A 35-point victory to start your NCAA Tournament would satisfy a lot of coaches, at least for a day or two until your next matchup in the Big Dance.
That doesn't apply to Illinois head coach Brad Underwood.
Just moments after the Illinois Fighting Illini walloped the Penn Quakers to advance to the second round, Underwood was already looking to the future, sharing that the resounding double-digit win was far from his end goal.
"There's nothing better than being a part of the NCAA Tournament and having an opportunity to win a National Championship," Underwood said in the postgame press conference.
Brad Underwood eying Natty before playing VCU
Of course, the Illini have to face the VCU Rams in the second round before seriously eying the Sweet 16, much less the National Championship, and that team just shocked the world by upsetting the North Carolina Tar Heels.
However, despite having weeks until the National Championship game tips off, whether Illinois is in it or not, Underwood has made it very clear that his goal is to win it all.
For Underwood, VCU might be an unfamiliar foe, but the Rams' head coach is someone whom the Illini's leader even referred to as a "good friend."
Fran McCaffery, the long-time head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, is now the head coach of the Rams. To put it lightly, Underwood and McCaffery are about as familiar as two head coaches can be, facing each other dozens of times in Big Ten play.
On Saturday, March 21, the No. 3-seed Fighting Illini and the No. 11-seed Rams are scheduled to tip off at 6:50 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on CBS.
If Illinois pulls off another dominant victory like it did in the first round, people other than Underwood might start including the Illini in natty conversations as well.