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Illinois Basketball: Illini a top four seed in latest ESPN Bracketology

By Rees Woodcock

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 21: A general view of the March Madness logo on center court is seen before the game between the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and the Florida Gators in the second round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 21, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MARCH 21: A general view of the March Madness logo on center court is seen before the game between the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and the Florida Gators in the second round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Indiana Farmers Coliseum on March 21, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Illinois basketball is just two weeks out from Selection Sunday, and there continues to be movement in the latest projected brackets.

When the Illini find out two Sundays from now where they are seeded, it will be the third-straight NCAA tournament the team has made. I am counting the canceled NCAA tournament a couple of years ago as a made postseason. We would have gone dancing that year.

This will be the first time Illinois has made three-straight NCAA tournament trips since 2004-06. That is nearly 20 years ago, which seems crazy.

With an NCAA tournament berth essentially guaranteed, it is a matter of where Illinois will be seeded at this point. The bracketologists are shuffling teams around frequently, so who knows where the Orange and Blue will land.

Where does the Illinois basketball team currently stand in the latest bracketology?

The most updated bracket by Joe Lunardi of ESPN is from Friday morning. But a lot has changed since then from an overall perspective.

As of Friday morning, he had Illinois dropping from a No. 3 seed to a No. 4 seed due to the loss to Ohio State on Thursday night. That is an understandable drop considering Illinois has now lost three out of the past five games.

Illinois would be matched up against No. 13 Chattanooga. This should be a game the Illini would get through relatively easily. But the rest of the way would be interesting.

Here is what Illinois’ path would most likely look like if we wanted to make the Final Four.

  • Round 1: Chattanooga
  • Round 2: Texas
  • Sweet 16: Arizona
  • Elite 8: Baylor

That is a tough road considering both Arizona and Baylor have been top five teams for a lot of the season. Illinois would need to play A+ basketball to get to the Final Four if this was the region they played in.

Even with the losing by some of the top teams on Saturday, Lunardi still has Illinois as a No. 4 seed. We could easily play our way into a No. 3 or even a No. 2 seed if we can finish the season strong.

Next. Scenarios for the Illini to win the Big Ten regular season. dark

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