The NCAA tournament is on the horizon, and the Illinois basketball team has learned where we are heading and who we are playing.
On Sunday night, it was announced that the Illini will be the No. 6 seed and will play the winner of the No. 11 play-in game between Texas and Xavier. Both teams are okay matchups for Illinois, so I don’t mind that potential first round matchup.
Over the 2024-25 campaign, Illinois has been hardened by tough competition too. This hasn’t been a cupcake schedule by any means. In fact, pretty much half of the season has been against NCAA tournament competition.
This season, the Illini played 16 out of 33 games against NCAA tournament teams. How did we fare against that competition? Well, not too bad, as the program was .500 sitting at 8-8.
Illinois’ tough schedule wasn’t just in the Big Ten either. Out of the 16 games we played against NCAA tournament teams, six of those games were against non-conference opponents. It was a nice balanced schedule of teams that will only make us better.
There is a clear line of demarcation for the Illinois basketball program and NCAA tournament seeding
While the record against NCAA tournament teams isn’t bad at 8-8, Illinois still had troubles with the best of the best in the country.
When you break down which programs the Illini played this season, we struggled against the top programs. Illinois played one No. 1 seed, Duke, and we lost by a school record 43 points.
Illinois played four games against No. 2 seeds. I thought we actually played well against these programs. The Illini could have easily clipped Tennessee. We had Michigan State on the ropes in East Lansing as well. The other two were double-digit losses to the Spartans and Alabama.
The only No. 3 seed Illinois played was Wisconsin, and we split that matchup this season. We took down the Badgers by six points in Champaign, and Wisconsin took us out by 21 points just weeks ago.
The Illini were able to take out No. 4 seed Purdue in the last couple of weeks. But then the other No. 4 seed we played, Maryland, dominated the Orange and Blue. They beat us by a combined 44 points in the two games we played against the Terrapins.
After the No. 4 seed spot, Illinois saw great success. We took out both No. 5 seeds, Michigan and Oregon this season. The Illini beat the Ducks by 32 points and the Wolverines by 20 points.
Illinois won the Braggin’ Rights game over No. 6 seed Missouri earlier this season. We also beat Big Ten newcomer No. 7 UCLA and clipped No. 10 Arkansas in the non-conference. The first NCAA tournament team Illinois played in 2024-25 was No. 16 seed SIU-Edwardsville, which was also a win.
So, when you break it down, Illinois is 8-8 against NCAA tournament teams, but we are only 2-8 against the No. 4 seeds or better. That means we are 6-0 against teams that are a No. 5 seed or worse. That line of demarcation is something to keep an eye on. Let’s hope for some upsets and see how far we can get in the Big Dance.
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