11. Illinois (24-8)
Relatively speaking, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan down the stretch this season for Illinois. The Fighting Illini grabbed national attention during an impressive winning streak earlier in Big Ten play but have lost several close games in overtime in recent weeks. They also recently had one of their worst showings of the season against Michigan but were hopeful they could start shaking that off.
Even before the postseason began, we saw them one last time on Sunday in a 78-72 road win at Maryland. It was far from pretty but the Illini did just enough against the Terrapins thanks to 22 points and 11 rebounds from David Mirkovic. Things just did not go their way during the Big Ten Tournament, falling in their first game in the quarterfinals against Wisconsin. Blowing a 15-point lead, they fell 91-88 in another disappointing overtime loss despite 19-point efforts from Mirkovic and Keaton Wagler.
It’s fair to wonder what this lame ending to the regular season means for Illinois with the Selection Committee. There was a legitimate argument that this team was trending towards a top-seed with how they were playing a month ago, especially in road wins over Purdue and Nebraska. Now they’ve lost five of their last nine and aren’t quite creating the same fireworks on both sides of the ball anymore.