, and Bama beat us pretty soundly. The fourth is up for grabs and none of the teams vying for it scare me too much except maybe Houston.
I don't like our chances of drawing that, given that the selection committee loves storylines, and there's clearly one there with Pearl if we were in the 8/9 game.
We would pretty much a lock for 9 seed or better for BTT? Avoid playing Wednesday is also nice.
Last year, NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt said "the (selection) committee does monitor player availability all season long." He went on to mention Kansas, which had been without Dickinson and Kevin McCullar (18.3 ppg), saying Kansas had told the committee both would be available for the tourney. Kansas got a #4 seed. Turns out, while Dickinson played, McCullar did not play at all in the tourney and, after an easy opening-round win over #13 seed Samford, the Jayhawks lost to Gonzaga. I mention that to say that it will be important for Morez to play in the B1G Tourney in order for the committee to take his absence in these past few games into consideration for seeding purposes. I doubt they again will fall for a coach just saying his team will be at full strength.
This all makes me wonder - seeing as how we lost anyway, would it have been better to have the sick players sit out completely so we could use their absences as an excuse to the committee?
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Considering the number of sick players we had at times, why not just pull a Michigan? /s
Samford should’ve beat KU
This is why I think if we go 1-1 and get 1 BTT win, we’re 100% a 7 and maybe even a 6. Committee will hear from Brad that we have not been 100% healthy since Washington and they will take that into consideration for some of the losses to “weaker” opponents.
Slow down. A NCAA TOURNAMENT BANNER IS ALWAYS THE GOAL EVERY SEASON. What you put on that banner is a different story. This team reached their goal. I don't care about the BIG 10 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT. Illinois won't win that anyway. This team may win one game in the NCAA TOURNAMENT. Most likely they are one and done.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
If our last two happen to be the Semi-Finals and Finals of the BTT, (following a sweep of Michigan and Purdue to close-out the Regular Season), then I predict we'll be a 4-5 seed at 23-12 overall.
You know what they say about my Aunt IF.....lol
Let's hope we have this scenario as a consideration!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
REALLY sick to my stomach thinking back to our loss at Nebraska, specifically. There are tons of other games where I feel we in SOME way "should have won" (e.g., at MSU if KJ can play or maybe vs. Tennessee if we don't make crucial, game-changing mistakes), but the Nebraska loss remains the one totally inexcusable result for me where there was just no excuse to ever not walk away with that one.
It might not seem like that big of a deal, but it would take our 18-11 record and make it 19-10 with one more Quad 1 win, and it more importantly would have set us on a 3-game winning streak heading into the Rutgers road game. If we show up with a better first half effort at RU, we can likely win that one and we not only net another win but we also would have won 6 straight before the MSU game. Maybe we still collapse in that one, who knows? But I think not dropping the Nebraska game puts us on a trajectory to not lose the Rutgers game, even if others don't agree with the logic there.
Oh well ... split the next two and get a BTT win, and we are at (at least) 20 wins before Selection Sunday with shockingly good metrics for our record. Let's hope the Committee heavily weighs the games we played without either KJ or Ivisic (3 losses in total).
It might not seem like that big of a deal, but it would take our 18-11 record and make it 19-10 with one more Quad 1 win, and it more importantly would have set us on a 3-game winning streak heading into the Rutgers road game. If we show up with a better first half effort at RU, we can likely win that one and we not only net another win but we also would have won 6 straight before the MSU game. Maybe we still collapse in that one, who knows? But I think not dropping the Nebraska game puts us on a trajectory to not lose the Rutgers game, even if others don't agree with the logic there.
Oh well ... split the next two and get a BTT win, and we are at (at least) 20 wins before Selection Sunday with shockingly good metrics for our record. Let's hope the Committee heavily weighs the games we played without either KJ or Ivisic (3 losses in total).
- Status