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On Friday, the Illini got a look at what an Elite Eight matchup would look like and came up depressingly short. Michigan played with an intensity and toughness that the Illini did not come close to matching and did not shoot well enough to overcome it. After being competitive in every other loss this year, Michigan put in perspective what a real title contender looks like. Of course, after a loss like that, the frustration leads a portion of the fan base to completely lose perspective.
“Brad Underwood will never get us to a Final Four, much less win a National Championship, he needs to go.”
“This team is going to get upset the first weekend.”
“We beat the mediocre teams but lose to anyone with a pulse.”
“Jake Davis needs to shave his head spaghetti after we lost on Jake Davis wig night, the team is suffering from bad juju.”
All of these, except perhaps the last one, are complete overreactions. This team is still very good. They can and should at least make the second weekend, with a very good shot at the Elite Eight. Anything further than that might take a bit of bracket luck and A+ performances at just the right time, but all is not lost because we were outclassed by perhaps the best team in the country. It is frustrating that an obnoxious school like Michigan is better than us, but they (and Duke and Arizona) are almost certainly spending more money on their roster than us, that is just how college basketball works now.
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Thanks to some carnage around them on the 2/3 line, Illinois is still a 2-seed at this point. Take care of business against bad Oregon and Maryland teams and win the first Big Ten tourney game, likely against either Purdue or Wisconsin, and Illinois would most likely stay on the 2-line and get a big home crowd feel in their first two rounds in Saint Louis. In the Big Ten tournament, if the Illini can get past that first game, it would most likely set up a rematch with Michigan in the semifinal, where we can see how the team adjusts…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/tcr-bracketology-10-0-illini-135634219.html
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Publish date : 2026-03-02 13:56:00
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