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The Billikens must win three games in three days at the Atlantic 10 Tournament to reach the big dance. Securing the league’s automatic berth is their only path there.

The travails of their injury-marred regular season are behind them. Their opportunity to advance is at hand. That quest will begin Thursday afternoon when SLU faces Davidson game.

Illinois heads to the Big Ten tournament hoping to extend its three-game winning streak and upgrade its seeding in the NCAA Tournament. Thursday night, the Illini will face the winner of the Ohio State-Iowa game.

Getting rebounder Morez Johnson Jr. back after he missed five games with a broken wrist will complete the Illini’s playing rotation for postseason play. They are regaining stride just in time.

Meanwhile, Missouri will try to snap its late-season slump. The Tigers had a shot at earning a top 4 NCAA tourney seed, but four losses in five games sent them sliding into the middle of the bracket.

ÁńÁ«ÊÓÆ” will play the Mississippi State-LSU winner Thursday night. If the Tigers win that game, then they will face a severe test against Florida.

Here is how the bracketologists assess the region’s teams:

• ESPN has Missouri as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tourney and slated to face Baylor in the first round — with powerful Michigan State as a possible second-round foe. CBS has the Tigers as a No. 6 seed set to face A-10 power VCU with Texas Tech potentially up next.
• ESPN has Illinois as a No. 6 seed in line to face Vanderbilt in the first round, then potentially Texas A&M in the second round. CBS has the Illini as a No. 7 seed set to face West Virginia first, then potentially Texas A&M.
• ESPN has SIUE in the First Four in Dayton, facing Quinnipiac. The winner of that game would, ahem, get Duke in this bracket. has the Cougars facing American in the First Four.

Here is what folks are writing about all of this:

• NEIL PAINE, : “Missouri had been above the 95% 'lock' cut-off for a long time, but the Tigers land here because the ESPN Analytics forecast technically has them slightly below that now (at 94%). That feels like a mere technicality, however, as the Tigers are around the top 30 in SOR/WAB, with eight wins over top-50 foes, 11 over the top 100, and 9 of 10 losses against high-quality opponents. They also rank seventh in the SEC in NET, which might make them the median NCAA tourney team from the conference. Missouri has only a 16% chance to make the SEC semis and 1% chance to win the conference tournament, but it's highly unlikely that they would miss the NCAAs even if they get bounced immediately this week.”
• JORDAN MENDOZA, USA Today: “Once looking like a possible double-digit seed, Illinois has found its rhythm again to not only assure its spot in the field, but get a much favorable matchup in the first round. The beatdown from Duke seemed to light a spark in Illinois as it won three straight after that, including dominating Michigan on the road and ending the game against Purdue on a 16-3 run for a come-from-behind win over the Boilermakers. The Fighting Illini do have a good NET ranking (No. 15) and the eight Quad 1 wins are excellent. They look to be playing some of their best basketball and are a threat in the Big Ten tournament.”
• JOE LUNARDI, : “It's not easy to fly under the radar at Kentucky. Yet Mark Pope has done so in the first year at his alma mater. For the first time in forever, the Wildcats are being called overachievers. Even though they won fewer conference than the past three seasons under John Calipari. Even though they don't have an All-SEC first team player. What the Wildcats do have is hope, because a 21-10 (10-8 conference) record is good enough for a 3-seed out of the loaded SEC. And that kind of tournament placement, backed up by a whopping 10 Quad 1 wins, suggests Big Blue Nation should see the NCAA second weekend for the first time since before the pandemic. It hasn't happened yet, but the ghosts of St. Peter's, Oakland and other recent demons should be buried soon.”
• BRANDON MARCELLO, : “For a coach who has seen it all — and won it all — in 32 years as a college coach, his first year at Arkansas has been an entirely different experience with its own set of challenges. In his previous 15 years, Calipari led Kentucky to a national title and three Final Fours, and recorded less than 10 SEC wins only once (2020-21), but little had prepared him to watch the Hogs go from No. 16 in the polls to 0-5 to start the SEC season. It is somewhat remarkable that Arkansas has finished 8-5 with wins against nationally-ranked Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi State.”
• JIM ROOT, The Athletic: “Oklahoma solidified its fascinating resume with another road Q1 win at Texas on Saturday, giving the Sooners an impressive six Q1 wins. The 6-12 SEC record will be a talking point for many, but in truth, this is an NCAA Tournament resume beyond that disappointing mark. A loss to Georgia in the SEC tournament opener on Wednesday would give the committee an excuse for excluding the Sooners, should it want one, but a win would have OU in solid shape.”
• JERRY PALM, : “Thirteen (SEC) teams total are in my bracket as of this writing and things would have to go pretty sideways to get it down to 11, which is where I thought it would end up until about a week ago. Needless to say, 13 out of 16 in the tournament would be a record both in the raw number of teams from a conference and percentage of teams from a conference. The Big East had 11 of its 16 in 2011. For Arkansas, avoiding a first loss to last-place South Carolina in the opening round of the SEC Tournament should be enough to land the Razorbacks a place in the field. Oklahoma has a tougher task with Georgia as its opening opponent, but a win should seal the deal for them as well. Some have said that winning the SEC tournament will be harder than winning the NCAA Tournament. I won't go that far, but it will be a grind, especially for those teams starting on Wednesday.”

Megaphone

“I'm in favor of expansion to 76. I think that's the right number. I think the economics candidly have to work. CBS and TNT have a marquee (television) asset with the tournament. I know they know that. But in order for us to expand, they need to come to the table and provide the right economics.”

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, on the size of the NCAA Tournament