Illinois Basketball: History of Illini upsets in the NCAA tournament

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The Illinois basketball team has a long history of making the NCAA tournament.

While the Illini haven’t been dancing the past five seasons, they are still one of the most historic basketball programs in the game. They have had stretches of greatness that could only be matched by very few teams.

From 1982 through 1990, the Illini made the NCAA tournament every season which included a Final 4 appearance with the Flyin’ Illini. From 1999 through 2007, Illinois once again made the NCAA tournament every season which included a national title appearance in 2005. That national title game had some legendary talent on both teams.

But, even with the Illini winning all the games they have throughout time, there have always been upsets. The upset is a part of the NCAA tournament every season. Already through one round of the 2018 NCAA tournament, we have had No. 13 Buffalo take down No. 4 Arizona by double-digits. No one saw that coming.

Illinois has dealt with their fair share of upsets over the years. There have been NCAA tournaments where they are favored heavily but fail to get out of the first round. It is all a matter of how well you are playing on a certain day. Any team can knock off any team on any day.

Here is the history of Illini upsets in the NCAA tournament.

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