We are now over one month into the 2020-21 college basketball season, so where does the Illinois basketball team stand in the latest bracketology projections?
Since my last bracketology projections update, the Illinois Fighting Illini have picked up multiple key wins, which include victories over Duke, Minnesota, Penn State, and Indiana. The Illini, however, picked up a couple of losses, as well.
The Orange and Blue fell to the Missouri Tigers, now ranked No. 12 in the nation, 82-79 in the December 12 matchup. The Illini also suffered a 91-88 loss at Rutgers, who is now ranked No. 14 in the nation.
Having played six more games, let’s take a look at where the Fighting Illini now stand in some of the latest bracketology predictions.
- Michael DeCourcy of Fox Sports Bracketology: December 28, 2020
This is Michael DeCourcy’s first bracketology projection of the 2020-21 college basketball season. In DeCourcy’s first bracket projection, he has the Fighting Illini placed as a No. 3 seed.
The No. 3 seed Fighting Illini are matched up against No. 14 seed Winthrop. Winthrop, a team that upset the Illini back in 2016, is currently 5-0 and leads the Big South Conference.
If Illinois were to beat Winthrop in this bracket, as expected, the Illini would advance to the Round of 32 to play the winner of No. 6 Louisville vs No. 11 Florida.
According to DeCourcy’s projection, if victorious, Illinois would potentially get the opportunity to knock off Gonzaga, who is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the country, in order to advance to the Final Four. If Illinois is able to accomplish that, there is no reason the Illini can’t run the table and win the National Championship.
- ESPN insider Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology: December 29, 2020
In the last Joe Lunardi bracketology projection I looked at, which was released December 1, he had the Illini projected as a No. 3 seed matched up against No. 14 seed Wright State in the first round of the tournament.
In his latest projection, Lunardi still has the Orange and Blue as a No. 3 seed but has them facing off against No. 14 seed South Dakota State (5-3) in this one.
This South Dakota State team has shown it can compete with power-five conference teams. The Jackrabbits defeated Iowa State of the Big 12 on December 2 by a score of 71-68. They would also compete hard with West Virginia, another member of the Big 12, losing to them by just eight points in their November 25 matchup.
This is not a team the Illini should look past. However, if victorious against the Jackrabbits, the Orange and Blue would go on to face the winner of No. 6 Clemson vs No. 11 UConn/SMU in the Round of 32. Any of those three teams would make for a tough test for the Illini.
Like DeCourcy’s bracket, the possibility of Illinois having to knock off Gonzaga in order to advance to the Final Four is very likely in Lunardi’s projection, as the two teams are both projected to play in the West Region of the bracket.
On paper, the next six games for the Illini look favorable. However, no Big Ten game will come easy for any team, as the conference has been extremely competitive so far this season. This six-game stretch begins on Saturday as the Illini host Purdue at 6:00m PM EST to kick off the new year.