Austin Illini Club     

 2005 Postseason

Austin Illini Recaps of the 2005 Postseason:

Big Ten Tournament: first two rounds; 31-1

    Concerns Heading Into the Big Ten Finals

Concerns Answered: Big Ten Tournament Champions; 32-1

NCAA Tournament: Chicago Regional and Overall Number One Seed!!!

Round One: Done; 33-1

Round 2; back to dominant form; Big Ten season record for wins; 34-1

    Kill Cinderella: The Bruce Pearl Story

Sweet 16: Cinderella in a coffin; 35-1

    Big Ten, Baby!!!  Big Ten Dominates the Sweet 16 and Elite 8!!

Elite Eight: Thrilling jump to Final Four!!  36-1

Final Four: Defense crushes Louisville to Advance Illini to Championship game!  37-1!

Finals: Bittersweet Ending to a Great Season.  37-2.

Deron's Thank You

    Click Here to See the Recaps of the 2004-2005 Regular Season

Big Ten Tournament: Illinois defeats NU and Minn. to improve to 31-1

Bruce Weber's Mother passes away.

March 12, 2005

Illinois cruised to an easy victory over Northwestern Friday and an uncomfortably tight victory against Minnesota on Saturday under trying circumstance to advance to the Big Ten Tournament finals on Sunday.

The Northwestern game was one of the most boring games all year.  The 11:00 a.m. crowd at the United Center was dead, the game was unexciting, and Illinois maintained a double-digit lead throughout but never pulled away to make it an impressive rebound from its first loss all year.  Instead, Illinois simply cruised to an easy victory over a weaker opponent.

Off the court, a story developed that put a damper on the victory and places all the hype of college basketball into perspective.  Just before the game, Bruce Weber's mother was taken from the United Center to Rush Memorial Hospital a few blocks away due to chest pains.  Doctors determined that she suffered from a partially ruptured aorta, which when caught in time usually has a survival rate of 80%.  However, due to complications and her age (81), she died while undergoing surgery to fix the problem.  At the direction of both his mother before the surgery and his wife, Weber did not learn of her condition until after the game, but he was in the hospital with her when she passed away.

Weber decided to coach the next day against Minnesota, noting that his mother would have wanted him to do so in part because they are a "family of coaches."  Weber's father was a coach and his brother coaches Glenbrook North's high school boys team.  Indeed, his brother was coaching Glenbrook North in the Class AA sectionals to a one-point victory when their mother died and he did not learn about it until after the game, himself.

Nonetheless, Weber looked visibly shaken during pre-game interviews and during the game against Minnesota.  The team wore black bands on their jerseys in honor of her and gathered in a huddle before the game for a moment of silence together.  Even though it is not our own loss and we honestly can feel nothing but empathy for Weber's loss (as opposed to the personal sadness and loss that Weber must be experiencing), it does place the consequences of any game into perspective.

Perhaps because of this distraction, the Minnesota game was uncommonly close, considering how Illinois had completely dominated Minnesota during the regular season.  Minnesota jumped to an 11-4 lead early until Illinois ran off a 14-0 run to lead 22-13.  Illinois comfortably led by as much as 14 early in the second half and looked ready to close out the victory with an easy cruise.  But then Minnesota slowly came back, just like Ohio State did, and cut the lead to 2 points with six minutes left and 3 points with four minutes left.  This time, however, Illinois did clamp down defensively and closed the game out with an 8-2 run in the final four minutes.

Illinois is now 31-1 and headed into the Big Ten finals.  With the win, Illinois cemented what was already a rather well-secured #1 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament!

BTT Concerns: Illinois Looks Like It Has Lost Its Edge Going Into Big Ten Finals

March

It is difficult to assess the tight Minnesota victory because the team is so close that Weber's personal loss must have affected the team.  However, combined with other recent games, it looks as if the focus and confidence that once pushed the Illini through the mid-point of the regular season has digressed into complacency and overconfidence.  They have played well only in spurts and have in the past two weeks allowed Iowa, Ohio State, and Minnesota into games that should have been run-away victories.  

This observation does not stem from an overreaction to them finally losing a game.  That is not a problem.  It instead notes the way in which they lost that game and the reasons why they lost that game and almost lost some others.  Instead of thoroughly dominating their opponents, they have allowed weaker teams to stick around and challenge them, mostly due to three factors.  

First, the intensity and focus of the early and mid season is visibly less present.  They now play with more of an overconfident swagger that somewhat assumes they are going to win.  They appear far less focused on individual plays.  Then, when their backs are put against the wall, they play with too much intensity and play too tightly.  The difference does not appear to be that other teams have caught up, but that they are being caught punching-the-clock.

Second, they also appear far less team-oriented.  Head and Williams, in particular, have been dribbling the ball far more often, frequently looking to create individual opportunities instead of getting rid of the ball and using their off-the-ball movement and team passing ability to create open shots.  They have yelled at each other for mistakes, as if to blame and criticize others for the stumbles instead of focusing purely on encouraging each other and shaking off mistakes.  This internal criticism is not the result of the pressure of closer games.  These tight moments did happen against Iowa in Champaign, Wisconsin in Madison, and Michigan State in East Lansing.  However, in those games, Illinois banded together and encouraged each other to a win.  The recent internal criticism is more the cause of these recent, unnecessarily-close games and why Illinois has struggled to close them out (or lost them).

Finally, they have allowed external factors to get inside their heads and affect their play.  They became confused against Ohio State in part due to the crowd, as opposed to how they handled the crowd against Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Iowa.  They are arguing bad calls more often and not just moving onto the next play like they did earlier in the season.  They are retaliating against the expected smack from opposing players.  For instance, against Minnesota, Williams was fortunate to not get called for an intentional foul against Vincent Grier on a fast break, not to mention being lucky he did not injure himself.  Williams ended up on the ground in pain, himself, while Grier made the basket, swaggered over Williams for a moment of gangsta-paradise and converted the free throw for the three-point play.  The hard foul thereafter fueled Grier's second-half run as went on to lead all scorers with 24 points.  Williams ordinarily does not lose his composure and make a stupid foul like that, but Grier had been talking smack and Williams' hard foul was obviously intended to respond and shut him up.  It did neither.

These latter images were not imaginable earlier in the season: Head sticking his sassy tongue out after a good play like he would have as an insecure, arrogant freshman; Brown (of all people, Dee Brown) repeatedly arguing with the refs after bad calls instead of walking away as he did so impressively and so often early in the season; Williams trying to physically beat a cocky opponent into submission instead of quietly shutting him down with good defense.   They were smarter and better than that, and it reflected in the results.  

Perhaps this lack of focus is attributable to late-season fatigue.  Perhaps the Minnesota stumble was due to Weber's loss yesterday.  And perhaps they will step their intensity and focus up a notch when the NCAA tournament begins.  But no team could have beaten them they way they played in December, January, and early February.  Nobody.  They truly dominated each big game and confidently put away some close "trap" games with conviction and focus.  And with humility.  

They do not have the individual talent to assume they can win any game.  If they do not lose the overconfident swagger and return to their focused, team-oriented play, they will not even make it to St. Louis, no less cut down the nets.  If they do not regain their focus, they will become like North Carolina or Kansas, whose swagger turns quickly to confusion when things do not go perfectly, forcing them to rely on individual performances.  The Illini do not have the individual talent to overcome such hubris.  They have reached this point through humility and focus on playing as a team: the team being better than its parts.  They need to remember that perspective and regain that intense focus very soon before they become yet another top-ranked team that does not meet the high expectations that they created.

Concerns Answered: Big Ten Tournament Champions; 32-1

Illinois sets school record for victories at 32-1

March 13, 2005

Illinois regained its intensity just in time to pull away from a determined  Wisconsin team and win the Big Ten Tournament.

Although Illinois had looked unfocused and a bit sloppy, recently, Illinois truly came out and played with intensity on Sunday, despite the obvious fatigue from playing three days in a row amidst the emotional toll of Bruce Weber losing his mother immediately after the first game. 

They were very quick to the ball, made great decisions, stopped whining, played well as a team, and held Wisconsin to only 43 points.  Many of the concerns I noted from recent games were completely gone.

The only reason this game was not a blowout is that Illinois struggled a bit offensively.  Although they played with energy and effort, fatigue appeared to get to them.  Their shots looked like they lacked the legs to make them smooth and consistent.  Roger Powell was a beast on the boards with 12 rebounds, but many of them came offensively after he missed lay-ups inside.  Dee Brown went scoreless for the first time all season, shooting 0-8.  He was visibly shaken by his performance after the game.

Two out of three primary goals are under their belt.  Illinois won the Big Ten regular season outright, and won the Big Ten Tournament.  They also did so amidst a flurry of upsets throughout the country where the best teams faltered in their late season tournaments.  Even though many teams needed to lose out of necessity (namely, only one team from each conference could win each conference tournament), many top teams lost upsets to NCAA-bubble teams seeking to solidify their NCAA chances: including Oklahoma losing to Texas Tech, North Carolina losing to Georgia Tech, Kentucky losing to Florida, Boston College losing to West Virginia, Charlotte losing to Memphis, and Cincinnati losing to South Florida.  Out of all the tournaments, only the Big Ten and Pac Ten Tournaments ended up with two of the top three seeds playing in the final game.

This flurry of upsets reflected a flurry of losses amongst the top 10 in the final week of the season.  Many top teams backed into the end of the season.  Amidst all the turmoil, Illinois struggling a bit and losing only one game looks very impressive.  Other teams’ end-of-season struggles resulted in losses.  Illinois ’ struggles only resulted in abstract concerns.

With this victory, this year's Illini passed the Flyin' Illini's school record 31 victories in a season: yet another measure in which this year's team eclipses my heretofore favorite Illini team from when I was at U of I.

The number one Chicago Regional seed is a lock.

NCAA Tournament: Chicago Regional and Overall Number One Seed!!!

March 14, 2005

Illinois did it.  Two out of three titles, a near-perfect 32-1 record, and the number one ranking for 14 straight weeks amounted to the most important step so far toward the ultimate goal of a National Championship: the Number One Chicago/Midwest regional seed, which essentially gives them home court advantage throughout the tournament.  

Wow.

For those who have been in hibernation the past few weeks, every Illini game recently has featured video graphics detailing how little Illinois will need to travel for the tournament: 130 miles to Indianapolis for the first two rounds, 140 miles to Chicago for the third and fourth rounds, and 180 miles to St. Louis for the Final Four.  Champaign sits squarely in the center of a rather small geographic triangle of venues for the entire tournament. 

Just as importantly to minimizing travel time and exhaustion on the team, itself, Illinois' fan base will travel in huge numbers to each venue and turn the atmosphere into a home game.  Illinois has played in two out of the three venues already this season ( Indianapolis and Chicago ), and Illini fans have absolutely dominated each of them.  With all the buzz surrounding this team, and the fact that Illinois is looking for its first ever championship, each venue will be like a home venue for the Illini. 

The Illini fan base will be even more dominant for the second (and tougher) game of each weekend as the tickets from the first games’ losing teams are scalped to eagerly awaiting Illini fans.  

As for an analysis of the bracket, the news is not great.  The number 2, 3, and 4 seeds in Illinois ’ bracket were all considered number 1 seeds until late season losses dropped them down a notch.  Number 2 Oklahoma State went to the Final Four last year with essentially the same squad and has been in the top five for most of the year, and the top ten for the entire year.  Number 3 Arizona likely would have been a number 1 seed if it had defeated Washington in the Pac Ten Tournament finals.  Instead, Washington received the number one seed.  Fortunately, the Illini can potentially will only face one of these two teams.

Illinois could face one of those two teams only if it gets past the number 4 seed Boston College , the regular season champion of what many consider to be the toughest top-to-bottom conference in the country.   Boston College also was the only other undefeated team in the NCAA along with Illinois for a while before losing four games down the stretch, including an upset to West Virginia in the Big East Tournament.  Indeed, Boston College truly will be on a mission after being snubbed with a number four seed. 

Because of the strength of its top 4 seeds, the Midwest (or “ Chicago ”) Region is the most likely of all the brackets to have all of the top four seeds advance to the Sweet Sixteen.  As such, it is arguably the toughest bracket.  How Oklahoma State ended up the lowest number 2 seed and how Boston College descended to a number 4 seed, at all, is beyond me.

However, in previous years when Illinois has received a poor seed or an unduly tough bracket, most of my own complaints stemmed from a nagging lack of confidence about our team.  This year's team is not the same.  It features the classic three-guard set that has proven to be the strongest combination in the tournament, with one of the "guards" being a swingman (Head) who can play a forward's role.  It has swallowed top-notch opponents in one gulp on several occasions, and has only lost one game all year by being out-played for only a few minutes at end that game.  They have held the lead for something like 93% of the time.  Most of their wins are by double digits.

This year's team has proven itself above and beyond any possible expectations.  Although we all held high hopes for basketball season in light of the misery of Illinois football this year, nobody in their right minds would have expected the level of domination that this team has shown.  Despite some recent concerns, every other top team has struggled recently and shown similar concerns.  Our concerns resulted in one meaningless loss, whereas their concerns dropped them down a seed or revealed a weakness to be exploited by others.  Illinois' concerns center on internal motivation.  There's nothing anybody can do to cause the same breakdowns. 

Repeat the mantra:  If this team plays to its potential, there is no team in the country that can match them.  Other teams might have brilliant moments or spectacular individual talent, but they do not hold their destiny in their own hands like we do.  With home court advantage in our pocket, everybody is scared of us, and should be scared of us.  Despite our domination, we are also the fan favorite.  With no showboaters, with Illinois' underdog status as one of the best schools to never have won a championship, everything seems to be falling into place.  And even at our worst, I don't think our guys know that enough to let it go to their heads.

As for trivia notes, the Roy-Williams coaching-carousel trio of Illinois, Kansas, and North Carolina all making the Final Four is not possible with Kansas and North Carolina together in the Syracuse Regional bracket.  

Also, Illinois will not face any team it has played so far this season until the Final Four.  Wake Forest , Gonzaga, Cincinnati , and even Oakland are all in other brackets along with the other four Big Ten teams. 

That leads to another interesting trivia point: with Iowa squeaking into the tournament, the Big Ten received 5 bids, the second most of any conference.  Although the Committee does not consider the number of teams from any given conference and instead considers each team individually, the surprising status of the Big Ten stems from the surprise of Iowa getting into the Tournament despite expelling its best player due to criminal trouble and having only one quality win—over Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament—without him.  Iowa can thank Rutgers for knocking Notre Dame out and Clemson for knocking Maryland out of their respective conference tournaments.  Both Notre Dame and Maryland appeared to have secured NCAA at large bids with strong quality wins over top programs until they faltered against lesser teams in their final games.

Round One: Done; 33-1

Illini shake off the rust, clamp down on defense, and pull away to 67-55 victory

March 17, 2005

Despite Dick Enberg's attempts to instill panic in the viewer's hearts by claiming that Fairleigh Dickinson was putting a scare through the Illini by leading for 9 seconds late in the first half and by trailing by only one at the half due to a desperation three-pointer, the sun WILL rise in the East tomorrow, and Illinois did not become the first #1 seed to ever lose to a # 16 seed.  

Illinois did play a bit too loosely in the first half.  Fairleigh Dickerson was faster to the ball, more aggressive on rebounds, and played like a team that did not want to be taken for granted and "clock in" for their first and only NCAA tournament game.  They put down some impressive shots and monster dunks to accent that point, while Illinois' four alley-oop attempts went embarrassingly awry.  

But Illinois kept its head, did not panic, and had the conditioning to outlast F.D.'s first half spurt.  Coming out of halftime, Illinois' aggressive defense held Fairleigh Dickinson to only 8 points for the first 15 minutes of the second half, while Illinois rattled off 26 points to build a 19 point lead.  As usual, the flat-line defense held while Illinois' offense kept cruising at its regular clip.  

Another oft-celebrated point was that Dee Brown came to life, again.  His much-maligned performances since he shot the lights out against Purdue had led to speculation that the stress fracture in his foot had returned, or that his recent dental work would continue to interfere with his game, or that he was in a funk or an S.I. cover photo jinx.  He did not play perfectly, but he played just short of perfectly.  His shot returned--both on fast breaks and from ridiculous long range--and he led all scorers with 19 points.   

Illinois was also out-rebounded 21-12 in the first half, and 42-30 overall, making many comment about how Illinois' primary weakness is the lack of a dominant inside game.  But Fairleigh Dickinson's biggest strength was its inside game with its 7-foot Italian center.  We can live with losing the rebound battle for a game, so long as we still win the game.  

Thus, panic need not set in quite yet.  Dee Brown came back.  Illinois showed the defensive prowess that is necessary to win a championship, and advanced.  Little more need be said about the game.  Everyone has noted that Illinois can't play that way against Boston College or against other teams.  But that's just the thing: everyone knows that. 

Illinois now moves on to the second round on Saturday at 4:40 against Nevada, which eliminated Texas in a heartbreaker.  Thus, the Tex-Illini match-up that could have been will not be, eliminating the match-up that some of us had hoped for, while others of us Austin Illini had somewhat rued, if only to avoid the ire that we would have engendered in Austin from our team's eliminating Texas.  

Round 2; back to dominant form; Big Ten season record for wins; 34-1

Illini crush Nevada; cruise to the Third Round; 34-1

March 19, 2005

Just as people were worried about the Illini losing their dominant form, and just when critics were maligning Illinois' "weak" interior play, James Augustine and Jack Ingram (of all people) led the Illini to an easy 71-59 victory against Nevada.

Longhorn fans will be thanking us in the morning for knocking off the team that sent them home.

Augustine (23 points) and Ingram (12 points) both scored career highs against a Nevada team known for its interior strength.  Nevada was the worst team in the Division 1 NCAA basketball this year from three-point range, and relied almost entirely on its interior game.  Illinois depends on its outside game, so it looked like a mismatch was in store where our guards would smother theirs and their big men would smother ours.

Not so.  Augustine led all scorers with 23 points, many on wide-open slams created from his off-the-ball pick and roll movement: the kind of pick-and-roll movement that you would find in a textbook or a dictionary under "pick-and-roll."  

After leading all scorers against Fairleigh Dickinson, Dee Brown had another off night, scoring only two points.  However, as usual, when his shot did not work, he contributed in other ways, including five assists.

A solid win against one of the media darling mid-major programs.

But now the plot thickens, and not just because we are getting deeper into the tournament. 

Bruce Pearl--the nemesis to all Illini Nation--is the coach of the next team we face, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.  "Kill Cinderella."

Kill Cinderella: The Bruce Pearl Story

March 22, 2005

Last week, when Illinois was announced as the overall #1 seed in the tournament, I jocularly proffered the new motto for Illini Nation: "Kill Cinderella."  This motto did not stem from particular animosity against or actual violent proclivities toward a childhood fairy tale, but merely reflected some witty hyperbole to accentuate the impressive accomplishment that, as the #1 seed overall, EVERY team was a Cinderella to us.  

But now the plot thickens, and not just because we are getting deeper into the tournament. The motto has new meaning.  

Bruce Pearl is the coach of the next team we face, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.  By virtue of their victory over Boston College and advancing to the Sweet 16, the University of Milwaukee is this year's "Cinderella."  And there is no team we as a school would rather humiliate more: not even Iowa.

As a caveat, I hesitate to add to the furor because many of our less-sophisticated, older Illini across the country have suggested this week that they have been waiting for 15 bitter years to be able to endlessly heckle Pearl with profanities throughout a game.  His nickname is "Satan" among many Illini, and their hyperbole would make you think that Pearl raped their daughters and murdered their wives.  (Sometimes I wonder if these misguided characters would get this upset over rape and murder, even).  

I really hope that does not happen, because they will only humiliate all Illini if our dregs vulgarly heckled an opposing coach on National T.V. when we are the overwhelming favorites: nobody likes a sore winner.  Evil wins when it drags us down to its level and makes us hate like evil hates.  

So some people really need to gain some perspective.  Nonetheless, so that we all know the true story and can spread the word at the water cooler, here is the background.  

In the world of sports and games, Bruce Pearl one of the most despicable, childish, rude, and self-centered lowlifes out there.  He has a reputation for his wild sideline antics and loudmouth intimidation tactics: yelling at officials to disrupt their explanations to opposing coaches, getting into fights with opposing fans, etc.  His supporters call it "enthusiasm;" his critics call it "psychosis."  People who have worked with him at other schools have said that he was commonly considered to be unethical, selfish, manipulative, and dirty, and that they were embarrassed to work with him.  But his relevant character flaws for which all Illini should revile him came out in their worst form in the early 1990s in the post-Flyin Illini years.

The last time the Illini made it to the Final Four--the year of the Flyin' Illini--our prospects for becoming a powerhouse looked rather sweet.  That team gave Illinois the prowess and recognition to recruit some major talent.  They were clean, fun, enthusiastic, and portrayed exactly the right image for Illinois: much like this year's team.  Lou Henson was widely respected and had successfully cleaned up the program from the slush fund problems of the 1960s when he started at Illinois.  Several "Mr. Basketballs" in Illinois committed to Illinois on the strength and character of the Flyin' Illini: Deon Thomas being the most notable, as well as Marcus Liberty, who played a year with the Flyin' Illini.  Juwan Howard and Chris Weber were also rumored to be heading to Illinois, as well, as were several other top prospects.  

Deon Thomas was one of the most recruited kids out of Chicago in 1989.  Jimmy Collins--an Illinois assistant coach at the time with strong ties to Chicago and the Chicago Public League school where Thomas played--convinced Thomas to choose Illinois over Iowa due in part to Illinois' record at turning Chicago kids into college graduates, not just basketball players.  Thomas himself had leaned toward Iowa, but his grandmother who raised him trusted Illinois and specifically did not like or trust Bruce Pearl, the assistant coach from Iowa who strongly recruited Thomas.  

Pearl continued to repeatedly call Thomas at odd hours and several times a day after Thomas chose Illinois asking him what they had offered him, whether they offered him money or "a Chevy Blazer," and indicating that he would match or exceed whatever Illinois had offered.  He followed Thomas to Amsterdam when Thomas played in an all-star high school exhibition.  He hired one of Thomas' friends, Renaldo Kyles, to trail Thomas, help him find out what it would take to recruit Thomas, and help encourage Thomas to change his mind and choose Iowa.  

On one occasion, Pearl called Thomas and woke him up.  Thomas--a 17-year old boy at the time--dismissively answered a series of probing, leading questions about what Illinois had offered him with passive admissions like "Yeah, sure," "I don't know," "Yeah, somewhat," and "whatever," and hung up.  

Unbeknownst to Thomas, Pearl was surreptitiously wiretapping these conversations.  Only after it became apparent that Thomas would not change his mind, and with the approval and encouragement of Tom Davis (Iowa's head coach), Pearl filed recruitment violation charges with the NCAA, claiming that Illinois had paid Thomas.   As evidence, Pearl submitted a 6 minute segment of the illegally wiretapped tapes containing admissions where Thomas purportedly admitted he was offered $80,000 and a Chevy Blazer, with conveniently-erased sections.  Thomas later identified those erased sections as the segments in which Pearl offered to match and beat anything Illinois had offered. 

The NCAA launched a long, drawn out investigation for the next two years, spearheaded by a former roommate of Pearl's and several recent Iowa graduates.  Evidence later came to light that Pearl had even prepared written transfer papers in advance for Thomas to sign so he could play at Iowa as a result of being prohibited from playing for Illinois.  Some have speculated that he set the whole thing up as a last-ditch effort to snag Thomas back to Iowa.  Indeed, several investigators repeatedly told Thomas they would drop the entire investigation if Thomas went anywhere but Illinois.  He stayed.

Phone records showed that phone conversation contained in Pearl's 6-minute tape was actually 14 minutes long.  During the investigation, Illinois requested that Pearl release the remainder of the submitted conversation plus the remainder of Pearl's tapes to put the conversation in context.  He refused.  Illinois requested that the tapes be submitted to an independent lab for analysis to verify they had not been altered or tampered.  Pearl refused.  

The investigation produced little corroboration of Pearl's allegations.  Thomas' explanation that he didn't know how to handle Pearl's repeated phone calls and simply didn't argue with Pearl stood up.  But others came forward with similar allegations: most notably that Collins had also offered to pay LaPhonzo Ellis to play at Illinois, even though Ellis eventually chose Notre Dame.  (Ellis later publicly admitted that he was pressured into lying about the claims that Collins had offered him money).  Other violations included giving players Chevy Blazers, sloppy record keeping of recruiting contacts, and unofficial visits with recruits. 

The NCAA also found in its constant vigilance and never-ending search for truth and justice that Jimmy Collins had illegally given Thomas $10 for a pizza one night during Thomas' suspension from play due to the NCAA investigation and that Collins shook hands with Thomas during a chance encounter at Aunt Sonya's in Champaign, violating NCAA rules regarding limiting and documenting the contacts coaches have with potential recruits. 

Even with the illegally wiretapped conversation, the resulting NCAA investigation cleared Illinois and Thomas of Pearl's charges.   Nonetheless, because of the pizza loan and some inconsistencies between different witnesses about whether Chevy Blazers were sold to some of the Flyin' Illini players on favorable credit terms, the NCAA imposed sanctions on the program, anyway.  Because these minor and even questionable violations followed on the heels of more serious violations in the football program in the 1980s under Mike White, as well as the slush fund violations of the 1960s, the NCAA stiffened the sanctions and banned Illinois from post-season play for one year, and reduced scholarships for two years.

As a result, Juwan Howard and Chris Weber instead went to Michigan (creating the unexpected windfall of the "Fab Five" for Michigan), eventually to take Michigan to the National Championship game.  Several other prize recruits also went elsewhere.  Instead of being the foundation of the next great generation of Illini basketball, Thomas was somewhat stranded at Illinois with only role players willing to play for a suspended team.  Nonetheless, Thomas eventually graduated with a stellar GPA and proved to be not just a good basketball player, but an even better person.  Thomas' record for total career points also still stands at Illinois.  

However, the reputation of head coach Lou Henson was tarnished and the reputation of Jimmy Collins, the black assistant coach whom Pearl accused of bribing Thomas, was ruined.  Although nothing was proven, the mere allegation tainted his reputation.  (To be thorough, Collins' own street-manner of speaking and his close ties with Chicago Public League coaches known for selling their players did not help dispel any rumors.)  Having lost the momentum of the Flyin Illini's success, and amidst the taint of unfounded NCAA violations and sanctions over minor violations, Henson continued to have difficulty recruiting top players to Illinois and was eventually forced to "retire" early in the mid-90s.  Collins, once the heir-apparent to the head coaching job, was passed over for Lon Kruger.  

In the aftermath, Dick Vitale--an eternal optimist who rarely has anything negative to say about anybody and who annoys people with his eternal optimism and enthusiasm--described Pearl on national television as "totally unethical" and indicated that Pearl committed "career suicide" from his involvement in the investigation.  He lambasted Pearl for ruining a fine program and ruining the reputation of both Lou Henson and Jimmy Collins, who both recruited underprivileged kids from Chicago not just to play for Illinois, but to graduate from Illinois.

In the aftermath, Vitale was right: Pearl had committed career suicide and could not get a job coaching in Division I for over a decade.  His fate did not stem from breaking a code of silence, but from manufacturing evidence and manipulating a 17 year-old kid to serve his own purposes.   He won a Division II National Championship at a small school in Southern Indiana, and recently was hired by UW-Milwaukee as its coach.  He has never expressed contrition for his tactics, no less the consequences of his manipulation.  Indeed, he has defended his actions, said he would do it again, and spontaneously added that he is "a good father and a good person," which all good fathers and good persons frequently say about themselves spontaneously.

Many headlines and talk this year feature Bill Self as the target of Illini bitterness because he left Illini nation hanging by choosing to go to Kansas after only two years.  I personally regret but respect Self's decision and consider Roy Williams to be more of the villain, if anybody is a villain.  Moreover, in light of Kansas' loss to Bucknell in the first round of the Tournament and our success under Bruce Weber, I doubt that we should really complain about Bill Self, anymore.  Bill Self is actually a good guy who very reluctantly left us to accept one of the top three basketball jobs in the country; and he still left our program far better than it was when he arrived.  He freed our program from the taint of the late Lou Henson years, and left our program on the verge of greatness, allowing Bruce Weber to be our Joshua.  He also did not encourage any players to follow him, even though Charlie Villanueva did renege his commitment to Illinois in the wake of Self's departure.  (Fortunately, at that.) 

But Self is just a blip on the radar compared to what Bruce Pearl did to Illinois and what Illini fans think of Pearl.  Bruce Pearl truly wreaked havoc on our reputation and our success, all out of his bitterness for losing a single recruit.  Many older Illini fans have an irrational hatred for this filthy little pawn.  

All that said, I don't support heckling the guy or making an ass of ourselves on National television when we are supposed to be "the good guys," "the ever-positive and loyal Illini fans," and such.  A few confirmatory boos at the beginning and knowing grin at the end of the game should suffice.  It might also be nice if, when Illinois is up by 20 midway in the second half, Bruce Weber calls a time out, gathers his team, and says, "For the fans... tonight only... we run up the score."  

Perhaps the best part of this vengeance is that the current Illini team and coaches do not have a personal connection to this grudge.  They will not be distracted by it, will remain focused on taking care of business as usual, and not allow it to turn them into bad sports.  Bruce Weber graduated from UW-Milwaukee and was an assistant at Purdue when it all happened.  

It is the older fans who have not forgotten and who will likely bask in the glory of revenge and perhaps even be rather sore winners when all is said and done.  The scene could get ugly... very ugly.  Turn down the volume on your televisions if you have children in the room. 

Update: Lou Henson originally refused to comment, saying it was better to not contribute.  After a week of hearing about Illini bitterness, he broke his silence and urged fans to get over it.  He refused to even speak Pearl's name, but defended Jimmy Collins, saying Collins would have been fired if any of the allegations were true.  He also asked Illini Nation to focus on the joy of this year's team instead of the misery of the past.   Link: http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/rozner.asp?id=23686 

Sweet 16: Cinderella in a coffin; 35-1

Elite 8, Baby!!!

March 24, 2005

Illinois did not sate the fans appetite for a blowout, but they sounded and confidently killed Cinderella, 77-63.  Bruce Pearl goes home to spontaneously talk about being a "good person and a good father" for the entire summer, and the distraction is put to rest.

Illinois' backcourt flourished, with Dee Brown and Deron Williams both scoring 21 points.  At the end of the game, they smiled and smacked hands in celebration.  It's been a while since they both had a good night at the same time.  In a night of dual-image scoring, Roger Powell and Luther Head also both added 12 points each.  

Illinois led wire-to-wire, nourishing a double-digit lead that was only briefly diminished into single-digits a few times in the second half.  Perhaps the only concern in terms of controlling the game tempo is that the Illini never really put the game away until late in the game.

To its credit, Wisconsin Milwaukee played the Illini tough with their full-court press that had rattled Alabama and Boston College, but Illinois kept the floor spread and barely had trouble breaking the press, going for a long, 20-plus minute stretch without a single turnover.  UW-Milwaukee's Joah Turner played a phenomenal game, as well, leading all scorers with 32 points.  Illinois failed to stop the other guy's star, but held the rest of their team in check, which is fine.

Emphasizing a season-long concern about our strength inside, and somewhat similar to the Fairleigh-Dickinson game, Wisconsin Milwaukee scored most of their points inside, especially off scrappy, long rebounds and put-backs.  If any weakness existed, it was Illinois' ability to box out and scrap for the long rebounds.

Rumor has it that the fans booed long and strong when Pearl was introduced--as we did at Ringers every time Pearl was shown onscreen--but few other distractions made it into the National Media.  The bitterness from the worst-case-scenario after the Flyin' Illini years finally put to rest, this team can now focus on its next game and on improving on the Flyin' Illini's performance.

Meanwhile, the first #1 seed fell tonight as Louisville upset Washington with a very strong performance.  Illinois keeps rolling strongly and confidently, but it still has not completely dominated a game since Purdue came to town.  The operative questions: is Illinois toying with its opponents so as to just do enough to win each game comfortably?  Are they able to keep turning their performance up a notch as the competition gets tougher.

And tougher the competition will get.  Illinois arguably had the easiest Sweet 16 match-up, and will arguably have the toughest Elite Eight match-up when they face Arizona in a re-match of the 2001 Elite 8 game that many of us Austin Illini watched in San Antonio.  On the heels of Lute Olsen's media campaign complaining about Illinois' "rough" play, the refs breathed through their whistles all game calling ticky-tacky foul after ticky-tacky foul. 

A great team must overcome bad officiating, but when one team goes to the line 56 times in a game and scores over 40 points from the free throw line, and when 6 players foul out, you either have a filthy, dirty team of criminal thugs or absolutely horrible officiating that truly decided the fate of the game.  

These are two completely different teams, even though Arizona's senior center Channing Frye was on that 2001 Arizona team.  The 2001 Illini also were prone to let external factors affect their play, and after a while they seemed to give up on the game, themselves.  This year's club is not completely immune to bad officiating, but they are far less subject to it. 

35-1.  3 games to go.  Now is where the pressure begins.

Big Ten, Baby!!!  Big Ten Dominates the Sweet 16 and Elite 8!!

Big Ten lands 3 teams in Elite Eight; all other conferences have 1 at most

March 25, 2005

All year long... all friggin year long... we heard and read and watched reports about the toughness of the ACC, the Big East, and the Big 12.  Kansas, Duke, Oklahoma State, Boston College, Wake Forest, Syracuse, Oklahoma, UConn, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Notre Dame, and Gonzaga all were supposedly the top teams that each made their conferences that much tougher.  Illinois ascended to the top only by virtue of wins over two of these teams during non-conference play and by cruising through a "weak" Big Ten conference schedule.  The Big Ten added to that impression by laying down in the ACC-Big Ten challenge and winning only 2 of 9 match-ups.

The consensus was that Illinois' quest for an undefeated season would have been a joke if they had to play in the ACC.

When the Big Ten received five NCAA bids, many cried foul.  Maryland and Notre Dame both allegedly had much tougher conference schedules and were purportedly robbed by Big Ten teams who took advantage of cupcakes.

Well, these cupcakes were filled with vitamins and protein powder, because the Big Ten now has three teams left in the tournament in the Elite 8.  

Michigan State beat Duke and Wisconsin beat North Carolina State Friday night, joining Illinois who advanced on Thursday by beating UW-Milwaukee.  The mighty Big 12 is done, and the remaining major conferences all have only one representative, each to round out the Elite 8: ACC (Carolina), Big East (West Virginia),  SEC (Kentucky), Conf USA (Louisville), and the Pac Ten (Arizona).  In a year when the Big Ten is supposed to be down, the Big Ten has truly risen to the occasion and shown up the other major conferences! 

This sudden surge should also give Illinois fans even more confidence that our Big Ten Championship was not as meaningless as many have made it out to be and that Illinois did not just benefit from a weak Big Ten conference schedule.  Our wins at Wisconsin and Michigan State now become more solid indicators of our ability.  Not that we needed more encouragement, but it puts some anxiety to rest.  We definitely control our own destiny, and if we play to our ability, nobody will be able to beat us. 

What an amazing year so far!  Let's hope it only keeps going as well!

Elite Eight: Thrilling Jump to Final Four!!  36-1

Illini come back from 15 down within 4 minutes, and 10 down within 1 minute to advance to Final Four!

March 26, 2005

In one of the most thrilling roller-coaster rides in 100 years of Illinois basketball, Illinois put together a stunning come back in the final four minutes to pull out a victory over an Arizona team that had outplayed them for most of the game.

Most of the talk will understandably center around those final four minutes.   But to appreciate the magnitude of those final four minutes, one needs to consider the flow of the entire game and how it made the comeback so incredibly improbable.

Illinois jumped to a quick 6-0 lead.  Then the nerves hit.  Illinois telegraphed two soft cross-court passes that Arizona intercepted for fast break points.  Arizona took the lead two minutes later at 10-8.  Illinois took it back two minutes later at 17-14.  Arizona regained the lead a minute later, and the Illinois took it back a minute later and held it for the last 8 minutes of the half.

As the Illini lead slowly grew to 36-29, Illinois looked to have survived the initial big-game jitters to regain control of the game.  Arizona played well, but Illinois had an answer for every surge.  

Then, in the final four minutes of the first half, Illinois' offense flat-lined, scoring only two minutes in those final four minutes.    Illinois had used its flat-line defense as a key component of winning big games throughout the season: instead of simply out-scoring the other team, Illinois shuts down its opponent's offense while Illinois continued scoring at its normal clip.  This time, Arizona continued its normal scoring progression as Illinois' offense flat-lined and Arizona cut the lead to only 2 points going into the half.  

No worries.  Illinois was still up by two.  Illinois has typically made better halftime adjustments than its opponents this year, and Illini fans figured that they had seen Arizona's best and we still came out with a two-point lead.

Not quite.  Arizona came out of the half to quickly tie the game.  Powell responded with a lay-up to take the lead again.  After tying the game again, Arizona built a quick six-point lead with 16 minutes left on two three-pointers from Radenovic and Salim Stoudamire.  

Stoudamire was Arizona's star and leader all season.  One of the keys to the game was clearly to stop him, and Deron Williams had smothered him all game.   But then Stoudamire hit his next two-point shot, on the next possession.  Stoudamire had exploded in the second half before, and it looked like he was getting his stroke back.

Illinois battled back to tie the game at 49, but something was wrong.  Illinois looked intimidated.  They did not run clear offensive sets.  Their defense seemed a step behind.  And the look in their eyes showed something that had only cropped up a few times all season: fear.  Illinois lost its focus in that fear.  Arizona, on the other hand, remained hungrier, more aggressive, and more focused.

Arizona started pulling away, and mostly without Stoudamire.  Perhaps the distraction of worrying about Stoudamire lighting it up gave his teammates open looks.  The rest of the Arizona was on fire.  Hassan Adams made a lay-up.  Channing Frye hit a jump shot.  Adams hit a three.  Jawaan McClennan slammed home a dunk.  Adams hit another lay-up.  Mustafa Shakur hit a three.  Then Frye stepped out and hit a three, himself, to extend the lead to 70-58: the appearance of a 20-point lead, with Arizona about to surge even more.

Ingram cut it to ten points with a jump shot, but Arizona scored the next five points from the free throw line to extend the lead to 15 with 4:02 left in the game.  

Arizona was solidly in control of the game, and seemed to be the team destined to win.  Every rebound seemed to fall their way, mostly because they had three guys swarm the ball and box out our rebounders.  Arizona looked like a team of destiny making that destiny come true.  They worked harder for rebounds, they generally played defense more aggressively, and from their stature and composure truly looked like they wanted to win more.  Channing Frye was having a career night from the inside, eating up James Augustine on both ends of the floor. 

Arizona also seemed to be getting all the calls from the refs, who swallowed their whistles when Illinois had the ball and found them when Arizona had the ball.  With 4:05 left, McClellan drove down the middle of the lane out of control, and Roger Powell got position, stood there, and was bowled over by McClellan.  The refs called a blocking foul on Powell.  

After steaming quietly for the past five minutes as I watched Illinois' season dwindle down to a few minutes, I jumped out of my chair on that call and yelled a stream of obscenities that visibly scared everyone around me and made me glad in hindsight that Ringers was a 21 and over venue and little Isabella was not there with us.

I sulked back into my chair in frustrated embarrassment and thought about how this team would join the 2001 team as an elite-eight flare out.  And to Arizona... again to Arizona!!  Any team but Arizona!!

Illinois was also out of sync: the same fearful out-of-sync we all saw at Ohio State.  The doubt was apparent in their eyes and in the way they played: maybe we are not so good, after all.  They looked to pass when they should have looked to shoot.  They shot when they normally would have made the extra pass to a more open opportunity.  

Williams quickly hit a three with just under 4 minutes remaining, but Augustine committed his fifth foul on the ensuing Arizona possession and McClellan hit his two free throws.   With only 3:30 left, and down by 14 now, Illinois simply could not trade baskets, nor could they even trade threes for twos.  They needed defense.  And now Augustine, their best interior defender, had fouled out.

I thought about how Illinois had slumped in the past month and lost its focus.  They seemed to just assume that they would win instead of putting together the effort to earn the wins.  They had played sub-par teams that lulled them into a false sense of assurance, allowing them to be overwhelmed once they again met a top team that was hungrier than they were.  

The game was not over, but it would take a miracle to pull it out.  Everything would have to fall our way.  Arizona couldn't score, and we would need to quickly score on every possession.  Given Arizona's dominance, as well as Illinois' tentativeness, it didn't seem likely.  I started feeling bitter about the one-and-done format of the college tournament.  Illinois would win a playoff series between the teams, but in a single elimination tournament, they just met Arizona on the wrong day.

Then, someone hit me on the head, knocked me unconscious, and I absolutely must have dreamed the final four minutes of the second half.

Luther hit a three.  Illinois stole the inbounds pass and Dee Brown hit a two-point jumper to cut the lead to single-digits.  Arizona called a timeout to re-group, but couldn't inbound the ball and called another timeout.  

Illinois had awoken and suddenly was playing incredible defense.  Too bad it came too late.  Only two and a half minutes left, still down by nine, against an Arizona team that was having the game of its life.

Stoudamire took the ball, expecting to work his magic and put the game away.  Instead, his two-point jump shot went wild, and Luther Head grabbed the rebound.  

On the ensuing possession, Williams made a phenomenal spin move to create a wide-open seven foot jumper in the lane.  Hope.  It fell short.  Despair.  Powell's hustle finally reappeared and he grabbed the rebound with room for a put-back.  Hope.  McClellan solidly blocked the lay-up from even leaving Powell's hand, straight downwards.  Despair.  Illinois didn't have enough time to miss.  McClennan grabbed the loose ball.  Stuck in despair, with 1:46 remaining.  

Arizona moved down court with a nine point lead and less than two minutes to play.  Frye got the ball at the top of the key and dribbled the ball to the left on the arch to create space between him and Adams to the right of the arch.  He telegraphed his pass to Adams a bit too much.  Head made his move to jump in between, stole the ball and sprinted the length of the court for a soft, very safe dunk to cut the lead to only seven.  No showboat theatrics, but the crowd at the Horizon went wild.  Illini across the country jumped out of their chairs in joyous hope.  

Still down by seven.  Still only 1:25 to play.  Still a three-possession game.

Time to put them on the line.  Powell quickly fouled McClennan, who was a good free-throw shooter, but was also only a freshman.  He missed the first free throw.  Hope.  McClellan made the next free throw, extending the lead to eight: still within three possessions.  

Williams caught Arizona off-guard by quickly driving the length of the floor in Tyus-Edny style, made a great cut at the free throw line to put Stoudamire off balance backwards, and then redirected his dribble to the middle for a quick lay-up.  Only five seconds ticked off, lead cut to six.

Brown fouled Shakur almost instantly to save time on the clock.  But Shakur hit both his free throws.  Still an 8-point deficit.

Illinois got the ball to the frontcourt quickly, but Arizona's defense swarmed to cut off any open shot.  There was no time to waste as the clock ticked under a minute.  We still had eight points to catch up on.  Luther Head got the ball about six feet beyond the arc and just launched a desperation shot as best he could.  Bang!  Nothing but net!  Down to five points.  58 seconds remaining.

Arizona in-bounded to Stoudamire, an excellent ball handler.  Williams reached around him gingerly a few times to foul, but then caught sight of Weber at the bench yelling, "NO FOUL!"  Williams stopped going for the foul and instead played aggressive defense going for the ball, not caring if he was called for the foul.  Amazingly smart play, and great coaching.  They had just enough time left to allow Arizona to handle the ball and save the foul for a chance to steal the ball instead of just automatically putting Arizona on the free throw line.  

Stoudamire dribbled carefully to their frontcourt, taking good care of the ball and weaving back and forth with his back to his defender.  Textbook ball protection.  He then got rid of it to avoid being fouled, himself, passing it to Adams, who was guarded by Brown at the top of the key.  Adams swung the ball down and to the other side, telegraphing the start of his dribble to the opposite side.  Brown reached in and tapped the first bounce, knocking it into the backcourt.  Brown left the ball and just exploded toward the basket, having caught sight of Williams going for the ball.  Williams stumbled off balance as he got to the ball, and all he could do was two-hand underhand pitch it to Brown, who drove in for the lay-up.  

Down to three points!  Forty-five seconds left!  All but the Arizona fans were going wild: fans who had started ruing the Illini due to their run at the top were now converts, wildly screaming with the most loyal of Illini fans!  77-80!!

Arizona called a timeout to set up the inbounds and the next possession.  Off the timeout, though, Ingram tipped the inbounds pass upward, and Head came down with it on the left side.  His back to the basket and to his team, Head passed to Dee, who had an open look of the floor.  Dee found Deron cross-court near the top of the key.  

Time reduced to slow motion.  Deron saw Ingram moving right in front of him to set a screen for him: blessed Jack Ingram from San Antonio, with the presence of mind after creating the turnover to not look at the ball but instead allow the ball to move without him while he sets a screen for Williams.  Deron caught the ball, took one dribble to step to the left so his defender ran into Ingram.  He then saw the basket wide open in front of him, with Ingram's defender wildly and fruitlessly diving to close the gap from too far inside.  He set and launched a beautiful three-point shot, which hung in the air for six minutes and thirty-five seconds before coming down through the middle of the basket! 

"Did that just happen?!?!  That did NOT just happen!!!  You gotta be KIDDING me!!"

With still 38 seconds remaining, after the Illini had scored 10 points in just 22 seconds, the game was tied at 80!

Arizona advanced the ball to its frontcourt and called a timeout to set its offense.  During the time out, CBS showed foreboding replays of Stoudamire's game-winning shot against Oklahoma State just two nights earlier, with Illinois fans at that Sweet 16 game ironically cheering in the background.  Stoudamire had been cold all night, but he still posed a threat that nobody should dismiss.

Arizona in-bounded to Stoudamire, who jogged from sideline to sideline dribbling the ball at half court like a prowling caged lion, letting the clock wind down to ten seconds before pouncing.  He drove left to the corner, but Williams ran around the screens and stuck with him.  Without a shot, Stoudamire had to dish to McClellan who threw up a horrible shot of the rim into the awaiting hands of Dee Brown with 6 seconds remaining.

Luther Head instantly called for a timeout right in front of the refs, but they didn't hear him amidst the roar of the crowd.  Brown, pressured against the baseline, threw the ball upcourt, but it was tipped and fell into Stoudamire's hands as he backpedaled on defense.  With two seconds left, Stoudamire set to shoot from the top of the key.  Luther Head stepped up to block his shot from even going past the three-point arch.  Adams grabbed the ball and fruitlessly threw it toward the basket, but the buzzer sounded before he got it off.  It missed, anyway.  

Overtime.  

Before the tip, the crowd deafened Arizona with their "I-L-L, I-N-I" cheers from either side of the court.  The crowd had come to life, giving Illinois the home court advantage they had worked all season to achieve.

Williams opened overtime with another three pointer.  Frye answered with a short jumper.  After Williams missed a three point shot, Frye--who was having a career night--exploded for a monster slam to take the lead again, 84-83: the last lead Arizona would hold all season long.

Illinois scored the next seven points to take a seven point lead with only two minutes left to play, capped by an amazing steal and fast break lay-up by Luther Head.  Replays showed Head's defiant, angry, focused expression as he drove down the left side of the court looking at his defender trying to catch up in the middle: staring his defender down as he assessed the movement and made adjustments to his drive to make sure the lay-up would not be blocked. 

Arizona scored the next five points to close the lead to 90-89 with 53 seconds remaining. Aside from Frye's dunk, Illinois' defense restricted Arizona to tough, contested shots, whereas Illinois' offensive motion had created relatively open looks.  Especially on defense, Illinois had come to life and finally looked like a top-ranked team.

On its final possession, up by one, Illinois tried to set Head up for a drive, but Arizona's defense was aggressive and tight, again.  Head finally drove, anyway, and got a horrible shot off, which clanked into Adams' arms.  Arizona ball with 16 seconds left.  Stoudamire brought the ball upcourt and called a timeout with 11 seconds remaining.

Again, Illinois would need to rely on its defense.  Everyone expected Stoudamire or perhaps Frye to take the final shot.  Lute Olsen thus called a play for Adams, who had been having an incredible night.  

Williams was exhausted from guarding Stoudamire all night, so Illinois switched defensive assignments to put a fresher Luther Head on Stoudamire.  Head is generally a quicker, better defender, but had been pulled off Stoudamire because of a pulled hamstring.  With the game on the line and only one play to defend, Head was given the assignment.

Shakur received the inbounds pass and dished it off to Adams at the top of the key.  Adams dribbled the ball at the top of the key, faking and looking for an opportunity to drive.  Everyone watched Stoudamire, expecting him to suddenly cut for a pass, but he stood idly at the left.  Frye stood idly under the basket, with Ingram closely on his every move.  Perhaps Arizona had expected a zone defense and was distracted by Illinois' man-to-man defense.  

Due to the defensive switch, Williams now guarded Adams at the top, and fronted him perfectly, not overplaying any of Adams' fakes.  With two seconds left, Adams finally moved to drive, stepped back, and launched a Hail-Mary shot with Williams in his face.  The shot bounced harmlessly off the right side of the backboard without coming close to the rim as time expired.

Illinois had just won one of the most amazing comeback victories in NCAA history.  We danced around Ringers like madmen in a state of euphoric shock and blessed relief.  Instead of another flame out to Arizona in the Elite 8, Illinois moves on to the Final Four.  Bruce Weber was caught on camera crying in joy while hugging one of his assistants and hugging his brother.  

Unbelievable.  

In the end, three unstated, general factors helped contribute to the win.  First, all the talk about Illinois needing to lose a game during the season in order to win the Championship proved to quite possibly be true, and not because of statistics.  With five minutes left to play, the Illini had the same confusion in their eyes that they had against Ohio State.  Perhaps because of that experience, they were able to refocus and regain their composure that allowed them to make that final run.

They are a great group of kids, but they are still kids, inclined to believe the myths and accolades that swarm around them.  Although they went longer than most other teams would have without needing a dose of humility to keep them honest and focused, they ultimately did need that dose, and got it just in time.  

Second, during the game they were actually able to regain the focus and humility that had brought them there: and just in time.  They had been playing as if they could take wins for granted.  They had not focused on the play before them with the same level of intensity that they did earlier in the season.  They knew it wasn't necessary.  But when crunch time came against Arizona, and just before it was too late to do any good, they buckled down and refocused on each play with the intensity and determination they showed the entire game against Wake Forest.

Luther Head's defiant, angry stare-down as he drove down the court to extend the lead in overtime exemplified this concerted focus.  Instead of a cocky swagger, and instead of a fear-stricken panic that the cocky swagger turns into when unsuccessful, they were able in crunch time to focus on the play in front of them with determination and discipline.  

Finally, the home court advantage that they worked so hard to earn through the season long definitely became another element that made the comeback possible.  Without the crowd, they would not have been psychologically capable of putting together such a comeback.  The crowd also certainly psychologically worked into Arizona's collapse.  With the crowd behind the Illini, they were able to muster just enough magic to survive regulation and win it in overtime.

Illinois survived its greatest challenge from a strong Arizona team.  Perhaps this game will serve as the wake-up call the Illini so desperately needed.  They again regained that play-by-play determined focus that made them the dominant team at the top of the college basketball world.  Hopefully, they will understand the message to be that they need to have that focus to win.  Hopefully, they will not allow their ability to pull this game out of their hats to add to their assumption that they can win without that focus.

Onwards to St. Louis.

Final Four: Defense crushes Louisville to Advance Illini to Championship game!  37-1!

Second-Half Defensive Effort Crushes Louisville: Illinois One Win Away from Championship

April 2, 2005

Louisville came out strong and kept up with Illinois for the first 3/4 of the game.  But that's all they could do: just keep up.  With ten minutes left to play, Illinois' flat-line defense kicked in, holding Louisville scoreless for close to the next five minutes as Illinois slowly cruised to a 12 point lead.  Louisville matched baskets with Illinois for the next few minutes, but Illinois did not relent and pulled away to a convincing, 15-point victory, 72-57.

Every big win this year has featured that flat-line defense: completely shutting down the other team's offense as they continue to score at their regular pace.  This game was no exception.

It did not look all perfect.  Although Illinois controlled most aspects of the game from the start, they lacked the one thing that matters most: shooting accuracy.  Throughout the first half, their offense kept providing them with open looks, but they kept missing open shots, which allowed Louisville to stay in the game.  

On the other end, Illinois allowed few open shots, keeping Louisville from taking too much advantage of Illinois' shooting troubles.  Illinois also dominated the boards, had twice as many assists in the first half and in the game, and generally looked more aggressive and in control.  Their offense did work to give them open shots; they just did not fall.  

The refs also called the game incredibly tight to start the game, with Powell getting two fouls within the first nine minutes, forcing him to sit on the bench for most of the first half.  

Without Powell in the game, Illinois seemed to sit on the perimeter passing the ball around.  Whenever the ball went inside, they did not look to shoot at all, but instead immediately looked to kick the ball back outside to the perimeter.

After Louisville came out of halftime with five straight points to take its first and only lead of the game at 33-31, Powell came off the bench to score Illinois' next nine points, helping them regain a three point lead.  That stretch included a monster dunk made after Powell missed a third three-pointer.  Replays from behind the backboard showed Powell in full view following his shot immediately after he shot it down a wide-open lane to slam the ball home and ignite the crowd and the team.  

Powell's inside play also seemed to knock Illinois out of its perimeter-only game that it played in the first half.  After a frustrating first half where it seemed like Illinois was afraid to drive the ball inside the arch, Powell helped create that inside presence through his interior shooting and offensive rebounds, showing the rest of the team that the middle of Louisville's zone was soft because they were playing the perimeter so tightly.

Powell was named the player of the game for his effort, scoring 20 points in only 22 minutes.  Luther Head also had a great game, scoring a career-tying six three pointers for 18 of his 20 points.

Even though he only scored 5 points, Deron Williams again proved immensely important not only in terms of running the offense and creating shot opportunities for others with 9 assists, but also from his stifling defense.  For the second straight game, Williams' defense held the other teams' best player in check.  Last weekend, it was holding Salim Stoudamire to single-digits.  Last night, he held Louisville's most potent player and team leader, Francisco Garcia, to only 4 points the entire game.  

James Augustine also contributed far more than his six points.  He led all rebounders with 11 in the game, and helped box out Louisville's rebounders even when he didn't snag the rebound.  As a result, Louisville had very few second-shot opportunities.

Dee Brown added 8 points and 4 assists on a cold night of shooting, only 3-10.  He served more as a spark-plug for his teammates, as well as providing a couple of amazing fast break opportunities. 

With the win, Illinois tied the NCAA record for most wins in a single season at 37.  With a Championship win, they will set the record.  Thus, the cheer at the end of the game, "One more win!!! One more win!!  One more win!!!'

All we need is one more win.  

There is also only one more game left in all of college basketball this season.  And Illinois is playing in it for the National Championship.

NCAA Finals: Bittersweet Ending to a Great Season.  37-2.

Love the Illini; Respect Carolina; Despise the Refs

April 4, 2005

In that order of importance: "Love the Illini; Respect Carolina; Despise the Refs."

Illinois put together a dream season.  From the start, we lacked any clear superstars or dominant players.  But our team-oriented play elevated our three guards--if not our entire starting line-up--into National superstars.  Into household names.  The Laetners, Bibbys, Okafors, and Mannings of this year's college basketball.  Our boys elevated themselves to the elite of college basketball.

Don't be fooled by the media's inclination toward idol worshipping.  There were no pre-fabbed idols on this team.  This year's team was a phenomenal group of guys whose best asset was recognizing early on that they were much stronger as a team than individually.  

Instead of this year amounting to losing our best and only chance for the next 100 years to take home a Championship, we have quite a bit to look forward to.  Bruce Weber molded an antagonistic team of sub-par players, who initially regretted his very presence, into a team of Champions.  It is not over once these players graduate or leave for the NBA.  It is just beginning.  

But this year is over, with a heartbreaking 75-70 loss to North Carolina in the National Championship game.

The game started close for most of the first half.  Illinois scored the first points, Carolina jumped to a 9-2 lead, and Illinois stormed back.  They exchanged the lead a few times before Carolina took advantage of ticky-tacky fouls to start a run.  Thrown off its game, Illinois also missed many open shots just like they had in the first half against Arizona and Louisville.

Coming out of the half, North Carolina extended its lead to 15 points.  It did not look good.  Illinois then stormed back, keyed again by their defense.  For five key minutes, they held Carolina scoreless as they narrowed the gap.  With less than two minutes, Luther Head tied the game at 70 with another clutch three-pointer.  

Carolina scored a garbage basket when Marvin Williams literally slapped a rebound back onto the backboard. Felton hit one of two free throws.  Down by three, 20 seconds left.  Illinois moved the ball around.  Ingram sets a screen for Head coming off the top of the key on the right side.  Williams feeds him.  Head sets and gets a clean shot off... that missed.  

It missed.  

No.

He got a perfect....

Wait....

On the ensuing possession, Felton hit his free throws with six seconds left to ice the game.

Illinois was amazing just to get back into the game after being down by 15 against North Carolina.  Undersized Roger Powell out-rebounded everyone with 14 rebounds: eight of them offensive.  Sean May, with all his accolades, only had 10 rebounds, 2 of them offensive.  

We distributed the scoring, as usual, with four players in double figures.  Carolina had only three in double figures.

Down by 15 to Carolina, we stormed back to tie the game at 70.  Down three with less than ten seconds left, our best shooter got an open look that just went a bit long: a completely different outcome if it fell.

A true champion needs to rise to the occasion and not allow anything to get in the way.  Even with the poor officiating, Illinois dug itself into a hole in the first half that made the poor officiating that much more instrumental.  

Carolina also has earned its respect all year long, earned its way to the Championship just like we did, and definitely played well enough to win.  In the end, they are the National Champions no matter what we think, say, or do.  

But then there is the bitter part.  

Upfront, I'll admit that I am a completely biased observer.  I also hate to complain about poor officiating after a loss, especially in such a huge game where Carolina played well and our team put up such an amazing rally toward the end to tie the game with less than two minutes remaining to make it close.  

But we were robbed.  

Life will go on.  It's only a game.  We lost no property, our lives are intact, and nobody got hurt.  Perspective still intact.

But we were robbed.  

Our best interior defender, James Augustine, fouled out with five minutes left to play on five touch fouls.  Even Billy Packer noticed it.  Augustine only played nine minutes due to his foul trouble, scoring no points, in large part because he couldn't establish a rhythm.  Our already challenged interior defense was eliminated.

On the other end, Sean May got away with blatantly lowering his shoulder at least three times--and not-so blatantly several other times--driving into the chest of his standing-still defender to knock him down.  Their already dominant interior offense was given a boost.

May's offensive fouls were as clearly wrong as allowing chop blocks from behind to free up touchdown runs; or calling a foul ball a game-winning home run; or allowing both Rooks to move like Queens.  Although I don't like to complain about officiating, rules are a part of the game.  They are the game.  

The ultimate reason the officiating was so shameful is because a great match-up between two great teams had to come down to horrible officiating that played into the strengths of one team and against the weakness of the other.  

Carolina would not have crumbled without the poor officiating; they would have stepped up their game to respond and found other ways to score.  Illinois also might not have surged like they did if they didn't have their backs against the wall, down 15 in the second half.  But we will never know.

All things considered, though, the purpose of College sports is not purely to crown a Champion.  It is about the thrill of the game.  It's about allowing the innate human competitive spirit to play itself out in harmless little games instead of hateful fights.  It's about team spirit and school pride that no professional sport can replicate.  It's about celebrating the great memories of our youth through loyalty to our college days while still being able to move on in life.  

And this year's Illini team gave us all of that and more.  They gave us far more thrills than disappointments.  They embodied principles that even the most ardent sports-hater should embrace and understand: teamwork, focus, strategy, energy, and the never-say-quit spirit that allowed them to overachieve beyond our wildest dreams.  As corny as it sounds, these kids taught by example even me--some middle-aged schmuck 1700 miles away--how to be a better person.  

The other great part about sports is that the highs are so much higher than the lows.  We're all down and feel disappointed.  But our team only lost two games all year.  The thrill of the ride was worth it.  Even though I wish it ended with a different result or at least a different reason for the result, I wouldn't trade this year for North Carolina's year.  

Deron's "Thank You"

April 25, 2005

Three weeks later, and after Deron Williams not only declared for the NBA draft but also signed with an agent (making it irrevocable), the loss in the Finals still stings.  But this totally unexpected 1/4 page ad in the Chicago Tribune and Champaign News Gazette (Monday April 25, 2005) confirms our pride to have supported this year's Fighting Illini basketball team:

Wow.

(The picture, for those who don't know, was taken after the greatest game in Illini Basketball history: the Elite 8 win over Arizona.  He is pointing to the "NCAA Midwest Regional Champion" logo.)

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