It is official, the Illinois basketball team is going to the NCAA tournament once again.
This marks the third-straight season the Illini would have been dancing. Yes, I realize the NCAA tournament was canceled in 2020, so technically no teams made the postseason. But Illinois was ranked inside the top 25 when the season concluded, so a logical person would count them in.
Thankfully, those days are behind us and we get to see the Illini play in the postseason again. Last year, things didn’t go the way we had hoped. A second-round out at the hands of Loyola Chicago left a bad taste in the mouths of many Illini fans. This year should be different, though.
In 2021, Illinois entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed. Despite the departure of Ayo Dosunmu, who is doing well in the NBA, the Illini managed to get back to the postseason this year as a No. 4 seed.
The NCAA tournament is starting to become an every year thing for the Illinois basketball program.
As previously mentioned, this would be the third year in a row Illinois made the NCAA tournament. That type of run isn’t familiar to a lot of Illini fans under the age of 25. You have to go back to 2005-07 to find the last time Illinois was good enough for three straight NCAA tournament appearances.
On top of Illinois making the postseason once again, we are a top-five seed for the second year in a row. I assume we would have been a top-five seed in 2020, but that would be up in the air, so I am only counting it as two straight years as a top-five seed.
Looking back in time, you have to go back to 2005-06 to find back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances where Illinois entered as a top-five seed.
This is also a chance for Illinois to make a run in the NCAA tournament. Fans of the Illini haven’t seen a substantial run past the Round of 32 since the national title run in 2005. Yes, I typed that correctly. I want at least the Sweet 16 this season.
NCAA Tourney results for Big Ten #1 seeds that lost their first game in the B1G Tourney.
— Rees Woodcock (@ReesIsMe) March 12, 2022
98 - Mich St - 4 seed- Sweet 16
00 - OSU - 3 seed - 2nd Rd
02 - Wisc. - 8 seed - 2nd Rd
03 - Wisc. - 5 seed - Sweet 16
16 - IU - 5 seed - Sweet 16
17 - Purdue - 4 seed - Sweet 16#Illini
Sweet 16 isn’t out of the realm of possibility either. Six No. 1 seeds in the history of the Big Ten Tournament lost their first game. Illinois now makes seven with their loss to Indiana on Friday. Four of those six teams ended up making it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament. So, the odds are we can get there this season.
It is exciting to see Illinois in the NCAA tournament once again. Now the big question starts; how far do you have them going?