Playing in Kofi Cockburn’s big shadow is something his Illinois teammates are accustomed to, and no one seems to mind.
Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu led the Illini to a Big Ten Tournament title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last year, and after Dosunmu left for the NBA it was no secret Illinois likely would live or die on the performance of their 7-foot All-America center.
But now there’s reason to believe the Illini can succeed without putting everything on Cockburn’s shoulders. Alfonso Plummer’s recent play suggests the rest of the Illini are more than just Kofi’s supporting cast.
Plummer hit six 3-pointers Sunday in a 26-point performance in Illinois’ 93-85 win over Michigan at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich., on the heels of a 26-point night Thursday in a loss to Ohio State in Champaign. He has hit 17 of 27 3-pointers in the last two games, and along with guards Trent Frazier and Andre Curbelo helps prevent opposing defenses from putting all their effort into stopping Cockburn from dominating inside.
And on days like Sunday, when Cockburn and Plummer were on fire, Illinois looks like a team that can make an extended run in March.
The NCAA Tournament is just around the corner, and fans of Illinois, Loyola and Notre Dame have reason to believe March could be a month to remember.
Here’s a look at the three teams as we enter the month in which madness reins.
Illinois
Coach Brad Underwood had the Illini in the driver’s seat in the Big Ten until hitting a road bump the last couple of weeks with losses to Purdue, Rutgers and Ohio State.
The 15th-ranked Illini (20-8, 13-5) are tied with No. 4 Purdue for second in the conference with two home games remaining — against Penn State on Thursday and No. 25 Iowa on Sunday — before the Big Ten Tournament begins March 9 in Indianapolis. They should win both games but will need Purdue (24-5, 13-5) to beat conference leading No. 13 Wisconsin in their showdown Tuesday to force a three-way tie atop the conference.
Purdue, which finishes with Indiana, has beaten the Illini twice. Illinois won its only game against the Badgers (23-5, 14-4).
Cockburn’s dominance in the middle has fueled the Illini season, but they showed in Thursday’s loss to Ohio State they can compete without him. With Cockburn in foul trouble, sophomore Coleman Hawkins stepped up with his best game. Cockburn fouled out with more than four minutes left, but the Illini nearly pulled off the win with an 18-4 before Frazier’s turnover at the end spoiled the comeback bid.
Underwood said he played the role of part-time psychiatrist recently when delivering some tough love to Hawkins.
“We do that in this program,” Underwood said afterward. “I’m not here to sugarcoat them and tell them they’re great all the time when they’re not. Nobody believes in Coleman more than me, and we got a glimpse tonight of Coleman’s talent.
“He wasn’t playing to that level. He was in whatever kind of mental funk he was in. We need to get him out of it for us to go where we want to go in March. ... We need Coleman Hawkins to be terrific, because he’s a guy that can play at the next level.”
Loyola
The Ramblers (22-7, 13-5) had a chance to win the Missouri Valley Conference title in their season finale Saturday but dropped to the No. 4 seed in the MVC Tournament after an overtime loss at Northern Iowa, which won the regular-season title.
Before the loss, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi had Loyola as one of the last four teams in, meaning they would need to get into the field of 64 by winning a play-in game.
Like the Illini, the Ramblers have several players with tournament experience, having gone to the Sweet 16 last year, and a veteran leader in Lucas Williamson, who scored a career-high 29 points in Saturday’s loss. Williamson, a grad student who returned for a fifth year, will be trying to take the Ramblers into the tournament for the third time since their memorable Final Four run in 2018.
“Obviously I have a different role than even last year, but in terms of feeling any different, no,” Williamson told the Tribune in a recent interview. “I’ve been around so many familiar faces, and my leadership role hasn’t changed. I was in the same position last year.”
If the Ramblers win their first-round game against Bradley on Friday, they could get a rematch with No. 1 seed Northern Iowa in the semifinals. They’ve had some ups and downs, going 4-3 down the stretch with losses to Bradley, Drake and Northern Iowa after leading the conference for much of the season.
Williamson wasn’t too worried.
“The Valley is the Valley,” he said. “It’s not like we play in a conference full of teams that don’t know how to play basketball. Every night a team can beat you, and this conference has proven that year after year.
“We’ve had to respond to some adversity. … That’s what the grind of a conference season is about. Not everything is going to be perfect. It’s how you respond when things don’t go your way.”
This will be the last hurrah for the Ramblers in the Missouri Valley Conference; they’ll be moving to the Atlantic 10 next season.
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Notre Dame
Notre Dame (21-8, 14-4 ACC) hasn’t been ranked all season despite their success in a Power 5 conference. That’s because the Irish started 4-5 in what looked like a rebuilding year before taking off in late December.
They’ve gone 17-3 since a loss to Indiana on Dec. 18 and clinched a top-four seed in the ACC Tournament Saturday with a rout of Georgia Tech.
They’ll start out in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament but are still considered a long shot to oust perennial favorite Duke, which handily beat Notre Dame 57-43 on Jan. 31 in South Bend, Ind. Notre Dame shot an abysmal 27.9% and was outrebounded 51-36 in that game.
Guards Prentiss Hubb and Blake Wesley lead the Irish along with Paul Atkinson Jr., a transfer from Yale. It’s not often a school with the national resume of Notre Dame gets overlooked in any sport. But this could be the year that the Irish really pull off a “Rudy” type of ending.
