Illinois' Will Riley, right, advances the ball against Purdue's Fletcher Loyer, left, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Champaign, Ill.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood’s blood pressure was likely trending the wrong way when the Illini trailed Purdue by 10 points midway through the second half Friday night in Champaign.

But their comeback to an 88-80 victory over the No. 18 Boilermakers –- capped by a 13-1 closing push –- gave them their third straight victory since suffering their 110-67 humiliation against Duke in New York City.

Underwood believes his team is regaining confidence just in time for postseason play.

“It grew a lot after tonight,” Underwood said. “Really, to be very honest, it grew a lot tonight. Just simply the confidence to win a close game when things are really, really hard against an unbelievably good opponent and a team that has the best offense in the league to get stops when you need 'em. To find enough moxie when you're down four or five and to make plays?

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“Man, my confidence is really high. I wouldn't have maybe said that Monday.”

Illinois heads into the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 7 seed, looking to some damage to improve its seeding for the NCAA Tournament. The Illini want to avoid the dreaded No. 8-9 game in the NCAA bracket and gain a better path to the second weekend of the Big Dance.

With their late surge, the Illini improved to 8-9 in Quad 1 games and 6-2 in Quad 2 games. Like Missouri, they have no bad losses in Quad 3 and Quad 4.

Drake couldn’t count on the NCAA selection committee to give it an at-large berth. So the Missouri Valley Conference’s regular season champion rolled to the Arch Madness title to win the league’s automatic berth.

At 30-3, they will be a dangerous team in the NCAA Tournament.

Bulldogs coach Ben McCollum’s star has been rising in his first season above the Division II level. What if he scores a big upset or two to continue an MVC tradition?

Other mid-majors on Cinderella Watch are automatic berth winners High Point (29-5 in the Big South) and Lipscomb (25-9 in the ASUN).

Joe Lunardi, ESPN.com: “Auburn lost its second straight game on Saturday at Alabama, which is a headline only because it hasn't happened very often this season. Regardless of the final regular-season record, it has been a remarkable year for the Tigers, who still enter Champ Week as the runaway No. 1 NCAA tournament seed. Against the nation's top-ranked schedule, they are 23 games above .500 (27-4) -- a staggering accomplishment, especially when you consider more than 60% of their games have come against Q1 competition. They are 15-4 in those games, including 6-2 on the road. Their only losses are against teams ranked Nos. 1, 4, 6 and 20 in the NET. And their campaign is arguably the greatest regular season since Kentucky arrived at the 2015 Final Four 38-0. We know those Wildcats didn't quite reach the finish line, and maybe Auburn won't, either. But what we have witnessed should not be forgotten.”

Kyle Boone, CBSSports.com: “Duke is poised to snap Auburn's eight-week stint at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll Monday after Auburn went 0-2 for the first time in a week since last January and Duke secured a perfect week highlighted by a road win over rival North Carolina on Saturday to extend its winning streak to eight games. The Blue Devils have hovered at No. 2 for five weeks during Auburn's eight-week stretch at No. 1 while biding their time to pounce on a noteworthy Auburn slip-up, which Saturday's loss to Alabama -- Auburn's second-straight after falling at Texas A&M on Tuesday -- likely will qualify as. It will make Duke the fourth team this college basketball season to earn the No. 1 ranking after Kansas, Tennessee and Auburn all enjoyed multi-week stints at various points occupying the top spot. It will serve as an arrival point for Duke under third-year coach Jon Scheyer as the first time it summits the rankings under his watch; its last ascension to No. 1 came in Week 4 of the 2021-22 season under then-head coach Mike Krzyzyewski. That change isn't likely the only significant shakeup coming Monday in the final rankings of the regular season. Florida, St. John's and Michigan State are all positioned to potentially move up as well after Tennessee stumbled Wednesday.”

Ryan Young, Yahoo! Sports: “The Tigers aren't the only great team in the SEC. Florida ended the year winning nine of its last 10 games to finish in second in the conference, and it lost just four times all year. The Gators beat Auburn convincingly in Alabama, too. Tennessee, despite slipping at Ole Miss last week, won five of its last six and beat Florida by 20 points last month while hanging in at the top of the conference. The Crimson Tide were right there, too, though they dropped two of their last three to Tennessee and Florida before beating Auburn on Saturday. Alabama may be the least convincing of this group to challenge Auburn for the title. The SEC tournament, however, is very much up for grabs.”

Neil Paine, ESPN.com: “A couple of losses to end the regular season -- against Arkansas and then Georgia on Saturday -- have made Vanderbilt's tournament future less secure than it seemed earlier this month, dropping the Commodores from 91% to 74% in the ESPN forecast and taking them meaningfully away from what once seemed like "lock" territory. Their recent schedule has been brutal, with Arkansas being their only loss to a non-Quad I opponent since early January. Vanderbilt's SOR and WAB rankings still hover around the mid-30s, making for a résumé that looks like it will probably be enough to warrant inclusion among the SEC's mammoth crop of NCAA tourney teams, though the Commodores now rank behind bubble-dwelling Arkansas in NET. They might not be able to afford an early SEC tournament letdown.”

Jerry Palm, CBSSports.com: “Texas is in an even bigger hole – one they do not look like it can climb out of. The Longhorns are 17-14, 10-14 when you throw out Quad 4 games. If they win enough games this week to be an at-large team, they will be the SEC Tournament champion and win the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.”

“I would assume we’re in. I mean, we’re good, we’re good. Our whole league is good. And there’s going to be a bunch of teams in our league that make it and that do damage in the NCAA Tournament.”

Georgia coach Mike White.

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