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Will Illinois make the NCAA Baseball Tournament? Everything to know

How to Watch the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Show

Last Game: 4-2 loss to Michigan in Big Ten Tournament Losers’ Bracket

How does the tournament work? (from NCAA.com)

Automatic bids will be won by 31 teams, while 33 at-large bids are up for grabs (no First Four in baseball, for you March Madness fans). These 64 teams are separated into 16 different four-team regionals, with teams seeded one through four to compete in a double-elimination format.

After the regional final, the champions
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Illinois clinches share of Big Ten regular season title

After a 9-4 victory over next-door neighbors Purdue on Friday, the Illinois Fighting Illini Baseball team has clinched a share of the Big Ten’s regular season title. It’s their first regular season title since 2015, when Dan Hartleb’s team won a school-record 50 games and hosted a NCAA regional in Champaign.

Heading into the weekend series against the Boilermakers, it was already clear that if the Illini won at least two games in the series, they’d secure at least a share of the regular season
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Illinois leads Big Ten entering regular season’s final weekend

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — With six games left in the regular season and a one-game lead on top of the Big Ten, Illinois had a simple job heading into its last home series of the year: Win.

Win out and you take the regular season title. Drop even one game and you’ll have a share of it. Drop two and you’re toying with your own destiny, with a quartet of teams just one game behind you in the standings.

Iowa, a team that needed a LOT to go right for them if they wanted any shot at the regular season title
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Terrence Shannon Jr. will stand trial in felony rape case

Terrence Shannon Jr. will stand trial on felony rape charges in Douglas County, Kansas, after a judge found probably cause in the case on Friday. Shannon was then arraigned and pleaded not guilty, according to multiple reports.

According to WCIA, his legal team released the following statement:

“Our legal team is neither shocked nor disappointed by the outcome of this event. A preliminary hearing is a procedural process that merely speaks to the threshold of evidence and whether a question of
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Croatian center Tomislav Ivisic commits to Illinois

On Monday, Brad Underwood and his staff picked up a BIG commitment.

Standing 7-foot-1, Tomislav Ivisic will be a freshman when he arrives at Illinois, but will be one of the biggest men on campus when he does so. He’s also the twin brother of the 7-foot-3 Zvonimir Ivisic, who played for a year under Orlando Antigua at Kentucky and has since transferred to Arkansas to follow John Calipari.

Born in 2003, Ivisic will turn 21 in August but has four years of eligibility remaining. Ivisic comes to I
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Rhode Island grad transfer Tenin Magassa commits to Illinois

Weeks after ending the season with the program’s first-ever postseason title in the inaugural WBIT, Shauna Green and her dug through the transfer portal in an effort to boost a 2024-25 push for the Big Dance.

Just two days after announcing the pickup of Mississippi State transfer guard Jasmine Brown-Hagger, the program announced the addition of graduate transfer Tenin Magassa from Rhode Island on Sunday.

The addition of Illinois native Brown-Hagger is a reunion of sorts, as Green’s staff had r
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Illinois’ Tip Reiman selected by Arizona Cardinals in NFL Draft

In the third round of Friday’s NFL Draft, Illinois Fighting Illini tight end Tip Reiman was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals (82nd overall).

A former walk-on, Reiman was the team’s top tight end in the 2023 season. He’d finish with 19 receptions for 203 yards and three touchdowns.

The 6-foot-5, 271-pound senior was also described as a solid blocking tight end and was projected to be drafted in the fourth round. NFL analyst Lance Zierlein said, “Reiman’s career will be defined by how he blocks,
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Marcus Domask out of eligibility, declares for 2024 NBA Draft

After deciding to “lawyer up” and file a waiver for a sixth year of eligibility, Marcus Domask has exhausted all of his eligibility at the college level, he announced via an Instagram post thanking Illini Nation.

“This past year was one of my most memorable years of my life and I want to thank all of you for making it so special. Thank you for being so welcoming to my family and I, making us feel at home since day one,” Domask shared in his post.

In his lone year at Illinois as a graduate tran
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Offensive takeaways from Illinois’ 2024 spring game

On an offense that replaces seven starters, there were several questions surrounding how well Illinois could get the ball downfield this fall.

With 41 points combined by the offensive units, questions were asked and answered on Saturday as the Blue and White teams drew 0-0 in a game that had no official scoring.

Leary was under center for the second-team offense White team, while Luke Altmyer started the game for the first-team offense Blue team. On the first exchange of offensive drives, the
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Orlando Antigua returning to Illinois as associate head coach

Orlando Antigua is returning to Illinois as an associate head coach on Brad Underwood’s staff after three years with John Calipari at Kentucky.

Antigua chose not to follow Calipari to his new job at Arkansas, and instead will return to Champaign to fill the role made vacant by Chester Frazier’s move to West Virginia. Got all that?

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Orlando back to our program,” Underwood said via a press release. “The addition of him to our staff is the latest step in elevatin
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Illinois assistant Chester Frazier leaving program for West Virginia

Just a few weeks removed from the beginning of its offseason, Illinois has lost over 80% of its scoring production and is now down an associate head coach.

After a few days of speculation, 247Sports’ Illini Inquirer first reported on Tuesday that assistant coach Chester Frazier would be leaving the program to take on the same position at West Virginia. The Mountaineers are in the midst of a rebuild and recently hired Drake head coach Darian DeVries.

It appears for the time being, Frazier — who
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Illinois forward Amani Hansberry enters transfer portal

After a season of promise as a reserve forward for Brad Underwood’s Illinois team, freshman forward Amani Hansberry has entered the transfer portal.

“After careful consideration and reflection I have decided it was the best decision for me to enter the transfer portal,” he said in his post Tuesday morning on X.

The announcement came one day after teammate Sencire Harris announced his intention to transfer.

The former four-star recruit committed to Illinois in August of 2022, and averaged 2.4
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Arizona transfer PG Kylan Boswell commits to Illinois

After being projected to lose around 86% of their scoring production from the 2023-24 season, the Illinois staff has worked quickly to fill the gaps in their squad.

On Sunday, Illinois landed its third transfer commitment of the offseason, this time picking up Arizona Wildcats point guard Kylan Boswell, who entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 9.6 points and 3.6 assists in 27 minutes per game for the Wildcats. Boswell shared the rock with senior guards Caleb Love
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Illinois big man Dain Dainja enters the transfer portal

After seeing a career renaissance of sorts, Illinois forward Dain Dainja has entered the transfer portal. He announced his decision via X on Monday.

In his post, he shared that he received his degree from the U of I, and will be entering the transfer portal.

The former 4-star recruit from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota had been playing arguably the best basketball of his Illinois as of late.

The junior transferred from Baylor in the middle of the 2021-22 season, playing in just three games before m
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Illinois lands Mercer transfer guard Jake Davis

Just two days after his program saw its 2023-24 season end at the hands of the UConn Huskies in the Elite Eight, Brad Underwood and his staff welcome the first transfer of their offseason.

Jake Davis, a 6-foot-6 guard from Mercer University, announced via his X that he committed to Illinois after spending just a year in Macon, Ga.

“Jake is an elite shooter,” said head coach Brad Underwood in a statement. “He has great size as a wing with the ability to shoot off the move and come off screens.
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Everything you need to know about the team standing between Illinois and a Final Four

If your head is still ringing from Thursday night, here’s the cure: You weren’t dreaming. Illinois is in the Elite Eight. After reaching the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2005, they’re headed to the regional finals for the first time since then.

Thursday’s game lived up to the billing. Illinois fought off Iowa State to continue dancing in what was touted as one of the most exciting matchups of the Sweet 16. The game had everything, a quick Illinois start, an Iowa State rally, Illini in
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Everything you need to know about the team standing between Illinois and an Elite 8

As is the case with most matchups from the second weekend onwards, Illinois’ next game will be a clash between two beasts. The best of the best. The best defense against the best offense.

Off the heels of victories over two mid-major conference champs, Illinois will take on the Big 12’s conference champion, the Iowa State Cyclones. It’s Illinois’ first time in the Sweet Sixteen since 2005, the year that Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head reached the national championship game.

If the Il
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Everything you need to know about the team standing between Illinois and a Sweet 16

It’d be harsh to blame you if you knew little to nothing about Morehead State before Illinois’ 16-point victory on Thursday. With the TSJ and Dain Dainja-inspired Illini escaping the Ohio Valley Conference champs, it’s time to look into another mid-major conference champ that you, in all likeliness, know little about.

The Illini will take on the Duquesne Dukes in the NCAA tournament's round of 32. TCR spoke with Tristan Freeman, a self-proclaimed basketball junkie from Pittsburgh (where Duquesn
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Everything you need to know about Illinois’ first-round opponent

It’s not your fault if you don’t know who the Morehead State Eagles are, so here’s a shot at getting you familiar with the Eagles.

They finished the season 26-8, the same record as Illinois, and clinched the Ohio Valley Conference’s lone bid by winning the tournament as the No. 3 seed.

Preston Spradlin has led his program to four straight 20-win seasons for the first time in school history. The Eagles’ 26 wins are also a program-record.

They’ve done all that without Mark Freeman, the reigning
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Illinois seeded for inaugural WBIT, will host Missouri State

Selection Sunday? Championship Sunday? Shannon Sunday? Whatever you want to call it, it was a good one for both of Illinois’ basketball programs.

The women’s team has been invited to play in the inaugural Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT), and its opening-round matchup against Missouri State will be at State Farm Center.

They are a No. 4 seed in the same corner of the bracket as the No. 1 overall seed James Madison, meaning they were the last team to be seeded — the committee p
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Shannon, Domask among four Illini with All-Big Ten honors

On Tuesday, the Big Ten Conference released its postseason honors for the 2023-24 season.

After a 23-8 campaign that saw the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for Illini fans, three of the biggest names responsible for the team’s success were named to that honor roll.

In his fourth year as an Illini, senior Coleman Hawkins has earned the first All-Big Ten honor of his career, being named to the conference’s Third Team. The Sacramento native enjoyed a campaign that saw him average 12.9 po
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Four Illini recognized in postseason All-Big Ten honors

After a 14-14 finish to the regular season, four players of Illinois’ women’s basketball team were named in the Big Ten’s 2023-24 Postseason Honors, voted by Big Ten coaches and Big Ten media.

Senior guard Makira Cook was named to the All-Big Ten 2nd team by both coaches and media. The Cincinatti native is averaging 15.5 points and 4.2 assists on 38/31/87 shooting. In the 2022-23 season, she was named to the 1st team last year by coaches and media. She was also a WBCA and Associated Press honor
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Where Terrence Shannon Jr.’s legal case stands — and what’s next

In black-and-white basketball terms, Terrence Shannon Jr.’s temporary restraining order suit was the final act of a long legal dispute that allowed him back on the court.

Away from the shining lights of the court, Shannon’s day in court is still yet to come.

The Champaign Room recently spoke with Mitch Gilfillan, an attorney based in Peoria and former basketball player at Lehigh, who has been knee-deep in uncovering key details of TSJ’s legal battle in Kansas on X.

Since his reinstatement to
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Illinois OLB coach Charlie Bullen returning to NFL

Just over a year after joining the program from the NFL, coach Charlie Bullen is headed back to coach in the pros.

On Wednesday, the New York Giants announced that the Illinois outside linebackers coach and pass rush coordinator would join its staff in the same position. Bullen has 11 years of coaching experience in the NFL, including four years with the Arizona Cardinals before eventually joining Bret Bielema’s staff last January.

Bullen’s exit now requires Bielema to address three coaching v
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