Illinois basketball has a new team for the 2024-25 season, but the quest for a fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament is expected for the tough and talented Fighting Illini.
Coach Brad Underwood has Illinois basketball at 8-3 and back in the top 25, coming in at 22nd in the rankings USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll Monday after a Braggin’ Rights victory against Missouri.
Will Illinois basketball make the NCAA tournament?
There are a number of criteria that the NCAA Tournament selection committee looks at in order to make its evaluation in addition to subjective evaluations like the “eyeball test.” Among them:
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Save: The team’s overall record, conference record and non-conference record.
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Strength of schedule: The strength of the teams the team played against.
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Head-to-head results: Match results between teams compared.
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Conference Championships: Whether a conference championship was won in the regular season or tournament.
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Common adversaries: Results of matches against common opponents.
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Adjusted net efficiency (NET): The NCAA’s preferred metric measuring a team’s overall performance during the regular season.
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Team Value Index: A results-oriented component of the NET that ranks teams based on who they beat and where they played.
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Rating Percentage Index (RPI): A formula that ranks teams based on a team’s winning percentage, opponents’ success, and opponents’ strength of schedule.
Each week, the Journal Star will look back at the Illini’s previous week and evaluate how their resume has changed and compares to that of the competition.
Illinois basketball results last week
December 22: 80-77 victory against Missouri — The annual Braggin’ Rights game is circled every year on the calendar, and this one lived up to the hype. The Illini came away from St. Louis with a victory after Kasparas Jakucionis made the game-winning basket with 28 seconds left. He finished with 21 points, his sixth straight game with more than 20. Kylan Boswell (16 points), Tomislav Ivisic (11 points, 10 rebounds) also played well for the Illini, who were 22 of 23 on free throws. and led on rebound 42-30.
Illinois basketball games this week
All rankings come in Monday.
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Quad 1 recording: 2-3
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Quad 2 recording: 1-0
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Quad 3 recording: 0-0
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Quad 4 recording: 5-0
All rankings come in Monday.
Illinois Bracketology Projections
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ESPN: 6 seeds vs. 11 seeds Providence in the Midwest region: Wichita (as of December 17).
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Le3: 4 seeds against 13 seeds Colombia in the Eastern region: Newark (as of December 18).
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Bracketology T3: 7 seeds (as of December 15).
This article was originally published on Journal Star: Illinois NCAA Basketball Tournament Resumes for March Madness
