The path to a No. 1 seed is in the distance, but the Illinois basketball team can still see it on the horizon.
It won’t be easy for the Illini to get to that No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, though. Losing to UCLA was not a step in the right direction, but even with that loss, Illinois isn’t moving in the NCAA tournament bracketology predictions.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN has been pretty consistent on where he has Illinois landing. In his most recent prediction, the Illini still land as a No. 2 seed.
It is definitely interesting that Illinois is still a No. 2 seed after falling to the Bruins, but if ESPN’s prediction comes true, it would be a nice path for the Orange and Blue.
The Round of 64 matchup would be against No. 15 Merrimack. Get an easy win there, and the Round of 32 would be against either No. 7 North Carolina State or No. 10 Auburn. I like Illinois’ chances in both of those contests. The Wolfpack is struggling to get to 20 wins, and the Tigers won’t sniff 20 wins this season.
Illinois playing in the second weekend would be fun to watch again. The Sweet 16 could feature a matchup with No. 3 Gonzaga or No. 6 BYU. I would honestly rather have the Bulldogs, as the Cougars have one of the best players in the country in AJ Dybantsa. Let’s avoid that monster of a player.
If you would give me this path to the Elite 8, I would take that 10 out of 10 times. Illinois is a better team than any of the other programs in the bottom half of the West Region.
The Elite 8 is where this thing could get real. No. 1 Arizona could be waiting, if they can get past No. 4 Michigan State or No. 5 Tennessee. The last time Illinois faced Arizona in the Elite 8, you all know what happened.
Kylan Boswell could get his revenge game if Illinois basketball runs into Arizona
As we wait to see how the Illinois basketball team finishes the 2025-26 campaign, it is fun to map out the potential matchups that could come in the NCAA tournament.
If Illinois did end up playing Arizona in the Elite 8, the storyline would be obvious. But there would also be an underlying storyline. Kylan Boswell would be playing his old team.
Boswell played two seasons at Arizona before transferring to Illinois. Those two seasons fell flat, too. Arizona lost as a No. 2 seed to No. 15 Princeton in 2022-23. The following season, they got to the Sweet 16 as a No. 2 seed, but they fell to No. 6 Clemson.
Now a senior, Boswell has a chance to erase those distant bad memories and make some good memories of a deep run with Illinois. He would have his chance to play his old team, and maybe even advance to a Final 4 if the chips fall right. What a story that would be.