By Paul Schmidt
No no, seriously everyone. Come back in from the ledge. It’s nice inside. We’ve got refreshments and cookies! Punch and pie too.
Much like the resilient emperor penguin, you have persevered, Illini Nation. Finally, the team has rewarded you.
With their 58-54 win against Wisconsin — the game that shall be henceforth known as “The Squeaker that Shouldn’t Have Squeaked” — the Illini have most likely punched their ticket to the NCAA tournament.
And yes, of course, I’m qualifying. Most likely because you never know what the committee is emphasizing. Maybe they’ll still look at the Illini’s profile and say, “13 or 14 losses? That’s just too many.” Maybe they will look at the 5 top-25 RPI wins and say, “Boy, do those offset the bad losses to Bradley, Utah, Georgia, et al?”
So yes, we’re saying….most likely. We should all have cautious optimism about the Illini making the tournament. At the very least, they should be competitive tomorrow against Ohio State in the Big Ten Semis. But cautious optimism rules the day.
And on that note…WE’RE DANCING!!! WE’RE DANCING!!! WE’RE GOING TO THE NCAA TOURNAMENT!!! WOOOOOOO!!!
It’s like my momma always said, folks, do as I say, not as I do…
“We did a great job in preparation and listening, and doing exactly what we needed to do,” Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. “I told Demetri, I told Mike Tisdale, I told Mike Davis, we needed our best defensive effort of the year, and for most of it we did.”
“The most important thing is that we’re playing tomorrow,” Weber added. “We came here to keep ripping one day at a time, so we’re excited about it.”
This game also burst the bubble of a lot of teams who needed Illinois to choke away that 16 point lead. Memphis, UAB, Ole’ Miss…I’m talking to you here.
In fact it seemed somewhat beneficial that the Illini managed to not play on Thursday — where upsets ruled the day and so many teams fell by the wayside, the Illini being able to hold serve in their first Big Ten Tournament game looms large.
Will it be enough? It’s hard to say. Around the country, Rivals.com has the Illini out as of this morning. ESPN had the Illini in by three teams. CBSsportsline.com had them out but said a win against Wisconsin put them in. The Sports Bank’s own David Kay tends to agree with that sentiment.
Again, cautious optimism everyone…
BUT WE’RE IN!!