On Selection Sunday last March, Illinois watched with increasing desperation as the bubble slots for the NCAA tournament field evaporated for them.
One of those slots went to Minnesota, which gained entry despite finishing behind Illinois in the Big Ten standings. The Illini had a number of losses that contributed to the sickening feeling they felt as they watched the Gophers celebrate on television and one of them was the 62-60 defeat Minnesota inflicted on them at home in February in the teams’ only meeting.
Looking back, if the Illini had won that game, would they have been in the tournament?
Now, with the middle of the Big Ten standings still in the process of filtering, Thursday night’s game at Minnesota takes on similar significance.
“I realize if we don’t win, we’re not going to make the tournament,” senior Mike Tisdale said. “There’s no bracketology to it, it’s win or go home.”
Both the Illini (15-8, 5-5 Big Ten) and Minnesota (16-7, 5-6) are fighting for their tournament lives and even though there are still plenty of games remaining, their matchup would give one team a leg up on the other.
“Kids are resilient and they’re more worried about getting themselves playing well (after losing 5 of their last 7 conference games) than worrying about (the tournament),” Illinois coach Bruce Weber said.
Minnesota has had an inconsistent season that started with victories over West Virginia and North Carolina. But Devoe Joseph, who had 16 points in last year’s victory over Illinois, transferred and guard Al Nolen is out because of a broken foot.
However, Illinois has had trouble beating anybody on the road, having lost four in a row. In each of those setbacks, the Illini got off to a slow start. Whatever inspirational tactics Weber or the players tried before the game didn’t work. But perhaps the best motivator will be the looming threat of ending the season early.
“We tried a lot of things, we just have to realize that we have a game,” Tisdale said. “We’ve been in too many close games now where if we had started out better we could have won.”
