Illinois
Big Ten tournament preview: An Illinois-Michigan rematch Saturday at the UC would be huge
The 29th Big Ten men’s basketball tournament starts Tuesday and ends Sunday at the United Center, where the champion will snip down the nets while the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal furiously gets underway.
In keeping with tradition, the NCAA selection committee will claim to have factored the Big Ten final into its seeding even though it — how to put this? — did not.
Unlike last year, when 15 teams made the Big Ten field, this tourney will include all 18 teams and begin a day sooner, because clearly a five-day event just wasn’t long enough.
A team-by-team glimpse, in order of seeding (odds via FanDuel):
1. MICHIGAN (29-2, 19-1)
Next: TBD, 11 a.m. Friday, BTN.
Title odds: +105.
Snip? If the ginormous frontcourt of Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr. brutalizes foes like it did Illinois in Champaign, it’s over-and-out for everybody else.
Or slip? Point guard Elliot Cadeau might wear down with injured L.J. Cason unable to spell him.
2. NEBRASKA (25-5, 15-5)
Next: TBD, 5:30 p.m. Friday, BTN.
Title odds: +1000.
Snip? No team plays harder at the defensive end, and the Huskers move the ball beautifully on offense. Is it shooter Pryce Sandfort’s time to shine?
Or slip? Is coach Fred Hoiberg allowed to win a championship at the UC? Asking for a few million friends.
3. MICHIGAN STATE (25-6, 15-5)
Next: TBD, approximately 8 p.m. Friday, BTN.
Title odds: +650.
Snip? Jeremy Fears is one of the best playmakers around, and we are bound by law to say it’s hard to beat Tom Izzo in March.
Or slip? As tough as this team is, it lacks the kind of star power we’ve often seen in green.
4. ILLINOIS (24-7, 15-5)
Next: TBD, approximately 1:30 p.m. Friday, BTN.
Title odds: +470.
Snip? If freshmen Keaton Wagler and David Mirkovic hold up to postseason competition, the shooters around them will give the Illini a shot to win it for the third time in the 2020s.
Or slip? The Illini likely would have to get past Michigan in the semis, and the first meeting was ugly.
5. WISCONSIN (22-9, 14-6)
Next: Washington-USC winner, approximately 1:30 p.m. Thursday, BTN.
Title odds: +3500.
Snip? The team that popped Purdue for 97 points to ruin the Boilermakers’ Senior Day can beat anybody.
Or slip? The team that ham-fisted its way through recent lopsided losses at Ohio State and Oregon isn’t going anywhere.
6. UCLA (21-10, 13-7)
Next: Minnesota-Rutgers winner, approximately 8 p.m. Thursday, BTN.
Title odds: +3500.
Snip? When point guard Donovan Dent is on his game, this offense — particularly shooter Tyler Bilodeau — is dangerous.
Or slip? The Bruins are a different team, and not in a good way, away from home.
7. PURDUE (23-8, 13-7)
Next: TBD, 5:30 p.m. Thursday, BTN.
Title odds: +550.
Snip? Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer have been there so many times before.
Or slip? Who would’ve believed the Boilers would tumble all the way to seventh? Something’s off with Matt Painter’s crew.
8. OHIO STATE (20-11, 12-8)
Next: TBD, 11 a.m. Thursday, BTN.
Title odds: +7500.
Snip? Bruce Thornton, the school’s career scoring leader, isn’t the only Buckeye who can fill it up.
Or slip? Statistically, this team is right down the middle in the conference. That has “also-ran” written all over it.
9. IOWA (20-11, 10-10)
Next: Oregon-Maryland winner, 11 a.m. Wednesday, Peacock.
Title odds: +5000.
Snip? Guard Bennett Stirtz is terrific, and first-year coach Ben McCollum’s postseason record (most of it at Northwest Missouri State) is unreal.
Or slip? Stirtz doesn’t have a whole lot in the way of sidekicks.
10. INDIANA (18-13, 9-11)
Next: Northwestern-Penn State winner, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, BTN.
Title odds: +10000.
Snip? Guard Lamar Wilkerson led the Big Ten in scoring in league play and had multiple 40-plus-point games.
Or slip? Look, it’s a football school and the whole world knows it.
11. MINNESOTA (15-16, 8-12)
Next: Rutgers, approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday, BTN.
Title odds: +30000.
Snip? The Gophers have beaten three higher seeds, one of them Michigan State.
Or slip? Minnesota still hasn’t won this tournament. Why start now?
12. WASHINGTON (15-16, 7-13)
Next: USC, approximately 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Peacock.
Title odds: +20000.
Snip? The Huskies went 3-3 down the stretch and had late leads in two of the losses.
Or slip? One NCAA win in the last 14 years kind of says it all.
13. USC (18-13, 7-13)
Next: Washington, approximately 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Peacock.
Title odds: +30000.
Snip? A 4-1 stretch that began at Wisconsin looked really good.
Or slip? There have been seven straight losses since then, and star Chad Baker-Mazara was just booted from the program.
14. RUTGERS (13-18, 6-14)
Next: Minnesota, approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday, BTN.
Title odds: N/A.
Snip? A lot of steals and not many turnovers from this squad.
Or slip? Every league win came against Penn State, Maryland, Oregon or Northwestern.
Northwestern forward Nick Martinelli (2) celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning basket during overtime of an NCAA college basketball game against Maryland in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) ORG XMIT: ILNH117
15. NORTHWESTERN (13-18, 5-15)
Next: Penn State, approximately 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Peacock.
Title odds: +30000.
Snip? The name’s Nick Martinelli. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Or slip? And then there are the rest of the Wildcats.
16. OREGON (12-19, 5-15)
Next: Maryland, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Peacock.
Title odds: +30000.
Snip? The Ducks won four of seven down the stretch. They aren’t total pushovers.
Or slip? Injured Jackson Shelstad isn’t entering the building. At least not in shorts.
17. MARYLAND (11-20, 4-16)
Next: Oregon, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Peacock.
Title odds: N/A.
Snip? Freshman guard Andre Mills has been going off and scored 39 at Northwestern.
Or slip? Uh, the Terrapins still lost in Evanston.
18. PENN STATE (12-19, 3-17)
Next: Northwestern, approximately 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Peacock.
Title odds: N/A.
Snip? Aside from being utterly terrible at defense, rebounding and three-point shooting, the Nittany Lions are merely subpar.
Or slip? Gee, you think?
Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Sightings of a fireball were reported across Illinois and at least eight other states on Monday night.
The American Meteor Society received nearly 200 reports of a fireball seen over Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin around 10 p.m.
Some of the reports out of Illinois came from Chicago, Aurora, Carpentersville, Warrenville, Addison, Waukegan, Oak Lawn, Shorewood Westchester, and Glen Ellyn. There were also reports from Indiana, including Valparaiso and Fort Wayne.
There was also a report out of Ontario, Canada.
Home camera footage, posted by the American Meteor Society, shows a flash across the sky in Michigan about an hour Northwest of Detroit.
A car crashed into a home in unincorporated Cary, Illinois, while three people were inside Monday evening, fire officials said.
A spokesperson for the Cary Fire Protection District said they were called to a home in the 2500 block of Oakdale Terrace just after 5:30 p.m. after reports came in that a vehicle had crashed into a house.
When paramedics and firefighters arrived, they found a black Jeep had slammed into a house, causing damage.
Three people were in the home at the time, fire officials said, but they were all able to get out safely and no injuries were reported. There were two people in the Jeep who got checked out by paramedics for minor injuries, but they declined further medical attention and did not want to go to a hospital.
Because of the damage to the home, McHenry County officials deemed it unsafe to occupy until repairs were made.
The American Red Cross is helping the four residents of the home with temporary housing and other needs while repairs are made.
The circumstances surrounding the crash are under investigation by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office. It was not clear if any charges or citations would be issued.
-
Health8 minutes agoThe Surprising Hormone That Could Make Menopause Weight Loss Easier
-
Lifestyle22 minutes ago‘Hellions’ author Julia Elliott wins $150K fiction prize
-
Technology31 minutes agoGod of War Laufey is coming to the PS5
-
World39 minutes agoIranians speak out over possible Trump-regime deal
-
Politics41 minutes agoDOJ expands indictment against SPLC, alleging $4M secretly funneled to KKK and extremist groups
-
Health47 minutes agoCancer survivors saw major improvements in sleep and well-being with one weekly practice
-
Sports54 minutes agoTomas Hertl scores game-winner as Golden Knights rally to beat Hurricanes in Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final
-
Technology56 minutes agoWould you ride in Waymo’s new Ojai robotaxi?
