There is not a favorable recent history for how these mid-bracket double-digit seeds fair in the second round. But this pick is less about fading VCU after its dramatic comeback win against North Carolina than it is a tip of the cap to how Illinois handles these situations against non-conference opponents. Thursday’s first round win against Penn was Illinois’ first non-conference game since Dec. 29, but the 35-point win followed in the footsteps of how the Illini performed against mid-major competition all season. Now, VCU is certainly not playing like a median mid-major team right now at all, but it’s hard to imagine the same Rams team that was down 19 points to UNC being in form enough to keep pace with Illinois’ offense.
