The 2024-25 Illinois basketball team will begin their NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee on Friday night against the winner of Wednesday night’s Texas vs. Xavier First Four play-in game. Illinois basketball coach Brad Underwood will no doubt have his team believing:
“We’re gonna make our dreams come true…Doin’ it our way…Nothin’s gonna turn us back now. Straight ahead and on the track now. We’re gonna make our dreams come true..”
So go ahead and pour yourself a brew (Sorry for the top two Milwaukee CLICHES, Laverne & Shirley, beer, within the first graph) and enjoy our Illinois basketball NCAA Tournament preview to the preview.
Tipoff is 8:45 pm central on CBS, but expect it to begin a little, if not substantially later.
It’s the last game on the docket that day, and typically, as the day rolls on, the final tip often gets delayed, so the Illini will be putting in a late shift.
Exorcising Fiserv Forum Demons
The Pfister Hotel, an establishment that often houses visiting Milwaukee Brewers opponents, is reportedly one of the most haunted places in America.
Google the MLB.com article and check it out.
Once we know the opponent for this weekend, we’ll do an actual game preview article at that time.
The Pfister is less than a mile away from Fiserv Forum, a building where the Illini need to bust some ghosts/exorcise some demons.
They’ve only played in this arena once before, a 2021 Gavitt Tipoff Games 67-66 loss to Marquette in which they entered as strong favorites.
It was the first Illinois basketball game in a hostile road environment, with full fans, after the covid-19 re-opening.
You’ve probably read a lot about Andre Curbelo lately. You’ve also probably heard a ton of rumors about him too. If even a 1/4 of those are rumors are even remotely close to being true, well, Belo has indeed had one very colorful life.
He’s also a very sad story, and his problems have been well documented in public.
This game probably marked the beginning of the end for him, as a member of the Illinois basketball team.
Individuals don’t win or lose entire games by themselves, but Curbelo came pretty close to doing just that. He shot 4-18 from the floor in this one and committed seven turnovers.
He appeared to be concussed, and was clearly not himself that night.
It’s a bummer that his college basketball career ended the way that it did.
But now it’s time to make new and better memories in this building.
But which Illinois basketball team will show up on Friday night? The one that just had the doors blown off them by Maryland? Or the one that won four straight entering the blowout loss?
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.