Andy Katz Projects Illini As 1-Seed in 2021 Preseason NCAA Bracket
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois hasn’t played an NCAA tournament game since 2013.
However, this drought didn’t stop national college basketball analyst Andy Katz to project the Illini to break what would be a 2,917-day drought for the program with what would be the program’s fourth ever number one seed.
Katz posted his preseason projected NCAA tournament bracket just days after his preseason Power 36 poll and has the Illini as a 1-seed in Wichita, Kan., playing the winner of the play in game between Prairie View A&M and St. Francis (Pa.).
“We all have to handle (the coronavirus in the best possible way and I tell my team all the time now, the team that is going to win the Big Ten this year is the team that best handles COVID,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said to Katz on his NCAA.com podcast. “I love our depth and I love the fact that we’re now old and we have veterans. Yeah, I’m excited about what this team’s upside could be.”
In Katz’s preseason bracket, posted to the NCAA.com website, Illinois would see the winner of Providence/Rhode Island for a berth to the Sweet 16 in Minneapolis. Katz has Virginia as a 2-seed and Tennessee as a 3-seed in this Midwest Region along with an interesting 13-seed in Stephen F. Austin, the program Underwood went 89-14 over three seasons that included three NCAA tournament berths and two first round wins.
The preseason hype surrounding this upcoming Illini basketball season continues to build as Illinois is ranked in several preseason polls including Blue Ribbon Yearbook (No. 11), CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish's Top 25 and one (No. 6), ranked in Rob Dauster’s preseason Top 25 and a 4-seed in ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s preseason bracket.
The 2020-21 Illinois roster will easily be the most talented and experienced returning team in Underwood’s four-year tenure in Champaign and while the Illini, at 21-10 and 13-7 in the Big Ten Conference would’ve likely seen their name revealed last March on Selection Sunday, the coronavirus pandemic ended any chances at a postseason berth as the NCAA tournament was canceled on March 12.
For the first time in nearly 15 years, Illinois is a projected Top 10-15 preseason team and a contender for a Big Ten Conference regular season after star players Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn elected to bypass the NBA draft in order to return to school. With the return of Dosunmu, a likely preseason All-America candidate, and Cockburn, the 2020 Big Ten Freshman of the Year winner, Illinois will return four starters off last season’s team and will add Top 100 prospects Adam Miller and Andre Curbelo in its backcourt.
The Illini program has 31 all-time appearances in the NCAA tournament but have only been a 1-seed just three times (1989, 2001 and 2005) but the last time Illinois was a top seed where the program saw itself just 40 minutes from what would’ve been its first national championship. In 2005, Illinois was ranked No. 1 practically the entire season and rode a 37-1 record into a national title game where they lost to North Carolina 75-70.
The last time Illinois was a single-digit seed in the NCAA tournament was its last appearance, seven years ago, when a 7-seeded Illini squad led by head coach John Groce defeated 10-seed Colorado 57-49 before losing to 2-seed Miami 63-59.