After the men’s Illinois basketball team fell to the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, things are looking a little tight to clinch a double-bye.
Entering the matchup on Saturday, there was an outside chance that the Illini could sneak in and take the Big Ten regular season title. Those hopes were obliterated when Indiana nipped the Orange and Blue, 71-68.
Now the focus solely rests on earning the double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, an accomplishment that the Illini have achieved each of the past three seasons. But this season, snagging that double-bye seems to be a tough task at this point.
Illinois basketball has a monumental task to earn the double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
With only five games remaining, Illinois has an extremely difficult task of moving up in the Big Ten standings to earn the double-bye in the conference tournament.
As of right now, the Illini sit with a conference record of 8-7, which is good enough for eight in the Big Ten. Illinois needs to jump four teams to get to spot No. 4, so we can start the Big Ten Tournament on Friday instead of Thursday.
Thankfully, the Illini are only one game back of Iowa and Maryland, who are tied for fourth. But the one bad part about having those two teams ahead of us is the fact they hold the tie-breaker over Illinois. Iowa and Maryland both won the lone matchup against Illinois this season. So, the Illini are actually two games back because a tie with those two teams results in Illinois being left out.
With the way Illinois has been playing, which contradicts the results, I believe we can rattle off four-straight wins heading into the Purdue contest. Finishing 4-1 in the final five games is a realistic venture.
If we can win four out of the final five, that would probably get us to the brink of the top four. Iowa has three road games in their final five contests. They travel to Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Indiana. I could realistically see those three games being losses. Illinois would then jump the Hawkeyes.
A win over Minnesota on Monday would put Illinois in a tie with Rutgers in the conference. We won the only game between the two teams this season, so that would put us over the Scarlet Knights.
Illinois would also be tied with Michigan with a win over Minnesota. We then play the Wolverines in the second-to-last game of the season. I have the Illini holding homecourt and taking down Michigan. That would enable us to jump the Wolverines.
The team that worries me the most is Maryland. They are one game ahead of Illinois right now, and they own the tiebreaker from earlier this season. The Terrapins have a fairly easy schedule in the final five games too. They have road contests against Nebraska, Ohio State, and Penn State. They then have home games against Minnesota and Northwestern. Illinois would need Maryland to lose three out of the last five games. I have a hard time seeing that happening.
It is going to be a monumental task of snagging a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. We aren’t eliminated by any means, but we are going to need some serious help. Hopefully, we can get the help we need so we can start the conference tournament on Friday.