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Illinois Basketball: Best, worst and most likely scenarios for the Illini

By Rees Woodcock

Jan 29, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andre Curbelo (5) and guard Tyler Underwood (middle right) celebrate on the bench during the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 29, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andre Curbelo (5) and guard Tyler Underwood (middle right) celebrate on the bench during the second half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at the State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 12, 2021; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood reacts in overtime against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /

Worst-case scenario

Like I said in the best-case scenario, Illinois finishes the season with a stretch of extremely tough games. This tough schedule gets the best of the Illini, and they struggle down the stretch.

The first game is on Tuesday night on the road against Michigan State. The Spartans have won three out of their last five games, and they have a talented team that is starting to roll. Michigan State sneaks up on an Illini team coming off a seven-game winning streak.

Illinois’ next game is against Nebraska. This is going to be marked as a win. Despite the Illini going into overtime the last time around, I don’t see the Cornhuskers beating the Orange and Blue in Champaign.

The final three games for the Illini are brutal. The first one is at No. 23 Wisconsin. The Badgers struggled in the first game, but on the road against a Wisconsin team that is battle-tested will be tough. Wisconsin gets hot from three-point range and takes down Illinois.

No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State round out the regular season. Illinois heads to Ann Arbor and gets beat down by the Wolverines as Michigan cements their spot atop of the Big Ten. Illinois then struggles against Ohio State, who is hot from three-point range. This ends up in another loss for the Illini.

Illinois ends their season going 1-4 in their final five games. This drops the Illini record to 17-9 on the season and 13-7 in the Big Ten. Purdue then wins their final three games to move to 13-6 in the Big Ten. They played one fewer conference game, so they have one fewer loss, which means the Boilermakers finish ahead of the Illini.

Purdue moves ahead of Illinois in the Big Ten standings, which drops the Illini out of the top four. This means Illinois would only get the single-bye and not the double-bye, which would be bad for the program. I would venture to say, this also drops Illinois out of the top 20 nationally, and they end up being a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament.

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