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Brad Underwood had an appearance on Sirius XM on Tuesday talking about what it means to be a part of another NCAA Tournament with Illinois. Underwood and Illinois are taking on Arkansas on Thursday.
Underwood remembers being very excited for the annual tournament as a kid. Printing off the bracket and writing in the teams when they were announced on tv was something he remembers well.
He emphasized the importance of not taking Selection Sunday and March Madness as a whole for granted. Underwood does not want anyone inside of the Illinois program to have that mentality, regardless of their position.
“As a kid I remember you had you’re bracket printed out and you would try to write them in as fast as they put them up. It will always that exhilaration. As a player you want to play in it, as a coach you want to coach in it. It’s just something that I never ever wanna take for granted. I don’t want anybody in our program to take Selection Sunday and being in the tournament for granted.”
“It’s just something that I never ever want to take for granted.”@IlliniMBB HC @CoachUnderwood knows how special it is to be a part of March Madness, and he wants everyone to take note.@ESPN_Schick | @BigAntHerron#Illini #HTTO #EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/d0XxsoK4Xz
— College Sports on SiriusXM (@SXMCollege) March 14, 2023
The Fighting Illini made the NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed. They will be playing the No. 8 seed Arkansas Razorbacks Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET on TBS.
Grant Bricker covers the B1G for Saturday Tradition. His previous stops include the Williamson Homepage and Nashville Post.