Illinois (20-11, 12-8 Big Ten) closed out its regular season in spectacular fashion, finding itself back in the AP poll for the first time in over a month after stringing together three straight wins.

And they weren’t just any wins, as the Illini scored a pair of 20-point blowouts over Iowa and No. 22 Michigan (in Ann Arbor) before taking down No. 20 Purdue 88-80 in an electric season finale in Champaign.

Playing its best basketball since early January, Illinois has found its footing just in time for postseason play – and the college basketball world is taking notice.

Here are the latest Illini takes from the NCAA’s Andy Katz, CBS’ Jon Rothstein and FOX’s John Fanta:

Katz

Illinois had Final Four hopes heading into the season, a ceiling considered by outsiders to be sky-high and, by January, a proven product on the floor – until a 5-8 patch turned the Illini into an afterthought. But with the team’s three-game winning streak to end the regular season, Katz said the “Illini are back to being the team that was projected after a thrilling win over Purdue,” which has earned them the No. 17 spot in his rankings.

Rothstein

In his Monday morning edition of the “Rothstein 45,” Rothstein listed Illinois at No. 26, keeping his analysis short and sweet, pointing to the emergence of Tre White – who is averaging 17.3 points per game over his past four contests.

Fanta

The Illini moved to No. 21 on Fanta’s list, as he was impressed with their Friday showing against the Boilermakers. Fanta noted Illinois’ ability to defend down the stretch against Purdue and the offensive talent the Illini possess. That combination on both ends led to Fanta saying, “There’s a reason to believe that this team can make the second weekend of the Big Dance.”

KenPom’s Metrics Are High on Illinois Basketball’s NCAA Title Hopes

Purdue Coach Matt Painter Sets the Bar for Illinois in March

How Tre White Helped Illinois Basketball Send Purdue Packing

Most of the U.S. lost an hour of sleep this weekend after moving clocks forward for daylight saving time, but a bill making its way through the Illinois legislature proposes to make that the last time Illinoisans lose sleep for the tradition.

HB 0039 would amend the Standard Time Act, so daylight saving time would be the year-round standard time of the entire state, according to the bill’s primary sponsor, Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield.

The bill was assigned to the State Government Administration Committee on Feb. 4, and a hearing is set for March 12.

Morgan said if both chambers pass the bill and the governor signs it, Congress would still have to act for it to go into effect. Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966, which prevents states from permanently observing daylight saving time, though it allows states to observe standard time permanently.

“We basically would be gaining time during the summer months, and it would help us for businesses, for kids — it would change the way that our sunrise and sunset happens in terms of what we think of with our day from a 9-to-5 perspective.”

Republican representatives in Illinois introduced similar legislation in HB 1400. It was assigned to the State Government Administration Committee on Feb. 11, but a committee hearing has not yet been scheduled.

A Missouri Senate bill assigned to a committee last month would establish daylight saving as the new standard time, and other states are invited to join as a pact. But this bill doesn’t have a committee hearing scheduled yet, either. In 2022, the U.S. Senate approved a bill to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide, but the measure didn’t make it through the House of Representatives.

Dozens of states have considered hundreds of bills and resolutions in recent years to establish year-round daylight saving time as soon as federal law allows it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

However, President Donald Trump said last week that ending daylight saving time is a “50-50 issue.” He said some people prefer more light later in the day, while others prefer more light earlier to avoid taking their kids to school in the dark.

Morgan said he’s not sure if HB 0039 will get the votes to become law in Illinois. He said there’s strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate in Washington, D.C.

“It’s more likely than it’s ever been in my lifetime,” Morgan said. “Twice a year, I hear about this from my constituents, old and young, and everyone I know agrees that we need to make a change.”

Illinois Wesleyan junior Nathan Boldt, a graduate of Barrington High School, operates in the post during a game earlier this month against Carroll University.
Courtesy of Illinois Wesleyan University Sports Communications

Familiar faces at Illinois Wesleyan University helped the Titans win the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin women’s and men’s basketball tournaments.

Beating Carthage 79-60, the men’s team won the tournament for the first time since it was held in 2003. Nathan Boldt (Barrington High School), a 6-foot-10 junior forward, came off the bench to grab a season-high 8 rebounds to go with 5 points. Starting senior guard Hakim Williams (Round Lake) and senior forward Marko Anderson (Maine South) were top contributors, and readers may also recall key Titans guards Josh Fridman out of Glenbrook North and Karlo Colak of New Trier.

Junior swingman Griffin Daun (Wauconda) and Carthage saw their season end Friday in an NCAA Division III tournament loss to St. Norbert College, 92-89.

Ranked ninth nationally by D3hoops.com, Illinois Wesleyan (24-5) on Saturday advanced into the tournament’s Sweet Sixteen with a 75-73 win over St. John’s University (Minn.) at the University of Chicago’s Ratner Athletic Center. Colak scored on a putback with 0.3 seconds left. The Titans will visit No. 5 Wisconsin-LaCrosse on Friday.

The Illinois Wesleyan women beat Carroll University (Wis.) 95-86 to win their 11th CCIW tournament title. Star senior guard Lauren Huber’s (Glenbard East) season-high 28 points and game-high 11 rebounds led the effort but she got plenty of help from juniors Sawyer White (Montini) with 17 points and 3 steals and Ava Bardic (Stevenson) with 13 points. Senior Kate Palmer (Geneva) scored 8, and when Carroll pressured early, junior Sara Balli (Lake Park) hit a big 3.

Ranked fourth nationally, Illinois Wesleyan’s women (28-1) advanced to the women’s Division III Sweet Sixteen. On Saturday the Titans beat Trine University (Ind.) 82-50 behind Bardic’s five 3-pointers and 26 points. Wesleyan will host Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Friday at the Shirk Center.

Take the Hintz

A former East Suburban Catholic Conference baseball pitcher of the year, University of Arizona junior Casey Hintz (St. Viator) earned a win in dramatic fashion against then-No. 1 Texas A&M on Feb. 28 in Houston. Hintz pitched 5 innings of relief and got the win when Arizona scored twice in the top of the ninth inning. In the bottom of the ninth with two outs, he allowed the tying runner to reach base before getting a swinging strikeout to end the game. Entering Friday, Hintz had a 2-0 record with a 2.13 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 12⅔ innings pitched.

Back to the Garden

The Great Lakes Valley Conference named Lewis University senior Delaney Garden (Jacobs) its softball pitcher of the week for a second straight week and for the fourth time overall. On the season the left-hander is 7-4 with a 1.59 ERA, 3 shutouts, and in 70⅓ innings has allowed 46 hits while striking out 90 batters. She was also second on the Flyers with a .434 batting average and led the team in runs and total bases while going 11 of 11 in stolen base attempts.

MVFC MVPs

To commemorate its 40th season, capped by North Dakota State’s Football College Subdivision title early in 2025, Missouri Valley Football Conference fans voted for the league’s 40th Anniversary Team.

The results included the following players from Daily Herald turf: quarterbacks, South Dakota State’s Mark Gronowski (Neuqua Valley) and Western Illinois’ Russ Michna (Conant); Southern Illinois running back Tom Koutsos (Marmion), and Western Illinois receiver Don Beebe (Kaneland); tight ends, North Dakota State’s Tom Babicz (Barrington) and Illinois State’s James O’Shaughnessy (Naperville North); and North Dakota State punter Ben LeCompte (Barrington).

Smartie

Speaking of the Missouri Valley, Drake guard Mitch Mascari (Geneva), a graduate student featured previously for his 3-point shooting, made the MVC Scholar-Athlete first team and third-team all-conference. He had a 3.98 grade-point average in finance as an undergrad and now owns a 3.80 GPA in graduate accounting.