The NCAA tournament chances for this year's Illini basketball team are hanging in the balance as they head on the road for 3 of the next 4 games.  A tough home loss to 13th-ranked Purdue on Tuesday night made upcoming road games in Evanston and Happy Valley even more critical for Bruce Weber's team.

Can the Illini win those games?  Absolutely.  Could they lose them? Sure

The Wildcats are up first on Saturday night and are coming off an awful performance in Columbus against the suddenly hot Buckeyes.  Northwestern went 4-22 from the field in a dismal first half that doomed their chances to end a  30-game losing streak at Ohio State that dates back to when Jimmy Carter was president.  The Cats never showed up against the Buckeyes that night.

The Illni had to go overtime to beat the Wildcats in Champaign on December 30th. Northwestern launched 47 3-point attempts in the loss.  The Illini have dominated the all- time series and have gone 19-1 in the last 20 meetings with the Cats....the only loss coming in Bruce Weber's first year at Illinois in 2003-04.

But you can be pretty sure that the Wildcat team that played in Columbus the other night will not be the same team that takes the floor against the Illini this weekend.  Illinois had to get a last-second shot by Demetri McCamey to win 60-59 in Evanston last year.  Despite usually having at least half of the crowd cheering them on at Welsh-Ryan Arena...the Illini will need to play well if they want to avoid a 3rd straight Big Ten loss.

After the trip to Evanston...the Illini head east to Penn State. The Illini have suffered a pair of hearbreaking 1-point losses the last two trips into State College and barely beat the Lions in Champaign earlier this month.  But Penn State is having their own problems lately....losing to Iowa in Iowa City...providing the Hawkeyes with their only win in Big Ten play so far and keeping the Lions winless in the league. Still....the Illini have not fared well at the Bryce Jordan Center lately and will be tested again there next week.

Then the Illini have winnable games against Indiana at home on Jan 30th and at Iowa on February 3rd before the ESPN Gameday Crew rolls into town for the Michigan State matchup at the Assembly Hall on February 6th.

If the Illini take care of business in the next 4 games they would be 8-2 in the Big Ten and would be a few steps closer to a potential  NCAA bid.    Lose 1 or 2  of the next 4 games.....and they put themselves in a position to have to steal several wins against the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue in February and March to even give themselves a chance for a ticket to the Big Dance. And that would be a tall order.

The schedule gets a lot tougher starting February 6th with Michigan State.  That is why Bruce Weber REALLY wanted to win Tuesday night's game against the Boilermakers...and why that home loss hurts so much. 

We will talk to you from Welsh-Ryan Arena on Saturday night.