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Talk to me when March Madness arrives. Wins in January do nothing but help you get to the Big Dance. Tournament teams are rarely the same teams they were in January.

While true that they are only helping get them into the Big Dance, those wins DO show off the potential of some of these teams. Any team who knocks off two unbeatens (at 10-0 or better, as Nova did) by 20+ points each and takes another to the wire on the road is showing me that they can be a dangerous team in March. Not Final Four caliber or anything but they could make a run to the Sweet 16.

Yes! I jinxed Kansas! I know I always rag on Duke but if there were any Jayhawk fans here, I'd rag on them even more. Losing Bill Self a couple of years ago while we were building something special really hurt.

I think the games now do mean a lot. Some teams are fighting for a place in the tournament while others are fighting for seeds. I also love college basketball because you can see a David beat a Goliath on any given night. If the Illini were to finish the season with 1 or 2 losses and got a #1 seed, their road to the Final Four could possibly go through Indianapolis and then Chicago. The Final Four is in St. Louis. Those 3 sites are all within 150 miles of our campus and we have large fan bases in each of the cities. For card, I'm sure you'd love to get those first games at Charlotte.

When it comes to March, you have to play the games but being close to home is a big boost.

Very good point victory. Those top few seeds getting the games close to home the first few rounds is big. So I guess we're down to our two teams and Boston College? With Duke traveling to Florida State, who is on a high after beating Wake there a few days ago (BTW, Wake had a good win at Cincy today as well) and BC traveling to St. John's coming off their upset of Pittsburgh, we'll see who else is still standing at the end of the day. Illinois has a tough test as well on Tuesday at Wisconsin, so all three undefeateds face some significant tests this week. We'll see how they all respond.

Well Duke passed their test tonight quite well...88-56 over FSU. Definitely the best all around game they've played this year. They shot 55% while holding FSU to 33% shooting. JJ Redick has 31 points and Shelden had 11 points and 13 rebounds to lead them. Next up is Maryland on Wednesday I believe.

Boston College also passed their test, beating St. Johns 79-73. There were a couple interesting games tonight: Georgia Tech fell at home to Virginia Tech, 70-69, when Ishma'il Muhammad missed two free throws with a couple seconds left. Also, Pittsburgh knocked off UCONN in Storrs with an impressive second half run, 86-76. Pitt trailed big for most of the first half, by 17 at one point I believe, and trailed 43-32 at the half. Conference play is really starting to heat up and we're really only 5 weeks from the start of conference tourneys.

Well, the big game between the Illini and the Badgers was looking great for a while until the Badgers decided to fold here in the last few minutes. Missing wide open threes, wide open layups, less than 50% FTs, Illinois got by this one by being purely a more disciplined team than Wisconsin. Congrats victory on a good win for your team. Duke's shot at getting to #1 this season is effectively over.

I liked the poise the team showed today. When they were down 8, they didn't panic and came back to win in the end. I know a lot of Illini fans who were probably a lot more nervous than the players themselves. I think the Illini will get by Minnesota at home but a week from now, there's a game at the Breslin Center.

I just hope oklahoma state pulls out of they're funk REAL QUICK

they lost to texas and oklahoma last week

WHo knows they could be ranked one hundred like this post by the finals



sorry GG i just wanted to do one to see if there was a special feel to it

Going out on a limb here, but I see UNC in the championship game. I'm in no means a tarheel, but they've got a heck of a team. Ill. also looks very tough. Don't count out my Crimson Tide either though. Depending on which team shows up, they could surprise some folks!

Yeah, I saw the way the Crimson Tide made a mockery of Mississippi State back a month or so ago...anything can happen when a team gets hot and Bama can catch fire with the best of them.

Illinois and UNC appear to be the teams to beat IMO as well, the talent level on those teams is amazing. When they get hot they can lay a hurting on anyone. Illinois should enter the tournament undefeated this season, although the Big Ten is not so strong this year, but still an impressive feat. The next level below those two includes, IMO again, Kansas, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Duke (so long as we don't have to play Maryland anymore ), Syracuse, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Connecticut, and Washington, in that order as far as I see them lining up for the NCAA Tourney.

Also, there are some very tough teams who may well end up with middle seeds due to their conference records, such as Villanova, Georgia Tech, and Maryland. I don't think any 1 or 2 seed wants to face any of those teams as a 7 or 8 see, which they each may very well end up as once the tournament begins. I can't wait for March!

I agree with that except for how Ga Tech has been playing this whole season, almost lethargic. Like they've got nothing to play for after making it to the c'ship game last year. They've lost to some teams that they maybe shouldn't have. (i.e. Va Tech, Gonzaga) Granted, the Zags may have a good team, IMO they shouldn't beat a team like GT. I guess overall, I've been a little disappointed with GT this season.

True, although their recent downturn has coincided with the loss of their best player, B.J. Elder, to that hamstring injury in the Kansas game. With him they become a totally different team as he is a very potent offensive threat to go with Jack who is also a pretty tough player to guard and Bynum who is a very good shooter. If they get hot they can cause one of the aforementioned teams a lot of trouble. They took Kansas right to the wire in Lawrence this year, and probably should have won (they were up 17 I believe before Kansas charged back).

Yeah, you are right on about Elder, who is back but still not at 100%. I guess with the team they had returing this season and their "dream" run through the tourney last season, I kinda set the bar a little high for them this year. How about a team like Pacific getting nationally ranked? I forgot about another potential bracket buster team. They put out #1 seed Kentucky last year, and are pretty darn good this year; UAB. They are another team that's really fun to watch. They go all out, pressing the entire game.