Where We Stand

No, this isn't Where Do We Stand. There isn't an IlliniBoard NERDstats Index included in this post. That's for during the regular season. That exists to tell us where we might end up on Selection Sunday.

We're past Selection Sunday now, so we fully know Where We Stand. We are a 3-seed. An entire year of me writing "this team has the makings of a 2-seed" and dreaming of staying in my old neighborhood back in St. Louis for the first two rounds... and we blow it on the final weekend. Or, perhaps stated more accurately, Purdue took it.

I think it's important to understand the Purdue did take it because of the results of the Big Ten Tournament. There's always this big debate over whether the postseason tournaments matter. Well, if you stuck around after the bracket was revealed to listen to the Committee chair on CBS, he stated it very plainly. Purdue had been #11 on their seed list (which would have meant Illinois in St. Louis) on Friday. They then "scrubbed up" (the NCAA Committee calls the method of adjusting the bracket "scrubbing") to #8 with the Big Ten Tournament results and that gave them St. Louis and the 2-seed.

And we didn't even get shuffled off to Buffalo. We were sent to Greenville, South Carolina. Here is where I tell you that I won't be there.

On Thursday I wrote about my friend/former coworker passing away. His funeral is Saturday at 1:00 pm in St. Louis. Had we been placed in St. Louis, I would have covered the tournament games Friday and Sunday and attended the funeral on Saturday. But we were sent to Greenville, and I need to be in St. Louis.

Fear not, faithful readers - Tyler will be in Greenville covering both games for IlliniBoard. And I'll have other eyes and ears on the ground in South Carolina. But as far as me covering the 1st and 2nd round games, that won't be the case in 2026. I'll probably leave St. Louis and head to Houston to await our arrival.

This is good news, of course. You might remember that after our first round win over Morehead State in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, I had to leave Omaha and drive to St. Louis for a family issue. So I watched our only get-past-the-first-weekend win since 2005 on television. I will be watching our 2nd round game this year... on television.

But this isn't about me. This is Where We Stand going in to the NCAA Tournament. And here's where I'm at: