Illini Bracketology: Where Is Illinois Projected in NCAA Tournament?

Illinois (20-10, 12-7) is projected as a 6 to 8-seed in 2020 NCAA tournament, its first NCAA bid since 2013.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The scenario is simple for Illinois (20-10, 12-7) in terms of the Big Ten tournament. Win in the regular season finale vs. Iowa in front of the State Farm Center crowd and the Illini guarantee itself the final double-bye in the tournament. Lose to the Hawkeyes and Illinois will need to win four games in four days to win the event and get the automatic bid in the NCAA tournament.  

The NCAA tournament picture is still very much clouded for the Illini in terms of seeding while they're currently forecasted by nearly all of the national projectors with a single-digit seed and most of these projected NCAA tournament fields were published this morning. 

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Here are Illinois’ NCAA tournament resume information as of today: 

NET Ranking: 37 

Quadrant 1 Record (Home vs. 1-30; Neutral vs. 1-50; Away vs. 1-75): 5-8 

Quadrant 2 Record (Home vs. 31-75; Neutral vs. 51-100; Away vs. 76-135): 4-1 

Quadrant 3 Record (Home vs. 76-160; Neutral vs. 101-200; Away vs. 136-240): 2-1 

Quadrant 4 Record (Home vs. 161-353; Neutral vs. 201-353; Away vs. 241-353): 8-0 

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Here are where the Illini are currently projected according to several of the most noteworthy bracket projectors: 

Shelby Mast - USA Today - Mast’s operation updates his bracket every morning and currently has the Illini as a 7-seed playing Florida (19-11, 11-6 in Southeastern Conference) in Albany, New York with Seton Hall as the 2-seed.  

NOTE: Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams, Illinois has only been a 7-seed once in school history and it was their last selection in 2013. John Groce’s Illini team defeated Colorado 57-49 in Austin, Texas before losing 63-59 to 2-seed Miami (Fla.). The matchup with Florida would be the Lon Kruger Bowl as the current Oklahoma head coach left the Gators program to take over the Illini after the Lou Henson retirement.  

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Joe Lunardi - ESPN - Lunardi's newest bracket released Monday morning has Illinois as an 7-seed in Cleveland, Ohio against Texas (19-11, 9-8 in Big 12 Conference) with Dayton as the 2-seed. 

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Jerry Palm - CBS Sports - Palm released a new bracket projection this morning and has Illinois as a 7-seed in Albany vs. Stanford (20-10, 9-8 in Pac 12 Conference) with Villanova being the No. 2 seed. 

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Mike DeCourcey - Fox Sports - In his first year doing bracket projections, DeCourcey has the Illini as a 7-seed playing East Tennessee State (24-4, 16-2 in Southern Conference. 

NOTE: East Tennessee State head coach Steve Forbes, a former assistant coach under Bruce Pearl at Tennessee, slogged his ETSU team through a snowstorm in 2018 to play the Illini. In Brad Underwood's first season, the Illini defeated ETSU 73-55 on Dec. 15, 2018.

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Tim Krueger - Stadium - Krueger has Illinois as a 7-seed in Greensboro, North Carolina against Arizona State (19-11, 10-7 in Atlantic 10 Conference) with Duke as the 2-seed. 

NOTE: The Illini have only played Arizona State once since 1976: a 77-54 win in the 2007 Maui Invitational. Illinois has played Duke in Greensboro before: a 78-77 loss to the Blue Devils on Nov. 28, 2000.