The Illinois women’s wheelchair basketball team begins its quest for its fourth straight national title Thursday in the National Women’s Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in Slippery Rock, Pa.

The Illini will open the tourney against No. 8-seeded Alabama or No. 9 Steel City, a club team from Pittsburgh.

The tournament is double elimination, but if the Illini run the table, they would need only four wins to claim the title.

Despite a 14-21 overall record, the Illini enter the tournament as the No. 1 seed because of their finish last year. Illinois holds a 6-2 mark against women’s teams, including two 20-point victories at Alabama in January. The women are also 3-2 against the No. 3 seed, the RIC Express, and won their only game against No. 7-seeded Washington, D.C.

“Everybody else thinks we’re the favorites,” said coach Mike Frogley. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re still the underdog.

“We don’t focus on our seeding.”

Frogley cut an hour off his early morning practices in preparation for the finals, knowing the importance of rest with a nine-hour bus ride ahead.

“Because we don’t play until 1 p.m. on Thursday, that’s like a night game for us,” he said. “Because the kids are used to getting up for practice at 7 o’clock in the morning – they’ll get to sleep in Thursday, so they’ll come into the game rested.”

Nearly two weeks removed from the last regular season game – a 68-56 upset over the Arizona men’s team – Frogley hopes his team’s confidence is still high.

“Coach (Bruce) Weber is going to be working on gaining momentum for the Big Ten tournament and the NCAAs, that’s what our ladies got today,” Frogley said after the Arizona win.

If the momentum is still there, Illinois should be the team to beat.