INDIANAPOLIS — Illinois was already in trouble, already in offensive disarray, already deep into an afternoon of stunning futility against the most beguiling defense in college basketball. And at the 4:40 mark of the first half came the play that crystallized how ready No. 8 seed Loyola Chicago was for the ballyhooed No. 1 seed from downstate.
A lob pass went into 7’ 1”, 285-pound monolith Kofi Cockburn, who caught it just a few feet from the basket. The pass went over the head of Loyola’s own pillar of strength, 6’ 9” 255-pound Cameron Krutwig, who was roaming around in perpetual defensive motion—hedging ball screens outside and banging bodies inside, gumming everything up.