Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win over the Wisconsin Badgers

5. Illinois is sneaking into the top 4 in the Big Ten

At one point this season, things seemed to be going off the rails for the Illinois basketball program. We were not playing well, and it looked like there was some strife among the players and coaches.

On January 4, Illinois went up to Evanston and we were whooped by 13 points. Northwestern was the better team that day, and the Illini dropped to 9-5 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten. Honestly, I thought there was a chance we would miss the NCAA tournament altogether at that point.

But then everything changed. Illinois started to play the way we were supposed to play the entire season. Matthew Mayer was stepping up. The rotations were getting settled. Roles were being established. The Illini started to click.

Four straight wins put us right back in the middle of the Big Ten standings. A little hiccup to Indiana hurt, but we have now won two-straight games after that loss. If Mayer was healthy for the Indiana game, maybe this would be a seven-game winning streak.

With the win over the Badgers on Saturday, Illinois is now sitting with a 15-6 record overall, and we are 6-4 in the Big Ten. We are tied with Michigan State for fourth in the conference, but we win the head-to-head with the Spartans.

As of right now, we are technically in fourth place. I didn’t think Illinois would even be sniffing a double-bye just weeks ago, and now we are on the verge of playing ourselves into the top four in the Big Ten. This turnaround has been incredible.