Illini Lose to Arkansas in 1st Round of NCAA, 73-63

By Jeff Mayfield

[April 04, 2023] 

The stage was set for the Illini to turn their season around and salvage what had been a disappointing end to the season. It did not get better in Des Moines. Too many turnovers, shots wouldn’t fall, and too many breakdowns led to another disappointing performance.

Illinois got off to their typical slow start and you knew at some point that would come back to haunt this team. Today was that day. When you have as many breakdowns as this team has had, and struggle shooting the rock like this group has, positive outcomes are hard to come by.

We try to be positive and encouraging and so that’s what we do. But we also have the responsibility to report what we witness. It could be deep inside these guys hearts, but we haven’t seen the clutch gene in this group.

Hard to put your finger on it. Don’t know if we’re just not ready to play or what it is. Remember in our near past we were an older, very experienced ball club. This team on the other hand was a combination of transfer portal guys, freshmen, and the guys coming back. For a while it seemed to mesh, and it looked like it was coming together. However, the evidence of the last few weeks indicates that once this team got into a funk, they got stuck and never got out of it. In fact, over the last 11 games the Illini were only 4-7 and that’s not going to move the needle very much at all.

We could give you lots of stats and diagram this game from several different angles but it won’t really help you understand it any better. This team is a fundamentally and fatally flawed unit and just could never get out of its own way.

We can’t even think about next season yet. The grief is just too unbearable right now.

But let’s not totally diss this team. It had some wonderful moments along the way. The big wins over UCLA and Texas were great. So were the Big Ten wins over Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Michigan-they were also magical.

After this team lost so many players from last year’s roster this season could have been a .500 campaign. Instead, you had another 20-game winner and have one of only 19 teams nationwide that made the NCAA tourney for a fourth straight time (and yes, we know Covid cancelled the dance one year).

So, what to make of this team? Some would call them good, okay, or even mediocre. They had some great moments, but they had some sad ones too. When it was all said and done they were a mirage. Many of us saw great potential…but, it was never fully realized. Some might be devastated, but it’s always fun to take the adventure cause you never really know how it’s gonna turn out!

This group was confounding and at times maddening. But I loved this team anyway and I guess I always will!
Go Illini!

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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