At Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Illinois basketball's odds of winning the 2020 NCAA title are listed at 50-1. That's better than Wisconsin (60-1), Purdue (75-1) and Indiana (80-1) and just behind Michigan and Ohio State (40-1).
Not bad considering the Illini are coming off a 12-21 season.
"That's a real stretch to put Illinois ahead of Wisconsin and Purdue," said Loren Tate in this week's "Inside Illini Basketball" podcast. Tate filled in for vacationing beat writer Scott Richey. "(The oddsmakers) are wrong on this one."
Tate, on the beat for more than 50 years, also weighed in the UI chancellor's commission report recommending the formal public retirement of Chief Illiniwek and a plaque outside Memorial Stadium commemorating the Chief's history.