Bracketology 2020: Indiana, Syracuse and Villanova among big winners

Illinois Fighting Illini – 15-5 (7-2 in Big Ten)

Coming into this season, head coach Brad Underwood was somewhat on the hot seat, with his first two seasons at Illinois Basketball ending with under .500 campaigns. But the overall talent on the roster made this a must-win season for the team… which they’ve responded well to.

With a win over Nicholls State the only positive thing they did in the non-conference schedule, the Illini needed to have a huge performance in the Big Ten to make up for it. And that they did, with wins over Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and Rutgers (who actually is a great win this season) heading into this past week.

It was a tricky slate though, with matchups on the road against Purdue and Michigan. Homecourt advantage is big in college basketball but especially in the Big Ten this season. Yet Illinois was able to make short work of Purdue by 17 points earlier in the week, before beating Michigan on Saturday thanks to a game-winner by star guard Ayo Dosunmu.

Those wins now give the Illini regular-season sweeps over both the Boilermakers and the Wolverines. And considering that both are currently in the top-40 of the NET rankings, that only helps bolster a sound resume of the current top place Big Ten team.

Illinois would’ve still been in the at-large picture even if they lost both games this week. And a 1-1 split also would’ve benefitted the team. But going 2-0 gives the Illini a ton of breathing room, along with a pair of Quad-1 wins that should move them up a seed line or two for next week. While many teams have fallen on the road and not able to improve their resumes, Illinois accomplished a ton on the road this week and should be taken very seriously in March. (299 words)