Will the Illinois men's basketball team make it to the NCAA tournament?

Unfortunately, they didn't make it. I've been following this team the whole year and they are an extremely inconsistent team. This team has talent, there is no doubt about it, with McCamey as one of the top assist men in the nation, and with the emergence of Richardson and Paul as well as one of the better centers in Mike Tisdale, you would think that this team should at least make it into the tourney.

Yet, a number of problems arose during the season as at times this team had no D, and at times this team cannot score to save its life. One of the most striking problems throughout the season was that this team has no leader on its team. McCamey, despite being a good player, is no leader.

And this exemplified itself in the two horrible losses that Illinois had against Bradley and Utah, two teams that Illinois should definitely not have lost to. These two losses, along with the mInnisota loss that Illinois endured at home late in the season as well as a stretch in which Illinois lost 6 of its last 8 games, pretty much cost Illinois the tournament. With this being said, they finished the season at 19-14, respectable, but not enough to make it to the tourney.

I don't know if the Illini have the resume to get in when you get right down to it. Yes, they made it to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, but they had a pair of golden chances to win it, both at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime. Losses to Bradley, Georgia, Utah, and Northwestern, all lower than 105th in RPI, definitely tarnish their mark.

The inability to win nonconference games on the road (1-1 in neutral sites, 0-4 on the road) hurts as well. Eight of their wins came against teams ranked below 200 in the RPI. Those kinds of numbers don't look good on paper.19-14, 10-8 in the Big Ten spells three letters for Illinois the way I see it...NIT.

I don't know if the Illini have the resume to get in when you get right down to it. Yes, they made it to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, but they had a pair of golden chances to win it, both at the end of regulation and the end of the first overtime. Losses to Bradley, Georgia, Utah, and Northwestern, all lower than 105th in RPI, definitely tarnish their mark.

The inability to win nonconference games on the road (1-1 in neutral sites, 0-4 on the road) hurts as well. Eight of their wins came against teams ranked below 200 in the RPI. Those kinds of numbers don't look good on paper.

19-14, 10-8 in the Big Ten spells three letters for Illinois the way I see it...NIT.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.