The NCAA Championship is now two rounds in, and Illinois is right in the mix to get to the match play portion.
It is that time of year when the Illini take up residence at the NCAA Championship. The program had great momentum coming into the championship, as we had won two out of the last five tournaments and finished top three in all of those contests.
But the NCAA Championship is a different animal. This is the best of the best, and the talent is rising to the top quickly.
Illinois was sitting great after round one. They shot -2, and sat in a tie for fifth place. A round two +9 set us back a bit, though. Heading into the third round, the Illini are +7 as a team and are in ninth place.
For the NCAA Championship, to get to round four, you have to be in the top 15. Illinois is five shots clear of that mark, but that isn’t the goal. We need to get to the match play portion, which would give us a legit chance to bring home the title.
To get to match play, Illinois needs to be in the top eight. That is one spot ahead of where we sit right now and three strokes better. Ole Miss is currently claiming the No. 8 spot at +4. If we can just avoid another +9 outing, then I think Illinois can crawl into that top eight. After that, the gloves are off and everyone is back to square one.
The top teams are proving they are the top teams at the NCAA Championship
Illinois is currently the No. 12 team in the country, so sitting in ninth place isn’t a shocker. This tournament is filled with the best teams in college golf.
The eight teams ahead of Illinois right now are all top 10 teams in the country. The top seven teams in the nation are among those, and No. 9 Florida State rounds out those eight programs.
The Illini had an outlier in the second round. I firmly believe another round of +9 is not going to happen. If we can sneak into the top eight heading into the fourth round, I think Illinois would be in a great position to get to the coveted match play portion.