Illinois is in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament thanks in large part to players recruited from Eastern Europe. Coach Brad Underwood’s third-seeded Illini meet Big Ten foe and No. 9 seed Iowa Thursday night in the NCAA Tournament’s South Region final with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Led by first-year coach Ben McCollum Iowa is in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1987. The Illini will try to end Iowa’s charmed March run with a roster that includes four players from Eastern Europe and Andrej Stojakovic, who was born in Greece, but whose father is Serbian three-time NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic.