Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions

5. Hope is dwindling quickly for any postseason run

It has been quite the roller coaster of a season for the Illinois basketball program. I know my heart has felt it with so many comebacks, triumphs, and disappointing losses.

At one time, Illinois beat UCLA and Texas this season. My hopes were so high by taking down those two programs. I thought we had a chance to do something truly special this year.

After those two wins, Illinois would drop there out of the next five games. That stretch brought us down to 9-5 for the season and 0-3 in the Big Ten. My hopes were dashed a bit, but I knew the season was long.

Illinois would then rattle off seven wins out of the next eight games. It was a great stretch that brought the Illini back into the national picture. This team was finally starting to show its potential, and the sky was the limit.

But then February hit. Since the turn of the calendar to February, Illinois has been in a bad place on the court. We are 4-6 in our last 10 games, and it is not like the schedule featured the toughest games in the world.

Illinois has losses to Iowa, Penn State, Indiana, Ohio State, Purdue, and then capped it off with another disappointing defeat to the Nittany Lions on Thursday night.

What this stretch of games, and really the entire season, showed me was my hope for any postseason run is dwindling. Much like a lot of things in college basketball, the losing is a team effort.

The coaching staff continues to have confusing rotations and decisions on when players play and don’t play. We have too many egos getting in the way on the court. Too many “me guys” and not enough “we guys.”

There is no cohesion and hasn’t been for quite some time. I thought maybe, just maybe, Illinois was coming together earlier this season, but that didn’t happen. We continue to look unorganized and confused on offense.

I love the defensive effort by some players, but for the most part, Illinois continues to just stare at open shooters instead of closing out strong. We go under screens instead of through them. The communication is nearly non-existent as well.

In my lifetime, I don’t think there has been an Illinois team this disappointing. We have so much potential and talent, but the results on the court just don’t jive. I hope I am proved wrong, but a large part of me has very little hope that we are going to get past the first round of the NCAA tournament, let alone make a meaningful run.