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Illinois Basketball: NCAA tournament looking like a strong possibility

By Rees Woodcock

GLENDALE, AZ - APRIL 03: The ball goes through the hoop during warm ups before the game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four National Championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 3, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - APRIL 03: The ball goes through the hoop during warm ups before the game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four National Championship game at University of Phoenix Stadium on April 3, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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The Illinois basketball schedule is becoming clearer with the dates and times almost completely filled out.

I think I have put out many different revisions on how I think the season will go and here comes another update to that record. After looking at the schedule again, I have a rather optimistic view of what could be for the Illini in 2017-2018.

I broke the schedule down into blocks of six games with the final block having seven games because the numbers don’t come out right. The first block of games is pretty easy for the Illini. The toughest game out of the six is probably DePaul and they don’t have the talent to keep up with Illinois. I have the Illini winning all six of these games and starting the season 6-0.

The second block of six is a little shakier. This block starts off with the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and Illinois plays at Wake Forest. I have the Illini dropping this game and then dropping the next game at Northwestern. They would then follow those back-to-back losses with a four game winning streak with the hardest game being at UNLV. So, block two the Illini finish 4-2 and their overall record is 10-2.

Illinois then rambles off three straight wins in the third block but fall at Minnesota and at Michigan. They then beat Iowa in Champaign to finish that block 4-2 as well. This brings their season total up to 14-4. That would be a great start to the year and I feel this record isn’t terribly biased.

Block four is a slate of winnable games minus traveling to Wisconsin to take on the Badgers. That is the only game out of the six I have them losing. The other games are at Nebraska, at Ohio State, home against Michigan State, Indiana and Rutgers. All of those five games are winnable. This brings Illinois’ record to 19-5 for the season.

The final block of games is where Illinois gets tripped up a bit. I have them losing at home against Wisconsin, at Indiana, at Michigan State and at home against Purdue. They will beat Penn State at home, Nebraska at home and Rutgers on the road. They will finish the final block 3-4.

Next: Recruiting update on the class of 2018

So if Illinois’ season goes as I plan, the team will finish 22-9 overall and 10-8 in Big Ten play. That would be a good season and undoubtedly an NCAA tournament team. They have the talent to pull this off and I fully expect this to be a good year.

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