The Selection Committee Won't Be Nice to The Fighting Illini

The Fighting Illini is on one of the toughest stretches of any team in this country. In their last ten games, the Fighting Illini hosted five ranked opponents—all of which in the top 20 of the nation. After winning only three of eight during that stretch the Illini was on the outside of the bubble, looking in.

According to Joe Lunardi, the Illini needed to make a run in the Big Ten conference tournament. In their first round match-up, the Illini hosted No. 18 Wisconsin—which only added to the ranked opponents they’ve faced during their last games of the season.

Call it a statement game, because Demetri McCamey and the Illini came to play. In the first half, it was an up-and-down type of game. After leading throughout most of the first half, the Illini let the Badgers’ outscore them in the second half, 34-29. However, that still wasn’t enough to overcome 13 points, eight assist, and five rebounds of McCamey.

Following the win, Illinois advanced for the right to play Ohio State in the Big Ten Semi-finals game. In addition, after the win Lunardi placed Illinois on the bubble rather than outside looking in.

So, Illinois knew they had to come up with a huge upset over Evan Turner’s Buckeyes’.

This posed a huge problem for the Illini. After being tied with less than five seconds to go, Davis missed, what looked like the game-winning layup as time expired—too bad it wouldn’t have counted anyway. 40 minutes was clearly not enough time to decide this matchup.

Neither was 45 minutes, as Illinois and Ohio State traveled to a second overtime. In the second overtime, the Buckeyes’ used balance with Lighty, Diebler and Turner to down the Fighting Illini 88-81 in double-overtime.

Since the Illini didn’t grasp a much needed win over Ohio State, what is next for the Fighting Illini?

Illinois finished the season with a (19-14) overall record to compliment their (10-8) Big Ten conference record. The Illini has impressive wins over: at Clemson, Vandy, Michigan State, and Wisconsin once in the regular season, and once in the Big Ten tournament.

As the night caps, and the games are all coming to an end—the Fighting Illini is currently on the outside looking in. Although it was a loss to a top ten team—Illinois needed a marquee win to put them ahead of the other bubble teams, which the Illini failed to do.

Unless something catastrophic happens, don’t expect to see Illinois representing the Big Ten in the NCAA tournament