No matter how unpredictable things can get with the NCAA Tournament, one thing is known.

Western is going to find a way to make things interesting.

And now let’s turn to exhibit A: Western’s 76-72 win over Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Slowly, but surely Western watched a 17-point lead dwindle.

Thursday night’s win was done in typical Western fashion.

A balanced scoring effort, an above average performance from three-point land and of course the trademark nail-biter finish.

Western didn’t fold when the Illini came storming back, nor did the Toppers get too rattled when the turnovers were mounting quickly in the second half.

Thursday was more of the same for senior guard Orlando Mendez-Valdez, he directed traffic in the midst of rush hour on the floor. The CBS cameras caught him multiple times making sure the Toppers were on the right page. Even with the direction he was providing he felt like he could’ve done more.

“We should have huddled up a lot quicker and calmed down the underclass guys that haven’t been here,” Mendez-Valdez said.

Add in his gutsy three-pointers and you’ve got your typical Mendez-Valdez performance.

Coach Ken McDonald appeared to have come in with the right game plan offensively, the Toppers shot selection wasn’t great at times, but well utilized substitutions and well drawn plays to get players open to seal the victory proved McDonald didn’t get rattled either, but he said he did get a little anxious towards the end.

“I think everybody was kind of looking at each other and worried about what was going on rather than the task at hand,” McDonald said. “We just had to get the ball in. Once we got the ball in we were fine.”

Even one of the more inconsistent aspects of Western’s team, the bench, contributed well. Junior guard Anthony Sally, sophomore forward D.J. Magley and senior forward Matt Maresca combined for ten points and ten rebounds.

Sure, Western made it way too interesting way too late in the game.

But who would want it any other way?