Buy or Sell: Illinois Basketball's Chances for a Deep NCAA Tournament Run

We've had plenty to say all season about the Illini's potential to dance deep into March. Let's hear your take.

Mar 14, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini forward Morez Johnson Jr. (21), Illinois Fighting Illini guard Kasparas Jakucionis (32), Maryland Terrapins forward Julian Reese (10) and Maryland Terrapins guard DeShawn Harris-Smith (5) go for a rebound during the first half at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Fifth-seeded Clemson, sixth-seeded Missouri, seventh-seeded Kansas – all gone.

No. 8 Louisville, too.

It was even touch-and-go for 5 seed Michigan there for a moment.

Did we mention that was just Thursday?

The madness of March arrived right on time – immediately – in this year's NCAA Tournament, and the message was clear: no one is safe. Does that include a certain sixth-seeded, orange-and-blue dynamo featuring all the stability of a nuclear isotope? You bet, it does.

Strap in Illinois fans – it's gonna be a bumpy ride. The upshot: After almost five months of white-knuckling through the regular season and Big Ten Tournament, Illini Nation has been conditioned to stay seated and keep its arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

Now that Illinois (21-12) and the college basketball season have arrived at this moment, it's hard to know exactly what to think about this wildly entertaining, frustrating, talent-laden group – a bunch of seemingly very likable young men who appear to be working their tails off and doing their level best on the floor while facing some fairly extreme circumstances.

But, like it or not, this is the game: Qualify for the NCAAs, make a run or be forgotten. It was hard not to get on board with this club before the season, when it still had that new-team smell and undefeated veneer. Even through the New Year, the vibes were flowing in more or less one direction. It was easy then to buy what the freewheeling, foot-on-the-gas Illini were selling.

Today? The stock is down. We've all seen Illinois at its worst, and – boy, howdy – is it a sight to behold. This isn't your run-of-the-mill mediocrity. It's Doc Holliday, rifle in hand and trenchcoat flowing in the Tombstone thoroughfare, dramatically meeting the gunfight by immediately blow off his own big toe.

For better and worse, we know what the Illini are capable of. So the question around Illinois as it enters Friday's matchup with 11 seed Xavier in Milwaukee (8:45 p.m. CT, on CBS) becomes a simple one: Are you buying or selling?

Illinois in the NCAA Tournament: buying or selling?

— Jason Langendorf (@JasonLangendorf) March 21, 2025

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