Tomorrow will mark the fifth time that the Illinois Fighting Illini face the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament. UK has won all four of the previous meetings: 1942 Elite Eight: 46-44,1949 Final Four 76-47, 1951 Final Four 76-74 and 1984 Elite Eight 54-51.
That last one has a special historical significance, as it was played at Rupp Arena and thereby gave UK an unfair homecourt advantage. It was also the very last time that this practice was allowed.
NCAA Tournament 2nd Round FYIs
#3 seed Kentucky Wildcats vs #6 seed Illinois Fighting Illini
Sunday, March 23, 2025 4:15PM CST, CBS
Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Odds: Illinois Fighting Illini (-125), Kentucky Wildcats (-+105)
Spread: Illini -1.5, O/U: 170.5 pts
Links: Illini Tournament History Illini First Weekend News & Notes Illini First Weekend Nuggets & Tidbits
How Kasparas Jakucioinis and Tomislav Ivisic First Got Into Basketball
Morez Johnson Exclusive Will Riley on the growth of the game in Canada
That result led to a rule change in which no team could ever again host an NCAA Tournament game on their home floor.
And now these two teams will meet again in the tourney, just one day shy of exactly 41 years later. However, this time the venue is Fiserv Forum, home of the Milwaukee Bucks and Marquette Golden Eagles.
“It’s probably a really good rule,” Illini coach Brad Underwood said on dais at the press conference today.
“I think the game’s grown kind of beyond that, even though you could probably find an argument.
But I think the neutral site stuff has worked out pretty well.
“Obviously must have been pretty impactful to create a rule change and do that.
“But I think that, again, television has just grown our game in so many different ways, and that’s obviously one of them.”
This is not the only time that we’ve seen Illinois get disadvantaged so unfairly during March Madness that the NCAA hand is then forced to change the rules.
Are you familiar with the 2013 tourney?
When an out of bounds call that went in Miami’s favor was so egregiously blown it prompted the NCAA to modify the replay rules?
No? Then please go here.
It is almost universally expected that tomorrow’s second round clash will be a quasi-home game for Illinois, given the close proximity of Milwaukee to Champaign.
After all, Wisconsin borders Illinois and it’s only about 90 minutes from the Chicagoland area, which is where the largest contingent of Illini fans reside.
And you already saw from Friday night’s round one session that Illinois has the largest contingent of fans in Cream City, and they do so by a wide margin.
“Most definitely,” Illini star Tre White said, regarding the Illini homecourt advantage, fan wise, in Milwaukee.
“We felt it even before the game started. Coming in for layup lines, they were chanting our school chant. That definitely lit a fire under us, too.
“And for the opposing teams, I’m sure that has to be frustrating and draining to see the whole arena going against you.
“So it’s definitely a blessing for us and looking forward for it tomorrow.”
So there you go, if there are complaints from the Kentucky side, on the crowd partisanship, well you can just say that’s evened out now from 1984.
That’s karma!
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.