Is Illinois in?

[tornado]

Illinois puts the hurting on Indiana with a 72-48 buttkicking revenge for the loss in Bloomington...
Illinois finishes 9-9 in the Big Ten --but are they in or do they have to win the tourney?

Indiana cements their 11th seed and finishes in dead last place --worse even than last year when everyone -- and I mean everyone said that after another year of experience and all their "great" recruits, that they'd be so much better this season and be battling for at least an NIT bid.

And honestly -- I can't see that they're much better next year unless Cody Zeller is 100 times better as a freshman than his brothers were...

[Tulsa Brave]

Depends on how many upsets there are in conference tourneys. As of now, assuming no big upsets, you can't find 37 at-large teams better than Illinois...I dare anyone to try. So by default, that means they would be in under the no upset scenario.

[Stryker]

Illinois puts the hurting on Indiana with a 72-48 buttkicking revenge for the loss in Bloomington...
Illinois finishes 9-9 in the Big Ten --but are they in or do they have to win the tourney?

Indiana cements their 11th seed and finishes in dead last place --worse even than last year when everyone -- and I mean everyone said that after another year of experience and all their "great" recruits, that they'd be so much better this season and be battling for at least an NIT bid.

And honestly -- I can't see that they're much better next year unless Cody Zeller is 100 times better as a freshman than his brothers were...

Illinois is in for sure if they win a couple games in the conference tourny. If they lose the first game I think they could be out though. They should be in with 20 wins. That UNC win is looking really good right now.

[MacabreMob]

UIUC is SAFELY in.

Let me say it again.

UIUC is SAFELY in.

And I hate UIUC. But I don't deny the truth in the fact they are SAFELY in! They can lose 1st round in B10 tourney and they are STILL SAFELY in! They have gotta be like 10 spots ahead of the "bubble-trouble". So I suppose if there are a dozen "bubble-trouble" spots popped... then they might be in trouble. But there aren't that many "bubble-trouble" spots for them to worry about. The "bubble-trouble" spots are on BCS-teams, not Non-BCS teams failing to win their conference tourneys. If Missouri State loses... that doesn't squeeze UIUC at all!!! Missouri State isn't in the realm of consideration.

So let's all get over it. Let's get over a couple things. One - UIUC is SAFELY in! Two - the MVC is a one-bid league!

[Rusty 54]

The UNC team that beat Duke is nowhere close to the team that lost to Illinois. That is what I hate about "quality wins" sometimes. You beat a team early, then they skyrocket, and it inflates perception. Not a knock against Illinois, give them credit for winning that game, and they played great that night. I just doubt that the result would be the same if the game were played today.

[BSSFan#1]

The UNC team that beat Duke is nowhere close to the team that lost to Illinois. That is what I hate about "quality wins" sometimes. You beat a team early, then they skyrocket, and it inflates perception. Not a knock against Illinois, give them credit for winning that game, and they played great that night. I just doubt that the result would be the same if the game were played today.

Just like last year when the Braves beat Illinois. Looked good at the time but in the end it was a win over an average NIT team.

[Murph]

Yes Illinois is dancing, the only question is what seed, I say 9.

[Bravesfan]

UIUC is SAFELY in.

Let me say it again.

UIUC is SAFELY in.

And I hate UIUC. But I don't deny the truth in the fact they are SAFELY in! They can lose 1st round in B10 tourney and they are STILL SAFELY in! They have gotta be like 10 spots ahead of the "bubble-trouble". So I suppose if there are a dozen "bubble-trouble" spots popped... then they might be in trouble. But there aren't that many "bubble-trouble" spots for them to worry about. The "bubble-trouble" spots are on BCS-teams, not Non-BCS teams failing to win their conference tourneys. If Missouri State loses... that doesn't squeeze UIUC at all!!! Missouri State isn't in the realm of consideration.

So let's all get over it. Let's get over a couple things. One - UIUC is SAFELY in! Two - the MVC is a one-bid league!

Agree with #1, but still don't agree with #2 for reasons stated earlier today.

[MacabreMob]

The UNC team that beat Duke is nowhere close to the team that lost to Illinois. That is what I hate about "quality wins" sometimes. You beat a team early, then they skyrocket, and it inflates perception. Not a knock against Illinois, give them credit for winning that game, and they played great that night. I just doubt that the result would be the same if the game were played today.

Just like last year when the Braves beat Illinois. Looked good at the time but in the end it was a win over an average NIT team.

No see... it's like this fellas.

UIUC beats UNC in November and that's considered a quality win.

Missouri State beats Wisconsin back in 2006-07 season (wound up #4 in RPI and 2nd in B10 at 13-3), and the crackpipes from the drive-by media said you can't put too much weight on winning a game in November.

UIUC is IN this year.

Missouri State was OUT that year.

[Bravesfan]

No see... it's like this fellas.

UIUC beats UNC in November and that's considered a quality win.

Missouri State beats Wisconsin back in 2006-07 season (wound up #4 in RPI and 2nd in B10 at 13-3), and the crackpipes from the drive-by media said you can't put too much weight on winning a game in November.

UIUC is IN this year.

Missouri State was OUT that year.

Yeah, it was quite obvious that the selection committee did not want more than 4 teams from the Valley in the Big Dance that year. MSU should have been the fifth team in for those reasons. And if anyone still thinks there is no BCS bias in the selection process, well that may have very well been the best (or shall we say WORST) example of BCS bias that I have ever seen!

[MacabreMob]

Yeah, it was quite obvious that the selection committee did not want more than 4 teams from the Valley in the Big Dance that year. MSU should have been the fifth team in for those reasons. And if anyone still thinks there is no BCS bias in the selection process, well that may have very well been the best (or shall we say WORST) example of BCS bias that I have ever seen!

You got the wrong year man. (06-) 07 Year was the year I was talking about. But it still fits your argument. Mo St was left out in (05-) 06 cause they didn't have an Out Of Conference Quality Win (all their top 50 rpi wins were from In-Conference, in the MVC). So in the 07 season, they got the Quality Out Of Conference win over Wisky (finished #4 in the RPI, and 2nd in B10 at 13-3)... and they got left out.

(in the 07 season, SIU and Creighton got bids who finished 1-2 with rpi's of 7 and 20; Mo St was 3rd in MVC with a 12-6 record and rpi of 36)

[TheAsianSensation]

I'm going 85%-15% in Illinois' favor right now if they lose their next game.

Strangely enough, they're MUCH better off getting the 6 seed, beating the 11, then losing to the 3 seed. No bad loss. If they're the 4 or 5 seed in the BTT, they may be forced into playing a "pecking order" game they could lose.

[MacabreMob]

I'm going 85%-15% in Illinois' favor right now if they lose their next game...

Excuse me Mr. Resident Bracktologist... but seriously, sir... I consider them more like 95%-5%.

[TheAsianSensation]

Excuse me Mr. Resident Bracktologist... but seriously, sir... I consider them more like 95%-5%.

Well, once you factor in the chances of them losing their next game. If they do lose, drop from 95-5 to 85-15

[BSSFan#1]

I'm going 85%-15% in Illinois' favor right now if they lose their next game.

Strangely enough, they're MUCH better off getting the 6 seed, beating the 11, then losing to the 3 seed. No bad loss. If they're the 4 or 5 seed in the BTT, they may be forced into playing a "pecking order" game they could lose.

But losing to #11 would hurt much more than losing to #4 or #5. I see what you are saying but I think a win over Michigan is likely. Then a big loss vs Ohio State.