The Road Back To March Madness: The University of Illinois
Illinois basketball is sitting currently at 12-4 this year, and showing true promise for the Illini Faithful out there. If you are an Illini fan, you should start to get excited. Last year Illinois went 29-9, second in the2 Big Ten only to Purdue. Although, to me for some reason this year feels different. They are taking care of business when needed, beating big name teams, and even when they lose to a top ranked team like Alabama or Tennessee the game is close and always neck and neck. Almost as if they believe they are the underdogs, even though they sit ranked by AP at 19 in the country. Personally I believe this is due to the fact of their high ranking last year and how they came up short, the players and staff are out for one thing and one thing only. That one thing you may ask? A National Championship.
The road to March Madness for Illinois will not be an easy one, as the start of their incredibly hard schedule is upon them. Tonight [January 14] they play unranked Indiana University, who sits just above UIUC at 13-4. But it doesn’t stop there, Illinois goes on to play No. 12 Michigan State, Maryland who is 13-4, and Northwestern who beat them earlier on in the season. In the cross-state matchup, Northwestern is always a tough one for the Illini. This stretch of 4 games, will truly show how the rest of Illinois’s season will go. We will get a glimpse of their determination and prowess, to see if it is enough to capture a National Championship.
Following this week, it doesn’t stop… Illinois goes on to play Nebraska who is 12-4, a solid Ohio State and UCLA team, and then back to No. 12 Michigan State. From the middle of February to the end of the regular season, they have one of the toughest schedules in all of college. They go to Wisconsin to play the No. 24 ranked Badgers, then No. 3 Duke, Iowa, No. 20 Michigan, and then to finish off their season they play No. 17 Purdue.
Illinois has an absolutely loaded schedule this year, and thus far they have handled it pretty well sitting pretty at 12-4, and ranked No. 19 from AP. The man who has led them to this point has been a surprising key player, the 6 '6 Freshman Guard Kasparas Jakucionis. He is averaging nearly 20 points while playing 33 minutes a game, and being 92% from the free throw line. Just a pure dominant guard, who can score, shoot, and grab a good amount of rebounds. He plays with a very poised attitude, while playing aggressively. The Illini scored by adding him to the roster.
It will be interesting as the rest of the season goes on, but as for now I think it is safe to say we will see the Illini head back and look for vengeance at the March Madness tournament at the end of the regular season. Even paired with one of the hardest second-half schedules in all of college basketball, I still believe No. 19 Illinois will move within the top ten teams in the entire country.
Cameron Williams
DiSportsPhotoAgency
Senior Writer
