Illinois
UConn Has Ruled March – But Illinois Has an Edge the Huskies Can’t Counter
After 21 years of waiting, Illinois (28-8) is finally back in the Final Four. The road to college basketball’s grandest stage was long and bruising, and now the Illini are here at last. Only problem: Waiting on the other side is the closest thing college basketball has to a supervillain – Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies.
The UConn Huskies’ NCAA Tournament domination
UConn (33-5) isn’t just a great team having an exceptional season. It’s a program that has come to expect this kind of success. The Huskies have won two of the past three national championships, and Hurley has gone 17-1 in the NCAA Tournament since 2023. At this point, calling UConn a powerhouse almost feels like an undersell. This is a budding dynasty, and Hurley has proven he is as good as anybody in the sport when the calendar flips to March.
Dan Hurley in March Madness since 2023:
• 2 Titles 🏆 (The 1 loss was against National Champion Florida by 2)
ONE OF THE BEST COACHING RUNS EVER. pic.twitter.com/YIRMDU205C
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) March 29, 2026
• 3 Final Fours 🏆
• 17-1 Record ✅
• 17-1 Against The Spread 🔥
Illinois knows that better than most. In the 2024 Elite Eight, UConn rolled the Illini 77-52 and used a 30-0 run to turn a high-stakes game into a blowout. To be fair, the Huskies were steamrolling just about everybody during that stretch, so Illinois was hardly alone. Still, that kind of loss stays with you. It takes a irremovable place in the memory bank, and becomes part of what makes this rematch feel so important to the Illini.
UConn: A unique offense
A huge reason the Huskies are so difficult to beat is because they do not play like most modern offenses. So many teams today favor offenses that are built around ball screens, isolations, matchup-hunting and one guard dribbling for half a possession while everyone else stands around waiting to see what happens.
That is not UConn.
The Huskies play with constant motion. The ball moves. The players move. Cutters fly through the lane, shooters relocate and defenses are forced to process everything in an instant. There is a rhythm to it that can make even a good defense look disorganized. One missed switch or one late rotation, and suddenly the ball is at the rim or headed to an open shooter.
It’s not especially flashy. It’s just brutally efficient. UConn doesn’t always beat teams by overwhelming them with one star going nuclear. Sometimes it beats them by making them guard every inch of the floor until they finally crack.
The big test of the Big Dance
This is where the challenge gets even bigger. In the NCAA Tournament, nobody has weeks to build a perfect scouting plan. Turnarounds are short, practices are limited and opponents often have to learn on the fly. That makes UConn’s offense even more dangerous, because it isn’t something teams can fully replicate in a couple of walk-throughs.
And that’s not just a March thing.
In UConn’s three Final Four runs over the past four seasons – 2023, 2024 and now 2026 – the Huskies have lost a total of two non-conference regular-season games. One was a four-point road loss at Kansas in 2024. The other came this season in a four-point home loss to Arizona, in a game missed by injured star big man Tarris Reed Jr. That’s a pretty telling stat. Teams that catch UConn for the first time usually don’t walk away happy.
Illinois’ big advantage against UConn: familiarity
The good news for Illinois is that this will not be a blind date.
The Illini have already seen this offense up close. UConn beat Illinois 74-61 on Black Friday earlier this season and, of course, dismantled the Illini in that Elite Eight meeting two years ago. That hardly guarantees that Illinois will shut the Huskies down this time. But it does mean the Illini are not walking into this game blind to UConn’s timing, spacing and swirling movement.
Seeing UConn once gives Illinois a much better sense of what it takes to defend the Huskies. The Illini know how quickly UConn swings the ball, how hard it cuts, how disciplined it is off the ball and how fast one small mistake can turn into a layup or an open three. That experience should make this week’s preparation more valuable, because Illinois isn’t getting ready for some unfamiliar system. It’s preparing for something it has already seen up close.
Why exposure to UConn matters for Illinois
There is some evidence that opponents are better equipped the second or third time around against the Huskies’ machine.
UConn lost second meetings in Big East play this season to Creighton at home and Marquette on the road. Neither of those teams was especially dominant this year. The Huskies also lost to St. John’s once, beat the Red Storm the second time, then lost again the third time. In other words, most of UConn’s struggles came against teams that already knew what was coming.
That’s notable. UConn has lost only five games all season. Four of those losses came against conference opponents that were familiar with the Huskies. The only other one was the four-point Arizona loss without Reed.
The Illinois on SI bottom line
Illinois should be better prepared for UConn than most teams in March have been. The Illini have already seen the ball movement, the cutting and the overall rhythm of Hurley’s offense. They know this isn’t a team you can relax against for even a few possessions. They know what happens when UConn gets comfortable. Everyone in orange and blue remembers that well enough.
Not the last one pic.twitter.com/WyYPZs9dWi
— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB) March 29, 2026
But recognition is only step one. The next step is surviving it.
Illinois has spent 21 years waiting for another Final Four opportunity. Now it gets a rematch with the program that once slammed the door on its championship hopes. UConn will still be a brutal challenge, but the Illini aren’t walking into this one blind. They have seen the movement, felt the pressure and know the standard they have to meet – and that’s a much better place to start than the alternative.
Millions of asylum seekers have been impacted as caseloads have grown
A general crackdown on immigration courts the administration sees as liberal has led to the firing of dozens of immigration judges.
Recent polls show President Donald Trump’s approval ratings continue to dip as the war in Iran endures and national gas prices float above $4.
One such poll conducted by CNN/SSRS illustrates widespread upset among Americans with regards to Trump’s handling of the economy and inflation. Here’s how Trump’s approval ratings look nationally and within Illinois, as of April 20.
Donald Trump approval rating: CNN
Only 31% of Americans approve of how Trump is handling the economy, compared to 39% in January 2026, according to the poll.
The decline in approval on the issue is even higher among Republicans, especially Republicans under 45 years old, according to CNN.
In the poll, President Donald Trump received his worst approval rating yet in either of his two terms on the economy.
CNN findings show about two-thirds of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, and 27% say they approve of Trump’s handling of inflation.
CNN also reported 63% of Americans say the prices at the pump have caused financial hardship in their household, including 15% calling it “severe.”
The poll, conducted March 26-30 among 1,201 U.S. adults, found 35% approve of Trump’s job performance overall. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
One poll respondent told CNN and the pollster about the most important issue facing the country: “Prices! Everything is so expensive. Makes it very difficult to do anything other than work and go home. Trips to the grocery store are ridiculous! Between gas and grocery prices, we are poor!”
Trump addressed the concerns about gas prices in his address to the nation on April 1, saying the Strait of Hormuz would reopen when the conflict was over and the prices would fall again.
Trump reaffirmed his promise about the strait on April 18, saying his administration had “very good conversations going on” with Iran after the country said the strait would not be reopened.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: Civiqs
Trump’s job approval rating in Illinois, as of April 18, according to data from online survey platform Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 32%.
- Disapprove — 65%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump national approval rating: Civiqs
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 13, according to data from Civiqs, is as follows:
- Approve — 39%.
- Disapprove — 57%.
- Neither — 4%.
Donald Trump approval rating in Illinois: The Economist
Trump has a -36% net approval rating in Illinois as of April 20, according to data from The Economist.
Donald Trump national approval rating: The Economist
Trump’s national approval rating as of April 20, according to data from The Economist, is as follows:
- Approve — 38%.
- Disapprove — 56%.
- Don’t know — 7%.
Trump, Iran War approval rating: Pew Research Center
A Pew Research study conducted in mid-March found that about six-in-ten Americans (61%) approve of Trump’s handling of the conflict in Iran, with 39% approving.
A report released in early April found that the largest concern for most Americans as a result of the conflict is higher gas prices, with 69% saying they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the issue.
Other Trump approval rating polls as of April 20
Here is a look at some other polling aggregators to understand how CNN/SSRS’s poll compares to the average Trump approval numbers as of April 20:
RealClearPolitics Poll Average: 41.2% approve, 56.6% disapprove.
The New York Times: 40% approve, 56% disapprove.
Silver Bulletin: 39.7% approve, 56.4% disapprove.
Which president has the lowest approval rating ever?
Although Trump has dropped to a historic low in approval rating polls this term so far, he hit a 34% low in the first term and other recent presidents such as Joe Biden hit a 36% low, Barack Obama hit a 40% low, George W. Bush hit a 25% low and Bill Clinton hit a 37% low, according to the Gallup polls, whose recorded lowest rating was Harry Truman with 22%.
As for the highest presidential approval ratings, George W. Bush holds the highest approval rating ever recorded at 90%, while his father, George H. Bush holds the second highest at 89%.
Trump is the only president that has not reached a 50% or higher approval to date in the Gallup polls’ history.
CENTRALIA, Ill. – An investigation is underway after multiple people were shot Sunday in Centralia, Illinois, according to a report from WFCN News in southern Illinois.
FOX 2 has confirmed the Illinois State Police is investigating a shooting and taking over the investigation, but ISP could not confirm many further details as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The investigation is in its infancy and to protect the integrity of the investigation, no additional details will be released at this time,” ISP said in a statement to FOX 2.
According to WFCN News, the shooting happened around 5 p.m. near the 900 block of East Kell Street in Centralia. Multiple law enforcement agencies have since responded to scene and multiple victims are hospitalized, according to the report.
It’s unclear how many people may have been injured and what led up to the shooting.
Centralia, Illinois is about 70 miles, or just over an hour, east of St. Louis.
This is a developing story. FOX 2 will update as more information becomes available.
The National Weather Service has teams of storm surveryors in the field April 18 investigating several reports of severe storms and tornado touch downs across eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and northeast Missouri.
According to the weather service’s website, windgusts of up to 60 to 70 mph along with teacup-sized hail and several tornadoes were reported April 17.
Many homes and outbuildings were damaged, trees were uprooted and power lines were downed in Lena, Illinois, where the most significant damage occurred, the site pointed out.
Very strong winds also were reported near Washington, Iowa, and Colmar, Illinois, where several outbuildings and grain bins were destroyed.
The weather service received reports of confirmed and possible tornadoes in the areas of Lena, Pecatonica, Shirland, Rockton, Roscoe and Capron.
The teams will be assessing damage this weekend into next week along with county emergency management teams to determine what types of storms occurred and their paths.
Dozens of power outages were reported, as well.
As of the afternoon of April 18, ComEd was reporting 85 active power outages across northern Illinois, down from 241 on April 17, and 6,751 customers affected, down from more than 18,000.
The bulk of those outages and the most customers impacted are concentrated in Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties.
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