Illini Coach Not Interested In NCAA Seeding Or Big Ten Tournament Talk
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- There’s a single, easy way to end a conversation immediately with Brad Underwood.
Go ahead and bring up postseason implications and that’ll be quickly following by the word “goodbye”.
“What’s the day of the last game? March 8? So, on March 9, I’ll look at the schedule and standings and we’ll see where we’re at,” Underwood said. “We’ll find out if we play Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (in the Big Ten Tournament).”
One of the reasons Underwood can be cavalier about the implications of how these final five games will affect Illinois’ potential run in Indianapolis in a few weeks is the recent history of Michigan’s runs in the Big Ten tournament.
In 2017, Michigan won the event in Washington, D.C. as the 8-seed by playing four games in four days that started with a 75-55 win over Illinois in the final game that John Groce would coach the Illini program. The Wolverines followed up that performance by accomplishing the same four-game winning streak to win as a 5-seed. Those back-to-back years represent two of the four times the event, which was created in 1998, has ever been won by a team that wasn’t a top-three seed.
“I told (Champaign News-Gazette columnist) Loren Tate on the radio yesterday that I get ticked off if anybody wants to talk to me about it,” Underwood said. “I don’t look at (scenarios and projections), I don’t believe in them. They’re great for all of you guys (in the media).”
For the first time since Underwood took over the Illini program, Illinois (17-9, 9-6 in Big Ten) isn’t destined to play on the first night of the league tournament and for the first time in over a decade (2009), has a chance to be a top-three seed.
The last time Illinois advanced to the CBS national television portion of the Big Ten tournament was 2010 - two coaching staffs ago - and the Illini haven’t been to the tournament final since 2008, when star guard Ayo Dosunmu has just turned eight years old.
Despite suffering a four-game losing streak in league play, Illinois will have an opportunity to join a five-way tie for second place in the league standings Monday night when they host Nebraska (7-19, 2-13) for a 7 p.m. tip.
“It is exciting to be in the talk and I get all that,” Underwood said. “For me to waste my energy on that when it’s literally going to change every day...it’s all going to flip. What happens on February 23rd is going to be different from the reality of a couple of weeks from now.”