Illinois now sits at 11-12 on the season and is clearly not making the NCAA Tournament barring a miracle from the basketball Gods.
The latest 3 OT win against a Rutgers team that is dead last in the conference was bitter sweet. It was a victory in the most thrilling fashion, but it was a sign of how real the struggle truly is.
When Illinois started the non-conference slate off with a 3-5 record it made things uneasy. But then when the Illini dropped 4 out of their first 5 games of the Big Ten schedule reality started to set in.