From Lincoln Park to Little Italy and from Champaign to Carbondale, the state of Illinois is about to be overcome by a rare case of advanced March Madness.
Bosses and teachers, take note: Expect an outbreak of sudden sicknesses this weekend –nothing serious, just a rash of 24- to 48-hour flu bugs. Symptoms could linger into next week … or maybe even longer if we’re lucky.
For the first time in almost 20 years, the state of Illinois has four teams in the men’s NCAA tournament. Illinois, DePaul, Southern Illinois and UIC all received their invitations to the Dance on Sunday, making the Land of Lincoln one of the best-represented states in the country. Only North Carolina, that perennial hoops hotbed, has more teams (five) in the tourney.
Illinois (24-6) took a beating from Wisconsin in the final of the Big Ten tournament, but still earned a No. 5 seed in the Atlanta regional. The Illini will face Murray State on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.
“We’re going to have to regroup,” center James Augustine said Sunday. “If you can’t regroup, you’re going to be out in the first round. I don’t really care where we are. We could be a 16th seed for all I care.”
DePaul (21-9), which shared the regular season title in Conference USA before losing in the tournament finals to Cincinnati, earned its first NCAA invitation since 2000. The Blue Demons will face Dayton in Buffalo on Thursday as part of the Phoenix regional.
A large crowd packed a ballroom at the DePaul’s student center Sunday and began to get a little nervous because with six slots left in the field, DePaul still hadn’t been called.
Then on a large television DePaul’s name popped up, showing the Blue Demons seeded seventh against Dayton, which lost to Xavier in the Atlantic-10 tournament finals.
“It was nerve-racking. We had to be patient,” center Andre Brown said. “We knew our time was going to come and here it is.”
But before second-year coach Dave Leitao could give much thought to the Flyers, he was already being asked about a potential second-round matchup with Connecticut, where he was an assistant to Jim Calhoun for 14 years.
“It’s a cruel joke obviously. I didn’t know they had quite the sense of humor they have,” Leitao said of the selection committee.
“I’m not prepared to speak on that now,” Leitao said, admitting that facing his mentor Calhoun could be uncomfortable emotionally. “I have to get ready for Dayton.”
Illinois-Chicago (24-7), the Horizon League tournament champion, got a first-round assignment Friday against Kansas and former Illinois coach Bill Self. That game is in Kansas City as part of the St. Louis regional.
Making their third appearance in school history, UIC will have a tough task facing Kansas, who lost to Syracuse in the 2003 National Championship game.
But Flames head coach Jimmy Collins isn’t disappointed with the draw.
“I have seen Kansas play with [Wayne] Simien and the rest of those guys, and I think it is a pretty good draw for us,” Collins said. “Anybody we drew was going to be a good team. We are just pleased to know who we got and we have seen them enough and we have enough film [on them].”
Southern Illinois (25-4) showed it’s doing just fine without Bruce Weber (who took over the Illini when Self split) making the tournament as an at-large after winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship. The Salukis face Alabama in Seattle on Thursday, with the winner probably facing once-beaten Stanford, also part of the Phoenix regional.
SIU, under first-year coach Matt Painter, went 17-0 in league play before falling in its regular-season finale to Northern Iowa. The Salukis then lost to Southwest Missouri State in the MVC tournament semifinals, but were still awarded an at-large berth to make the NCAAs for a third straight season. They got a No. 9 seed.
“I told my guys, if they seeded us 16 and we had to go to the moon, that’s OK, we’re just going to play our game of basketball,” Painter said.
