Big Ten Tournament No. 2 seed has been good to the Illinois basketball team

The Big Ten Tournament is always a wild ride, as the Illinois basketball team is sure to run into another program that is just trying to stay alive for the NCAA tournament.

With one game left against Iowa on Sunday, the Illini are already locked into the No. 2 seed for the Big Ten Tournament. We fought for the top overall seed, but Purdue just has our number with Zach Edey manning the paint.

But the No. 2 seed isn’t a bad spot to be. In fact, when Illinois lands in this spot, good things tend to happen.

The last time Illinois was the No. 2 seed was in 2021. We went on a tear in that tournament, beating both No. 7 Rutgers and No. 3 Iowa by double-digit points. This led to an overtime thrilling win over Ohio State in the championship game, 91-88.

In 2009, the Illini were able to sneak into the No. 2 seed as well. We won our first game over No. 7 Michigan by double-digit points, but No. 3 Purdue took us down in the Final 4 of the Big Ten Tournament.

Illinois had a great team in 2002, and we entered the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed. Chaos ensued in that conference tournament. We beat No. 10 Northwestern and No. 6 Indiana in the first two games. The championship matchup was against No. 8 Ohio State, and the Illini took home the crown by a score of 72-59.

And in the inaugural Big Ten Tournament in 1998, Illinois was the first-ever No. 2 seed. We beat No. 10 Wisconsin in the first game but fell to a tough No. 3 Purdue in the conference Final 4.

When Illinois is the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, we at least get to the Final 4. Four times since 1998 the Illini have donned the No. 2 seed, and in half of those Big Ten Tournament runs, we have won the conference tournament title.

Illinois basketball trying to break Big Ten Tournament funk

While entering the Big Ten Tournament as a No. 2 seed has been good to us, desperate teams have caused some problems for the Illini over the last couple of seasons. Last season, we ran into a hot Penn State team. They were the No. 10 seed and took us down as the No. 7 seed. The Nittany Lions ended up getting to the championship game only to lose to Purdue by two points.

In 2022, Illinois once again ran into a desperate team. We entered as the No. 1 seed, but No. 9 Indiana took down Michigan and then beat us 65-63 in the quarterfinals. So, in each of the past two Big Ten Tournament appearances, Illinois has failed to win a game.

As Illinois enters the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, a win is needed to get out of this conference postseason funk. Failing to win a game in a third straight Big Ten Tournament would be the longest streak in program history. Let’s break out of this funk.