Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan and Illinois are top seeds for tourney.
No. 3 Illinois accomplished one major goal. The next one will be even more difficult.
No. 3 No. 9 Illinois 91, Ohio State 88 (OT)
As the Fighting Illini celebrated their first Big Ten Tournament title since 2005 with a 91-88 overtime victory over No. 9 Ohio State (21-9) on Sunday at Indianapolis, they quickly turned the focus to their No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the opportunity it presents.
“It was crazy, thinking about all the things we’ve accomplished and knowing how I came on my visit with coach (Brad) Underwood and I told him these are the things we can accomplish,” Ayo Dosunmu said after being named the tourney’s Most Outstanding Player. “So to get up there, cut that net down and see that No. 1 seed come up there, it’s just an unreal feeling.”
Especially given the oddities of this season.
Despite playing the regular season in front of minimal fans, the Illini (23-6) hoisted the trophy underneath the mid-court video board and watched the selection show with a throng of loud, orangeclad fans inside Lucas Oil Stadium. It all seemed perfectly aligned for the deep and versatile Illini.
Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn and Andre Curbello all scored 16 points.
No. 6 Alabama 80, LSU 79: At Nashville, Tenn., Herbert Jones drove for a goahead layup with 19.5 seconds and the Crimson Tide (24-6) won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1991, holding off a late flurry to edge LSU (18-9).
No. 7 Houston 91, Cincinnati 54: At Fort Worth, Texas,
Quentin Grimes scored 21 points with five 3-pointers and the Cougars (24-3) beat Cincinnati (12-11) in the third consecutive American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game between the two teams.
St. Bonaventure 74, VCU 65: At Dayton, Ohio, Kyle Lofton scored 23 points and Osun Osunniyi scored 14 points with 12 rebounds as St. Bonaventure (16-4) beat VCU (19-7) in the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.
Colgate 85, Loyola (Maryland) 72: At Hamilton, N.Y., Tucker Richardson scored 17 points to lead Colgate (14-1) to a win over Loyola (Maryland) for the Patriot League Tournament championship.
Saturday’s late results
Grand Canyon 74, New Mexico State 56: Jovan Blacksher Jr. had 19 points as Grand Canyon (17-6) earned its first bid to the NCAA Tournament with a win over New Mexico State (12-8) in the Western Athletic Conference title game at Las Vegas.
Oregon State 69, Colorado 68: At Las Vegas, Maurice Calloo scored 15 points off the bench as Oregon State (17-12) beat Colorado (22-8) for its first Pac-12 title.
UCSB 79, UC Ir vine 63: At Las Vegas, JaQuori McLaughlin scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half to help the Gauchos (22-4) beat UC Irvine (18-9) and win the Big West Conference Tournament.
Notable
Colorado State, Saint Louis, Memphis and Ole Miss are the No. 1 seeds for the National Invitation Tournament. The four second seeds are Richmond, Davidson, Saint Mary’s and Boise State. The coronavirus pandemic reduced the field to 16 teams from the usual 32 and all games will be played in Texas.