Want to purchase today's print edition? Here's a map of single-copy locations.
Sign up for our daily newsletter here
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team:
The start of championship week comes with national media outlets weighing in on the various conference championships. Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde went through the favorites, dark horses and weirdest teams in various conferences.
To no surprise, Forde had Illinois as the weirdest team in the Big Ten.
"It’s a weird league overall, but the Illini lead the way," Forde wrote. "They have been all over the map this season, vacillating between inspired and listless—often within the same game. As one of the nation’s worst shooting teams from three-point range and the foul line, they’re a tough pick to go very far this month."
The folks at CBS Sports also broke down some conference tournaments. Most of the votes for Big Ten tournament favorite went to Purdue and Indiana. Gary Parrish, of course, picked Illinois as his dark horse candidate as tournament champion. That might not bode well for the Illini.
It's known that the @EyeOnCBBPodcast doesn't have many guests. But friend of the pod @TomFornelli felt he had to step in to defend his alma mater from @GaryParrishCBS https://t.co/SJjfJlZhYH pic.twitter.com/E6ZuGN51c5
— Eye On College Basketball Podcast (@EyeOnCBBPodcast) March 3, 2023
