Illinois Basketball's NCAA Tournament Seed and Matchup Revealed

Slotted as a 6 seed, the Illini will face the Texas-Xavier winner on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament

Illinois' playerswatches a free throw during the Indiana versus Illinois men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After 132 days and 33 games, the time has finally come in Illinois basketball's 2024-25 season.

More than two weeks have already passed this month, but only now is actually real:

This is March.

Selection Sunday, the kickoff event of the NCAA Tournament has just taken place, and the first step in Illinois’ March Madness journey is settled.

Landing as a 6 seed in the Midwest region, and drawing a matchup with the 11th-seeded winner of the Texas-Xavier play-in game, the Illini have had their route to a national championship etched into this year's bracket. The trek begins Friday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Time to dance pic.twitter.com/LRQEhFrsQs

— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) March 16, 2025

An up-and-down regular season that consisted of an early five-game winning streak, included a 5-8 stretch, then added a late four-game win streak for good measure, is now behind them. And, some might say, good riddance.

A seventh -place finish in the conference standings. An 88-65 blowout loss to Maryland in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament. A season that, to this point, has failed to meet the recent expectations of success Brad Underwood has set in Champaign. None of it matters anymore – not if Illinois makes a run through the Big Dance.

It's a new season. Undefeated. Win or go home. Six victories is all the Illini need to claim the program’s first ever national championship.

To do so, however, Illinois first needs to get through an opening-round matchup that is no slam dunk – Texas (19-15) and Xavier (21-11) are traditionally strong programs with some history of success in the NCAAs – and a likely second-round contest against third-seeded Kentucky.

With good health, rest and sufficient prep time to their advantage, the Illini should finally be well-positioned to roll out their best product on X night in X as they seek to one-up, or at the very least match, last year’s memorable Elite Eight run.

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