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The opinion of this site will not change, but when you're excited about Illini hoops, you overlook the meaninglessness. You obsess. Thus, I cheer because Joey Brackets and his fake brackets are currently gentle.
We're a 10-seed.
Illinois resume includes an RPI top 20 win (Missouri) and two top 100 wins in UNLV and Indiana, the latter of which you have to believe will improve as the Big Ten season advances. The remainder of the wins fall into the RPI +150 category.
The eyesore of the resume, obviously, is the loss to Georgia Tech, who per RPI, is worse than Valparaiso. That'll hurt come March when the selection committee decides your worth. And to Lunardi, it's clearly the reason our seed (10) is higher than our RPI (9). Take consolation, though: it's all fake.
The fake seeding has Illinois in a fake matchup with UCLA in the fake West bracket, reigned over by probably-true-to-life No. 1 seed, Arizona.
Other Big Ten teams in Joey's dance:
Ohio St. Buckeyes: 1-seed
Wisconsin Badgers: 1-seed
Michigan St. Spartans: 2-seed
Iowa Hawkeyes: 6-seed
Michigan Wolverines: 8-seed
Minnesota Golden Gophers: 11-seed
Not Selected: Indiana Hoosiers, Purdue Boilermakers, Penn St. Nittany Lions, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Northwestern Wildcats.
