Location: Champaign, Illinois
Enrollment: 30,895
Record: 24-9 (11-7)
Leading Scorers: Demetri McCamey (11.5 ppg), Mike Davis (11.2 ppg), Mike Tisdale (10.5 ppg)
What to know:
- This team will play together. With no major standout scorer, this team does it by committee, dishing out the fourth most assists in the country.
- Not only do the Illini play together on offense AND DEFENSE. Illinois is 3rd best in the nation when it comes to points surrendered at 56.8 ppg.
- Illinois has played 16 games this year against the nation's top 50, logging 9 wins along the way.
- The Illini are young. They have eight underclassmen and that does not usually bode well for deep NCAA tournament runs.
Projected Performance: The Illini better be careful of a potential upset in the first round to Western Kentucky, but if they make it past them, Gonzaga and their imminent death await.