After having to go into overtime in two of their last three games during their current five-game winning streak, it is only natural that questions as to how far Illinois Basketball can go in the NCAA Division I Tournament have surfaced due to their inconsistency.
During the aforementioned five-game winning streak, the Fighting Illini have defeated Iowa by five points and Wisconsin by fifteen, both in regulation. However, they needed an additional five minutes to defeat Indiana and most recently Nebraska.
The Illini have 70 percent of their minutes played and 68 percent of their scoring returning from last season, a season that saw them finish 13-7, just one game behind the trio of teams that split the Big Ten Regular Season Championship. Even with the returning players their ability to score projected to be an issue as they averaged just 66 points per conference game in 2019-20. Losing the services of Andres Feliz (11 ppg, 3 apg) and Alan Griffin ( 9ppg ) was supposed to hamper the second-lowest scoring team in Big Ten play.
Currently, the Fighting Illini are surpassing their pre-season No.8 AP ranking as they sit in the No.6 spot. Their No. 4 NET ranking is only strengthened by their No. 6 ranking on the Pomeroy Basketball Rankings. Coach Underwood and the Illini have built their resume with victories over Purdue, Wisconsin, and Iowa.
They missed opportunities, however, to build their resume further as they fell to Baylor and Ohio State. Once you add their three other losses to Minnesota, Rutgers, and Missouri it all equals the Illini having four Quad 1 losses and one in Quad 2.
Currently, Illinois is most likely to get a two seed, but with four of their final five conference games being on the road in the competitive Big Ten, things can change but, even a loss is a good loss in the Big Ten.
Regardless if it is a two or three seed that they ultimately get on Selection Sunday, this article will make a claim to the success they will have in the tournament accompanied by evidence that will be presented with reasoning to create a point of validity prior to refuting why the Illini have a ceiling come tournament time.