Illinois' Brad Underwood teases wild text thread to Fran McCaffery before NCAA Tournament

If the third-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini want to validate their status as a popular Final Four pick, they first have to exorcise a very familiar ghost. Before Illinois can look ahead to Indianapolis in early April, they have to survive a Thursday night opening-round matchup in Greenville against the No. 14 Penn Quakers (TNT, 9:25 p.m. ET)—a team led by a man who knows Brad Underwood’s system intimately.

Welcome back, Fran McCaffery.

After 15 seasons turning the Iowa Hawkeyes into a Big Ten offensive juggernaut, McCaffery briefly retired before taking the reins at his alma mater. Now, he stands directly in the path of an Illinois program he spent over a decade warring against.

For years, Underwood and McCaffery traded blows in the Big Ten, engineering the kind of high-possession, emotionally charged matchups that defined the conference slate. But this specific reunion carries heavy baggage. Just over a year ago, Illinois unceremoniously ended McCaffery’s Big Ten career, eliminating Iowa in the opening round of the 2025 Big Ten Tournament.

Now, McCaffery has the chance to return the favor on a much bigger stage. While the two coaches exchanged good-natured banter shortly after Sunday’s bracket reveal, the familiarity between these two benches guarantees Thursday night will feel a lot more like a grimy February conference clash than a standard 3-vs-14 mismatch.

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Underwood broke down the bond in the best way he knows how: PG, but unfiltered, with a little bit of suspense.

"Yeah, I just said, 'Damn it!'" Underwood recalled writing upon learning of the game in an interview with SXM Big Ten Radio.

Underwood later shared the text chain with McCaffery, which was longer and included an exchange that the Illinois coach chose to keep quiet.

Considering Underwood's all-time record head-to-head against McCaffery is 9-6, it could have very much been related to that or other factors that make their relationship unique in ways no one will ever know except them.

Nonetheless, though, Underwood said he looks forward to playing against a good team that knows it has nothing to lose.

"Congratulations to our opponent, to Fran – a great, great friend and obviously a guy that we had some battles with over the years – our first opponent," Underwood told reporters. "So we know any time we face a Fran McCaffery team that we've got our hands full. But very, very excited for our players. Very, very excited for our fans, and it's a great opportunity to just let it rip, to go play and have fun."

We'll see if the history of the coaching rivalry lives up to the hype of the actual game.

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Should Illinois advance, it will face the winner of North Carolina-VCU in the second round, which would be scheduled for Saturday at a time to be determined.

If North Carolina were to play Illinois, it would be a full-circle moment, as 21 years ago marked the national title game between the two schools, where North Carolina came away victorious 75-70 and prevented the Illini from completing arguably their greatest season in program history.

Before Illinois can hunt for 2005 revenge, however, they have to survive the ghost of the Big Ten first.

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