Illinois had a very tough first 8 games on the league slate (in contrast to, say, MSU, which has a brutal back half). The 3-2 road record with 4 games against credible opposition (Oregon/MSU/IU/NW) is solid, the 2-1 home record is a bit disappointing as it took a major letdown performance to eat a loss (the Wisky win is good tho).
However, the next 7 games are all games in which Illinois will be favored. The two trickiest are the at Nebby and at Rutgers games. I actually watched those two teams play last week, and frankly Rutgers - despite its much lesser performance - might be the tougher of the two games, particularly as Ace Bailey is really good and Rutgers is pretty athletic (Nebraska looked awful marginal in terms of athletes to me).
Win the next 7, and 5-3 in the league becomes 12-3 and puts Illinois squarely in the Top 3 seed situation, with a shot at a 2 seed.
One aside to go along with this, the CBB regular season doesn't do it for me like it used to. Illinois hoops used to be appointment viewing. Now, it just seems like a great win or a tough loss is only meaningful in the way it impacts your seeding. But even then, you can get a good seed with a terrible draw and a middling seed with a great draw. Feels like CBB has to figure something out about this. Personally, I'd start by only using the Committee to select the entrants, and then have a computer program that weights things like NET, Pom, and Torvik more heavily in seeding select the bracket. That would get a much fairer tournament bracket.
However, the next 7 games are all games in which Illinois will be favored. The two trickiest are the at Nebby and at Rutgers games. I actually watched those two teams play last week, and frankly Rutgers - despite its much lesser performance - might be the tougher of the two games, particularly as Ace Bailey is really good and Rutgers is pretty athletic (Nebraska looked awful marginal in terms of athletes to me).
Win the next 7, and 5-3 in the league becomes 12-3 and puts Illinois squarely in the Top 3 seed situation, with a shot at a 2 seed.
One aside to go along with this, the CBB regular season doesn't do it for me like it used to. Illinois hoops used to be appointment viewing. Now, it just seems like a great win or a tough loss is only meaningful in the way it impacts your seeding. But even then, you can get a good seed with a terrible draw and a middling seed with a great draw. Feels like CBB has to figure something out about this. Personally, I'd start by only using the Committee to select the entrants, and then have a computer program that weights things like NET, Pom, and Torvik more heavily in seeding select the bracket. That would get a much fairer tournament bracket.
