Illinois basketball: 2019-20 season review and 2020-2021 early preview

CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS - DECEMBER 14: Head coach Brad Underwood talks with Trent Frazier #1 and Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Illinois Fighting Illini in the game against the Old Dominion Monarchs at State Farm Center on December 14, 2019 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

4 of 5

Brad Underwood of the Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

How did Illinois do this season?

I am convinced Illinois’ season has to be qualified as a strong success. The Illini went just 12-21 a year ago so the fact that Brad Underwood basically flipped his team’s record is a tremendous accomplishment.

This Illinois team was a very young one and it experienced its fair share of growing pains. That is an expected thing with a group filled with freshmen and sophomores playing key roles, but Illinois got stronger as the team gained more experience.

The Illini were peaking at the right time, winning five of their last six games entering the Big Ten Tournament, and their resume was good enough to secure a bid to the NCAA Tournament. Most experts had Illinois somewhere between the 7-10 lines, but a good showing in the conference tournament could have bumped the Illini up a bit.

The next logical question would be to consider how Illinois would have fared in the NCAA Tournament, which logically depends on what kind of matchup they would have drawn. This does seem like a bit of a copout, but Illinois was a team that showed some serious highs on one day and could look completely overmatched on another.

The sheer talent on the Illini roster would have likely led to a first-round win, but asking this group to get to the second weekend was a tall order. Illinois’ season was a success since they were going to snap their tournament drought but there likely wasn’t much more to expect out of this group beyond what they had already accomplished.