Bracketology 2023: Clemson, Illinois among teams moving up seed list
Illinois Fighting Illini (13-6, 4-4 in Big Ten)
A month ago Illinois seemed to be in a bit of disarray despite a top-25 ranking and a 9-5 record. After a 13-point loss to Northwestern, they had lost three of their last five and freshman Skyy Clark decided to leave the program. A lot of us were left wondering what might happen to this team that was picked to finish second in the Big Ten and has the potential to go on a run in March.
Well, since that game all Brad Underwood’s team has done is gone 3-1 and knocked off Wisconsin and Michigan State before losing to Indiana last time out. The Illini have gone from question marks to trying to answer the question, how high of a seed can this team get?
Playing in the Big Ten affords them a top-two quad game on every night and because of that they’re ranked 32nd in the NET and are three games out of the lead in the conference. Their results-based metrics have climbed to 30th in KPI and 44th in the SOR and the results have shown they might be a contender in the Big Ten yet. Over the last month and a half the Illini have had a myriad of players step up but Matthew Mayer and Coleman Hawkins in particular have been very good. The duo has put up a stat line of 26.8 points, and 14 rebounds and is shooting 51% from the field since the team’s loss to Missouri.
Next. Candidates to replace Mike Brey at Notre Dame. dark
As a whole, the Illini have been playing like the 64th-best team in the country over that time according to Torvik. It will be interesting to see how far they can carry this new-found momentum.