#9 Illinois vs. #8 Michigan
11 am
TV: Big Ten Network
If you’ve made it this far with Illini basketball this year, you know what’s up. But more importantly, congrats, it’s not been easy to stomach everything. When we last saw the boys in orange, they were coughing up renewed NCAA Tournament hopes at the hands of lowly Rutgers. Bracket Matrix still has the Illini as a bubble team, showing up on 10 “expert” bracket predictions, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in any forthcoming bid.
A big reason for my lack of optimism (besides having watched Illinois crap out against Rutgers), is the way Michigan is playing. The Wolverines are winners of 6 of their last 8, with the two losses being an overtime game at Minny and a last-second loss at Northwestern. Illinois did manage to beat Michigan in Champaign this year, but this team looks much improved from the one the Illini handled. Specifically, DJ Wilson and Moe Wagner have rounded into the kind of game-changing players that can affect outcomes of games, with balanced rebounding and scoring ability.
Though counter-intuitive, I’m sure many fans of the Illini are hoping for a swift, merciful death for this season. Simply hanging around for another game, keeping ever-fading Tourney hopes alive only to be shut down by a very talented Purdue team (the sound you just heard was our publisher, Seth Fein, being smug about his beloved Boilermakers), would be cruel. Rather, it may be best for Illinois to end its season today and move on toward John Groce’s seemingly inevitable firing and a new era in Illini basketball. Of course, there’s still the small matter of the game being played.
My prediction: We’re all going to want to hug Malcolm Hill after the game and tell him he was a very good player and he’ll always have a special place in our hearts.