Chicago Sun-Times Sports Columnist Steve Greenberg joined Springfield's Morning News to preview the NCAA Tournament.
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I wanted to talk through some of the big tournament stories with Steve Greenberg, sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Steve, good morning. How are you? Good morning, Patrick. I'm looking outside at my car as I sit here in Chicago and realize I'm going to have to dig out before I drive up to Milwaukee. It is insane. It is insane. I'm going to try to do it with a smile because it's tournament day, but there might be some foul language muttered under my breath.

Well, let's start with Milwaukee. Since that's where Illinois is playing tomorrow night, they'll have their shoot-around and media stuff today in the game late tomorrow night. I think almost a 9 o'clock start tomorrow night. They're going to get Xavier, who beat Texas last night in the first four game that went kind of late. I...

I'm calling them the Mousketeers just because I want to intimidate both of their fans. But certainly Xavier is going to be a challenge. I mean, they put up 86 points last night against a pretty decent Texas team. This is not an easy first-round matchup for Illinois. Well, Xavier went 13-7 in the Big East. That's nothing to sneeze at. You can't fake 13-7 in the Big East.

It's not a ranked team all season. It's not a powerhouse team this year, but they're good. And they've got Sean Miller coaching, and he's good. This is a dangerous game for Illinois, which is itself not a –

consistent outfit. The line I have done well kind of off of these recent embarrassing losses, you know, came back well from Duke, for example. And I think getting to practice for a handful of days is always really appealing to Brad Underwood. He feels like he, I think he feels like what he's good at

in season especially, you know, not talking about recruiting, but what he's really skilled at maybe is getting a team refocused in practice, upping the intensity, because that's what was missing against Maryland completely. So I think it's a decent, you know, matchup-wise, it's good, fine for Illinois. But there's something I tweeted last night and, of course, got accused of clickbait, right?

Which I'm not even completely sure I know what that... You're so biased, Steve. What that implies. But a first four team that wins goes on and wins again. Essentially every single year. And if you look back, it's almost every year since the first four became a thing. And it's not the 16 seeds.

It's the 11s or sometimes it's 10s. It's the Xavier's or it's North Carolina. Those are the two teams that won. You know, it's coincidence to an extent. Of course, they could both lose. Carolina has Ole Miss. Xavier has Illinois. But it's likely one of those teams is going to win again. So just pointing that out.

Steve Greenberg from the Chicago Sun-Times joins us here on 92.7 WMAY. The thing that's annoyed me with this Illinois team all season, and we had our friend Brian Barnhart on the other day and we were talking about this, that this is just the most Jekyll and Hyde team I've ever seen as someone who's been an Illinois basketball fan since I was playing in a sandbox, right? I mean, it's...

the go beat Oregon by 30 and then lose to Duke by 40, go score 106 in the Big Ten tournament and lay an egg the next day against Maryland. I don't know what team we're going to get tomorrow. And that's one of the things that, one, is out of character for a Brad Underwood team, and two, is just so incredibly frustrating. But it's not inaccurate. And by and large, those teams tend not to be the best teams.

The best teams are the ones you feel like, you know, you can hang your hat on. You know, you're going to get their a game at this time of year. Cause that's the composition of the group. That's the majority team last year, right? It was, it was the most consistent Illinois team since the final 14. That's right. I think it comes down to, um, to, to age, um, big believer in, in being old in March. If you can be, it's why I don't have Duke in the final four Duke has, uh,

lottery picks, maybe three of them in their, in its freshman class, including obviously the number one pick in Cooper flag, but these are freshmen Cooper flag reclassified. He's, he should be a senior in high school. The effort level that everybody brings as this tournament progresses is so intense. And that's why we see,

so many upsets, but the crazy upsets, the Cinderella upsets, those teams are unfailingly old 23 year old guys in the COVID time, some 24 year old guys. And, and ideally teams that have had some continuity. So Illinois of course has no continuity because it's an all new roster, but you've got as far as Yaka Jones has been the, the, the,

least consistent of all the players on Illinois over the past several weeks and he's arguably and reputedly their best player but you know all these turnovers and a seeming lack of confidence and in significant stretches of important games and all that so you don't know what you're going to get um I think that uh you're right that this team's inconsistent and

I don't know if that will be the Illini's undoing in this tournament because they could lose any game. It could be the first one. It could be the Kentucky game if it comes to that matchup in the next round. If it gets as far as the Sweet 16 and you're talking about a rematch with Tennessee, I do think in spite of how close the first game was, Tennessee's the kind of physical team that Illinois maybe doesn't want to play. So I don't think it projects in the rosiest way.

way for this team, but Underwood has claimed all year that the ceiling is final four high. If he ends up delivering on that, you know, it's going to be a hell of a story. And talent-wise, you can't count this team out until it loses. And with the way tickets are flying, imagine the atmosphere for an Illinois-Kentucky second round game. Right. I think it would be, as I said, Elite Eight-like. The

intensity of those two fan bases, not just how much they care. And I say this with love, how much they complain, how aggrieved they are while watching a game. I mean, Illinois fans are one. The refs hate us. They get angry at every whistle, but Kentucky fans are apoplectic at every whistle. Every whistle is an attack on all they stand for.

Steve Greenberg from the Chicago Sun-Times for another couple of minutes. Give me a number one seed that gets bounced first. I don't have Auburn getting through. I don't have Duke getting through. But I'll say Auburn has a tough game in the second round no matter what because it's Creighton. They've got Ryan Kalkbrenner, a great seven-footer. They've got great shooting. They've got McDermott coaching who's

you know, he's so good. And then it could be Louisville instead of Louisville is one of something like a million games in a row up until it lost in the ACC tournament. So Auburn, which, you know, doesn't have any tournament pedigree could go out first. You could go out first, but I'll pick on the number one overall seat. Interesting. Who's your, what's your lowest seed to win in the first round?

Uh, that's a, that's a good one. I I'd have to look at my, my bracket again to, I feel like I might have picked the 13, but I know I picked this UC San Diego against Michigan. Interesting. That's, that's a five 12 where, which is a traditional upset. Yeah. Right. That's a traditional upset. And, and, um, you know, I think, uh, Drake, I believe Drake's an 11 off top of my head. I really liked Drake against Missouri, although, uh,

I'll be honest, part of it is just to tweak my son who graduated from Missouri and really doesn't like that I picked him in the paper. You could have given him better advice, Steve. I took Akron to 13 over four in Arizona. Yeah, well, Arizona has a history, doesn't it? Sure does. And that would be wild because the MAAC hasn't done so well in the –

in March, but yes, Arizona has proved over years. It could lose to anybody. All right. And see, before we get you out of here, who do you have winning at all? I have Houston. I just don't think there's a team in the, is that a Kelvin? That's a Kelvin Sampson thing.

I hate him. I hate him. Yeah, in their bracket that could beat the Cougars until the Elite Eight round. So I'll take my chances with a team that went 19-1 in the Big 12. Three of four losses overall were in overtime this season. And the other one was to Auburn in a game the Cougars led with two minutes to go. So they've been the hardest team to beat all year. And to your Samson dislike, I understand it from an Eric Gordon standpoint,

Oh, yeah. But as far as the act itself of making...

impermissible phone calls. When you sort of look at that through a 2025 lens, I said, it's about as egregious as giving a player milk and cookies. I still don't like Bruce Pearl either. So, you know, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll go there. I took, so, so I, I did my bracket. I did one bracket, just like a family competition, because if you haven't played Illinois this year, I have not watched it with a, with a three-year-old and a three-month-old in my house. I'm not watching a lot of college basketball in my spare time. So I took Duke.

but now you have me reevaluating all of my life choices, Steve. So it's – I think this tournament is wide open, though, and that's one of the few – I'm like, last year we knew Connecticut was the favorite. I don't think we know who the favorite is right now. No, there isn't a team like that this year. I also –

We'll just add quickly, I love Michigan State. I love their path, but also the makeup of the team. So I do have them in the title game. And last year, I picked Purdue over UConn going in. I got it wrong, but I had the right two teams. So I'm on a semi-streak.

That's pretty good. Steve Greenberg from the Chicago Sun-Times. He'll be up in Milwaukee. Fiserv Forum is awesome. I've seen a concert and the Republican National Convention there. So it's a great facility, and I think a lot of fans who make the trip up will really enjoy it. So, Steve, we appreciate it. Look forward to seeing your stuff in the Sun-Times, and hopefully we can catch up later on in the tournament if you don't mind. All right. Glad to join you. Take care.