No one feels like an underdog in the Illini locker room. They’ve played their best ball of the season since Underwood criticized their effort in a March 5 loss to Purdue, when he warned them that not going after loose balls or rebounding would lead to another early exit.

“That’s what sends you home in March,” he said.

They’ve won six straight since that night, including three in the Big Ten tournament and two wins in the Omaha regional over Morehead State and Duquesne.

The Underwood you see looking like a mad man on your flat-screen TV isn’t necessarily the guy the players know. Senior forward Coleman Hawkins, one of the leaders Underwood criticized in 2022, said the coach is misunderstood.

“It’s cool playing for him,” Hawkins said. “Once you’ve been around him for four years like I’ve been, you can tell he’s just like us. He’s goofy. He laughs. He tells funny jokes.

“The intensity is something I look past now. It doesn’t really affect me. He’s a cool guy and especially off the court, you wouldn’t expect it, but he’s really a funny guy.”

Perhaps there is a method to his madness after all. After all, he is a disciple of Bob Huggins, learning from the master of mind games when he was an assistant at Kansas State.

“He gets the most out of his players,” junior guard Luke Goode said. “He expects greatness and you wouldn’t want it any other way as a player. If you don’t have a coach that is going to push you every day and push the team to be the best it can be, you wouldn’t want to be there. He’s definitely intense, but he’s a great coach.”

Do Illini players just have to have thicker skins?

“Yeah, you do, a little bit,” Goode replied. “He’s going to get on you. But at the end of the day, he loves you. You’re one of his players, one of his guys. If you can get your head wrapped around that idea that he’s just doing it for the best of you and the team, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Swingman Marcus Domask, a grad transfer from Southern Illinois, has adjusted well to Underwood’s coaching style.

“He gets intense at times, but I really like playing for him,” Domask said. “Coach has really good relationships with all his players and when you have those types of relationships off the court, when he gets at us on the court you don’t take it personal.

“There are times during practice when he tries to get under our skin, tries to get us frustrated and sped up. All he is doing is trying to prep us for what (other teams) are going to try to do to us.”

The Illini have heard all season about their lack of success in the NCAA Tournament. Ditto Underwood, who insisted there never was a monkey on his back and that it was all a media creation.

“You guys could take this wrong, but I always thought I’d get here and beyond,” he said of the Sweet 16.

The Illini finally got there. Now it’s time to see if they get to the “beyond” part, which would mean two wins in Boston for their first Final Four appearance since the 2005 team that lost to North Carolina in the title game. In his 36th year of coaching, Underwood can almost taste it.

“I go in with a feeling of respect for the opponent and how good they are and what they do, but I never go in with the mindset that we’ve got no chance,” Underwood said. “Maybe if we were playing the Celtics in Boston I might feel different. But we’ve shown we can play with the best.”

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