Who Illini Fans Should Be Rooting Against In The Big Ten Tournament.

Having grown up an Illini fan around Illini fans, and living in Champaign and Urbana for some time now, I think I have a pretty good grasp on the fan base. We embrace success enthusiastically, but are constantly dogged by paranoia and insecurity, something that let downs in the Final Four and a couple high profile  questionable NCAA probation will do to a fan base. (Hey just because we think everybody is out to get us, doesn't mean they're not out to get us.)

So with that in mind, I would like to address the prevalent anxiety that is running through most Illinois fan's head this week: "How can we screw this up and end up in the NIT again?" This isn't defeatist thinking, we are simply bracing ourselves for a let down, after feeling so burned last year on Selection Sunday.

There are, after all only so many tournament bids to go around, and while Illinois is currently the fourth best seed of six bids being projected for the Big Ten, that number could shrink, somebody could leap frog us, and we could be left at home cursing Cirque Du Soleil all over again.

If you are an Illini fan you really don't want to have another Minnesota fiasco this year. After the Illini dropped a home game to the Gophers in late February, Minnesota went all the way to the finals of the Big Ten Tournament, leap frogging the Illini and probably the chief cause of why Illinois was left out.

The Illini are in a less precarious spot this year, but aren't really out of the woods yet. With the four team tie up at 9-9, things could change very quickly. The educated Illinois fan will spend most of this week not only rooting for the Illini, but also against all the teams that could be out there trying to steal their bid.

Rule of Hate #1 Penn State.

Penn State is sitting on the same seed that the Gophers were last season, when they made a great run to the championship. PSU has the No. 11 seed Indiana Hoosiers, then Wisconsin, then probably Purdue standing in their way to Sunday. And that is just the thing, the Nittany Lions aren't in the field right now, but wins on Thursday Friday and Saturday would be more than enough to get them in ahead of either Michigan Michigan State or Illinois. Lets not forget also, they have Talor Battle, who will be playing for the chance to be in his only NCAA tournament, ever. He is a well documented terror, that seems to enjoy destroying the Illini, so why not have one more jab directed their way out the door?

Rule of Hate #2 Michigan State

This is all about bid number, and bid rank. The Illini have the best bid of all the fourth place tied teams heading into this weekend, while MSU is hanging on by a thread as an at large team according to our Bracketologist Chris Dobbertean. I will be the first one to tell you how awesome MSU and Izzo are and that they should probably make the tournament, but not at the cost of the Illini. If the Spartans advance to Saturday, they will do so by beating Iowa and Purdue, two teams that blew them out, probably more than enough to get them in the dance. If they make it to Saturday and the Illini don't though, they may leap frog them, and leave the Illini vulnerable as the sixth team among six bids. If that happens I will be staying up very late on Saturday night, rooting for the favorites to roll in all of the obscure conference tournaments.

Rule of Hate #3 Upsets on Thursday, Favorites on Friday.

The 7-11 seeds in the conference wont have a shot at the tournament unless they win the whole thing, but the teams they are playing, might. Thus I would love to see Iowa, Indiana and Minnesota advance on Thursday, only to get stomped by the top three on Friday. That way, no matter what happens between the Illini and Wolverines, they will both probably end up in the tournament, without worry.

Rule of Hate #4 Everywhere else, no surprises.

We already may have seen the bubble shrink as Indiana State upset Missouri State in the MVC tournament on Sunday, so everywhere else, I am rooting for chalk all the way through. Dobs currently has 20 conferences as one bidders, and that is exactly how I like it. Cinderella come from no where teams are great fun in March, unless you are the team that got edged out for them.