For a while, it seemed that the Illinois basketball team was on cruise control, as we were just steamrolling the competition.
The Illini rattling off five straight victories, which included two 100+ point games, a win by 32 over No. 9 Oregon, and a win by 39 over Penn State, felt so good. I didn’t think the good feelings would come to an end so soon, though.
USC was supposed to be one of the easier wins of the season. I was making an argument before the game that Illinois should rest Kasparas Jakucionis because we needed him for the upcoming stretch of games more than the game against the Trojans.
Insert the Michael Jordan "and I took it personally" GIF here. While USC didn’t see what I wrote, they played like they did and took it personally. The Trojans looked like the better team throughout the game and put Illinois away by double-digit points.
With this loss, I see the Illini season not fully hanging in the balance, but the hopes of a top seed and a potential deep run in the NCAA tournament could be wavering.
Over the next week, we will see what this Illinois basketball team is made of as the Big Ten slate gets real
Through six games in the Big Ten, Illinois sits at 4-2. That isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things, considering we have already beaten Oregon. There are only three teams ahead of the Illini in the Big Ten standings as well.
The loss to USC hurts. It puts Illinois behind the eight-ball when it comes to the Big Ten regular season race. But everything could change in the coming week.
Illinois has a huge game on Tuesday on the road against Indiana. Bloomington is never an easy place to play, and on top of that, the Hoosiers have a decent team this season. Indiana is tied with Illinois at 4-2 in the conference, and they have some players who could give us trouble.
The Hoosiers aren’t the only road test for Illinois this week, though. After the game against Indiana, Illinois then heads to Michigan State on Sunday. The Spartans are the No. 12 team in the country, and they lead the Big Ten at 5-0 in the conference.
Illinois’ loss to USC was ugly. That was a Quad 3 loss when it comes to the NET Rankings. Illinois is currently No. 9 in the NET Rankings, and we are the only team in the top 18 with a Quad 3 loss.
This week could change a lot. While a Quad 3 loss is brutal, tallying a couple of Quad 1 wins would help remedy the disappointment.
Indiana is No. 60 in the NET Rankings. With this game being on the road, Illinois would tally a Quad 1 win with a victory over the Hoosiers. Indiana has feasted on lower teams, as they are 11-0 against Quad 3 and 4 programs. The Hoosiers are only 2-4 against Quad 1 and 2 teams.
The game against Michigan State will obviously be a Quad 1 game too. The Spartans are No. 14 in the NET Rankings, so this is a high-level Quad 1 game. This is a potential Elite 8-type of game.
Buckle up, Illinois fans, the next week could be a wild ride. A 2-0 record sends the Illini skyrocketing to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten with two more Quad 1 wins. That would likely get us around the top 10 in the country.
A 1-1 record in the next two moves Illinois to 13-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten with one more Quad 1 win. That makes Illinois fans a little uneasy but still pretty optimistic about the future.
And then you have the nuclear scenario. Illinois goes 0-2 against two tough Quad 1 games. We move to 12-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big Ten. Illinois drops out of the top 25 and chaos breaks loose. The panic button might even be hit. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen.