Good Morning, Illini Nation: ‘The Illini can get to San Antonio’

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Jan. 22—Illinois heads into Thursday’s game against Maryland off a weekend loss to Michigan State in a top 25 matchup in East Lansing, Mich., that currently has the Illini fifth in the Big Ten. But that hasn’t changed the perception of Brad Underwood’s team. Illinois is a Final Four-caliber program, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

While Rothstein’s latest “College Hoops Today” podcast was dominated by a conversation with Michigan coach Dusty May, he did discuss Illinois at the top:

“After watching what Illinois did at Michigan State in a loss on (Sunday), I now feel that you can put Illinois just below the tier of Alabama, Auburn and Duke,” Rothstein said in his opening monologue. “And I think they’re nipping at the heels of those three teams.

“I do think this. The Illini, in defeat, also got a very difficult whistle in that game beyond (Kasparas Jakucionis) fouling out because there was a technical foul called on the Illinois bench late in the game that pushed the game from four to six points with about 4 minutes left that wound up being the final difference.

“I look at this Illinois team, and for as great as Brad Underwood has done at Illinois with teams that went to the Elite Eight last year with Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask and a team in 2021 that was a 1-seed with Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn, there has never been a player like Kasparas Jakucionis that has elevated the ceiling of everybody around them. The Illini can get to San Antonio. I have no doubt about it.”

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/good-morning-illini-nation-illini-155100241.html

Author : The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Publish date : 2025-01-22 15:51:00

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