the daily illini: basketball commemorative

THE DAILY ILLINI

2004-05:10 YEARS LATERTUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015

Players and coaches relive regional ! nal against Arizona

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GREATEST COMEBACK IN ILLINOIS HISTORY

Find out what members of the team have been up to since

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CATCHING UP WITH THE ‘05 ILLINI TODAY

Champaign natives Rice, Finke share memories of historic run

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CURRENT ILLINI REMEMBER ‘05 TEAM

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 The Daily Illini | www.DailyIllini.com2

The Daily Illini | www.DailyIllini.com Tuesday, March 17, 20153

BY NICHOLAS FORTINSTAFF WRITER

It has been an eventful 10 years since the 2004-05 Illinois men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA championship game. Much has changed at Illinois in those 10 years. But what have the players and coaches from that year’s team been up to since then? DEE BROWN NO. 11 GUARDBrown was drafted by the Utah Jazz in the 2006 NBA Draft after finishing his senior season at Illinois. He bounced around to the Washington Wizards and Phoenix Suns before signing with a string of professional basketball teams in Europe. He is currently playing professional basketball in Bulgaria for PBC Lukoil Academic.

DERON WILLIAMS NO. 5 GUARD Williams declared for the draft after the 2004-05 season and was selected third overall by the Utah Jazz. He played his first six seasons with the Jazz before being traded to the New Jersey (now the Brooklyn) Nets. Williams still plays for the Nets. He has had more NBA success than any other 2004-05 Illini. Over his career, he has amassed three NBA All-Star appearances and two All-NBA Second Team selections. LUTHER HEAD NO. 4 GUARDHead, like Williams was drafted into the NBA following the 2004-05 season. He was drafted by the Houston Rockets and has played for the Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, and Sacramento Kings over the course of six NBA seasons. Head spent one season in the NBA’s Development League and currently plays professionally in Morocco. ROGER POWELL NO. 43 FORWARDUnlike his former teammates, Powell wasn’t drafted into the NBA, but he didn’t give up on his professional basketball dream. Powell played in the Continental Basketball Association during his first year out of college and tried out for and made the Utah Jazz roster the following season before heading to Europe to continue his professional career. After returning to the U.S., Powell found work as an assistant coach at Valparaiso, where he is currently in his fourth season. JAMES AUGUSTINE NO. 40 FORWARDLike Brown, Augustine also stayed in

Champaign for his senior season in 2005-06. After the season, Augustine was drafted in the second round by the Orlando Magic and played in the NBA until 2008. Augustine continued his playing career in Europe and is currently playing for Khimki in Russia. JACK INGRAM NO. 50 FORWARDIngram played his final year for Illinois in 2004-05. He never played professionally and currently lives in Indiana. RICH MCBRIDE NO. 33 GUARDMcBride was a sophomore during the Illini’s run to the NCAA Championship in 2005. He returned to the team for his junior and senior seasons before graduating with a degree in sports management. He is currently an assistant coach at the University of Illinois-Springfield. WARREN CARTER NO. 41 FORWARDAfter finishing his collegiate career at Illinois in 2007, Carter went undrafted and didn’t make an NBA roster. He bounced around Europe and is now playing for Aix Maurienne in France. NICK SMITH NO. 45 CENTERThe tallest and winningest player in Illinois history now lives in Florida after finishing his Illinois career in 2005.

SHAUN PRUITT NO. 55 FORWARDPruitt finished his Illinois career in 2008. He played professional basketball in places like China, Greece and Puerto Rico before recently finishing his professional career and moving to Aurora, Illinois. FRED NKEMDI NO. 34 FORWARDNkemdi finished his Illinois career in 2005 and graduated with a degree in political science. He currently lives in California. BRIAN RANDLE NO. 43 FORWARDRandle, like Pruitt, finished his Illinois career in 2008 and also went undrafted. He has played professionally in Germany and with multiple teams in Israel. He is currently plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel. MARCUS ARNOLD NO. 44 FORWARDAfter finishing his collegiate career in 2007, Arnold played professional basketball overseas. He currently lives in Chicago. CALVIN BROCK NO. 15 GUARDFollowing his Illinois career, Brock played professionally in Germany and Lithuania. He currently lives in Chicago. BRUCE WEBER HEAD COACHWeber continued to coach at Illinois until he was fired in 2012. He led Illinois to four more NCAA tournament appearances in that

time, but never got the Illini past the round of 32. Weber was hired by Kansas State in March of 2012 and is still the head coach for the Wildcats. He ammased a 62-38 record at Kansas State, including two NCAA tournament appearances.

WAYNE MCCLAIN ASSISTANT COACHMcClain coached at Illinois until Weber’s departure in 2012 and traveled with Weber to be the director of student-athlete development at Kansas State. He moved back to Champaign after one year at Kansas State and became the head coach at Champaign Central. McClain passed away in October after contracting pneumonia during his battle with lung cancer. JAY PRICE ASSISTANT COACHPrice was an assistant coach at the University until 2012 and has since become the Associate Director of Development for the University of Illinois’ business school. He is also the head girl’s basketball coach at St.Thomas More High School. TRACY WEBSTER ASSISTANT COACHWebster has bounced around between coaching opportunities since leaving Illinois in 2007. He has been an assistant coach at Kentucky, the interim head coach at DePaul and an associate head coach at Tennessee.

Where are they now: 2004-05 Illini basketball team

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK JONES ILLINOIS ATHLETICS

BY SEAN HAMMONDSPORTS EDITOR

It was truly a magical season: a 29-0 start, a No. 1 ranking for 15 straight weeks, a Big Ten championship and a Final Four appearance.

Illinois fans still want to talk about the 2004-05 Illini. Luther Head, Dee Brown, Der-on Williams. 37-2, NCAA runner-up. Until the Illini win a national title — if they ever do — no team will be talked about throughout Central Illinois like the ’05 Illini.

One game from that season is talked about more than any other: Illinois vs. Arizona, NCAA regional final, winner headed to the Final Four in St. Louis.

Illini fans talk about the Illinois-Arizona game like Duke fans talk about the Laettner shot, like Indiana fans talk about Alford’s seven 3-pointers in ’87, like NC State fans talk about the Lorenzo Charles put-back dunk.

No, it wasn’t the championship game. Don’t bring up the championship game. It only makes fans bitter.

They want to talk about the regional final between their beloved Illini and the Arizona Wildcats. They want to talk about one of the greatest comebacks in NCAA history.

***Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, was

cold. Forward James Augustine remembers warming up for practice prior to Illinois’ Sweet 16 matchup with UW-Milwaukee in sweats. It might have had to do with the ice rink under the court, but regardless, it was the coldest gym he ever remembers being in.

The arena, which opened in 1980, played host to the “Chicago regional” of the 2005 NCAA tournament, despite not technically being in Chicago. Why it was chosen over the newer and much larg-er United Center in Chica-go really didn’t make sense even then.

But it didn’t matter to Illi-nois fans. What mattered was that they wouldn’t have to take a flight to see their team. Illinois’ first and second round games were played at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, followed by the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight in Rosemont, and if Illinois made it to the Final Four, it would be at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

Rare is it that a team has three closer sites in the NCAA tournament, and even rarer does it happen in a year in which the team is talented enough to make it all the way.

Illinois fans took advantage of it. There were flocks of them in Indianapolis, and by the time the Sweet 16 matchup with UW-Milwaukee tipped off, Allstate Arena was

covered in orange.Illinois beat coach Bruce Pearl’s UW-Mil-

waukee team 77-63 on Thursday, March 24, in what was not an easy game. Immediate-ly afterward, the focus turned to the Elite Eight. The team would play the winner of the Arizona-Oklahoma State matchup and watched part of the game at the arena but left for the hotel before it was over.

Third-seeded Arizona needed an off-bal-ance 15-foot jumper from guard Salim Stou-damire to go through the net with 2.8 seconds left to get past the Cowboys. Oklahoma State — led by guard John Lucas III and forward Joey Graham — had been the slight favorite.

The Illinois-Arizona matchup pitted the Illini’s guard trio of Brown, Williams and Head against a formidable duo of Stoudamire and Hassan Adams, who averaged 18.4 and 12.7 points per game, respectively. The Wild-cats, who had reached the AP top 10 numer-ous times during the season, also featured a 6-foot-11 Channing Frye in the paint.

Illinois head coach Bruce Weber didn’t watch the rest of the Arizona-Oklahoma State matchup until later that evening, after the game had already concluded. He and his staff broke down the tape that night at the hotel down the street and went to work put-ting together a gameplan.

***The media frenzy surrounding the region-

al finals was nothing new for the Illini. Any team that spends 15 weeks at No. 1 in the country is bound to cause a raucous wher-ever it goes.

Illinois’ head manager that season, Matt McCumber, remembers the craziness of it all, especially the second half of the season.

“We had to get full-time security half-way through the year,” said McCumber, who

now works as the director of student-athlete develop-ment for Weber at Kansas State. “If that’s what the Beatles felt like, we felt like we were the Beatles.”

By the end of the sea-son, the team was entering hotels through the kitchen, avoiding lobbies.

But for the players, it was business as usual in Rosemont.

“Once you’re on the road, you’re doing the same things, you’re on a sched-

ule,” Augustine said. “Practice, hang out, watch video, you’re not doing outside stuff when you’re on the road.”

Weber had the team focused on Arizona and stopping Stoudamire and Adams. But it was Friday night, the off day between the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, when an unexpect-ed visitor showed up.

Bill Murray had been at the UW-Milwau-

kee game, not far behind the Illinois bench. Weber had bumped into Murray at the hotel and asked him to come talk to the team. After the team meal on Friday, Murray addressed the team.

Murray kept it light-hearted. He had a miniature basketball he tossed at players during his talk to keep them on their toes. Somebody asked him to do Carl Spackler, his character in Caddyshack, which he did.

At the same time, it was serious. Mur-ray compared the grind of a basketball sea-son to the grind of making a movie, how hard it is to stick through it. He talked about how important this team was to Illinois fans, how much making it to the Final Four would mean.

“It was crazy,” McCum-ber said. “It was the coach-es, the players, the manag-ers and Bill Murray. In my wildest dreams, I never thought that would happen.”

***Memories fade over 10

years, but one thing Weber remembers is he didn’t get much sleep. It had been an emotional couple of weeks for Weber, who had lost his mother Dawn two weeks prior at the age of 81.

She passed away during Illinois’ quarterfi-nal game in the Big Ten tournament against Northwestern. And yet, Weber was back on the sidelines for the semifinal matchup the next day. Through the next few weeks, he pushed his personal emotions aside and focused on the task at hand.

“Over that four-week period, I didn’t get much sleep at all,” Weber said. “In the NCAA tournament, you’re surviving on fumes and adrenaline, just trying to get to the next day.”

Saturday, March 26 against Arizona in the Elite Eight was the biggest game of their lives. Allstate Arena was once again packed with orange, just a sliver of Arizona red in one corner.

Illinois started its usual five — Brown, Williams, Head, Augustine and forward Rog-er Powell. Lute Olsen started Stoudamire, Adams, Frye, guard Mustafa Shakur and forward Ivan Radenovic.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair. Illinois jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but Arizo-na countered with a 12-2 run. Through the first three games of the NCAA tournament, Illinois had trailed fewer than two minutes of play.

Augustine remembers that nothing came easy against Arizona.

“We had to work extra hard to get what we wanted,” Augustine said.

It was apparent from the early going that Frye was going to be a challenge. Augustine remembers him as one of the more muscu-

lar big men the Illini had faced all season.“We did not expect (Frye) to play as well as

he did,” Weber said. “He had a career night. We were more worried about the guard play.”

At halftime, Stoudamire hadn’t made a field goal, but Frye had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Illinois led 38-36 behind 11 points from Brown and nine from Powell.

***The second half was much of the same —

nothing came easy. With 11:50 to play, Arizo-na led 53-50. Within the next five minutes of

play, that lead was extended to double-digits.

For the first time all year, the Illini were out of sync. All season long, even in its lone loss, Illinois led for most of its games.

But as Arizona extended its lead, the team was posi-tive during timeouts.

“Everybody was calm in the huddle,” said McCum-ber, the manager. “They set-tled me down, and the oth-ers who weren’t playing.”

Trailing by 11, Powell missed a three, to which CBS announcer Jay Bilas — as blunt as he is today — said, “Roger Powell is not a 3-point shooter.”

Stoudamire followed it with a pair of made free throws to extend Arizona’s lead to 73-60. On Illinois’ next possession, Brown mishan-dled a pass from Williams and dribbled it off his own foot out of bounds. Fighting for a rebound, Powell fouled Arizona’s Jawann McClellan with 4:04 to play. McClellan hit two free throws to go up 75-60.

The CBS cameras showed the Illinois bench, where players sat stoic, staring at the floor. The crowd was quiet.

A three from Williams sparked some life into the Illini. Augustine fouled out with 3:26 to play. After a media timeout, McClellan hit another pair of free throws. Then Head got a three to fall from the right wing. Adams turned it over and Brown capitalized sec-onds later with a put-back for two, at which point Arizona called timeout up 77-68 with 2:43 to play.

The slumbering crowd stirred.With 1:20 left, Head stole a pass for a lay-

in. 77-70. A few possessions later, Arizona extended the lead to 80-72 on two Shakur free throws.

“This is where really good teams salt away games at the free throw line,” Bilas remarked on the broadcast.

Illinois came down court, and Head hit a three with 0:54. 80-75.

Arizona broke Illinois’ press, but just over half court, Shakur had the ball slapped away by Brown. It fell to Williams, who threw a


The comeback: Illinois vs. ArizonaRelive the game that sent the 2004-05 Illini to the Final Four

“We did not expect (Frye) to play as well as

he did. He had a career night.”

BRUCE WEBERFORMER HEAD COACH

“It was crazy. It was the coaches, the players, the

managers and Bill Murray.”

MATT MCCUMBERFORMER HEAD MANAGER

SEE ARIZONA | 6


Dan BernsteinMarch 26, 2005 - A few hours before the Illinois-Arizona game, my dad and I were sitting in Bennigan’s and my dad received a call from one of his best friends, Randy. Both University of Illinois alumni, Randy and my dad have been longtime followers of Illinois basketball.“Harlan, you won’t believe it,” Randy exclaimed over the phone. “I’ve got an extra ticket to the game tonight.”I thought my dad would say something like, “No way! Let’s do it.” But he didn’t.My dad and I watched every minute of every game together that season. We loved Dee Brown. We loved the beautiful 15-pass possession against Northwestern. If both of

us weren’t going, none of us were going. He turned it down.Boy, did he make a mistake. To this day, he still gives me a hard time for not telling him to go the game. I don’t blame him.The ‘04-’05 Illini didn’t just make it to the Final Four. They didn’t just win 37 games or make the cover of Sports Illustrated. They inspired people. They brought people together.They brought my dad and I together. Some Illini fans had the opportunity to go to that game; some Illini fans didn’t. Some Illini fans even left the game early. But not many Illini fans turned down a ticket for that game. My dad did, and if you ask him, he’d do it again.

Karla ZaccorI am a 2003 Illinois graduate, and I was in my second year of teaching — on spring break — during the Illinois/Arizona game. I was in the Bahamas, watching the game at a small outside bar. I had already written the game off as a loss when the Illini rallied and I remember hollering and celebrating in that bar. I was living in D.C. for the final game vs.

UNC. I went to a bar with some friends to watch the game with a bright orange sweatshirt on. All my friends were rooting for UNC. I got hot and had to take my sweatshirt off, which my friends were happy about because of how bright the sweatshirt was.To their surprise and disappointment, I had a matching bright orange Illinois T-shirt on underneath the sweatshirt!

Erik JinksIn 2005, I was managing the now-demolished IHOP on Green Street across from the Colonial Pantry. My boss was expecting a busy restaurant the night of the Illinois-Arizona game, so of course he scheduled me to work and attempted to ruin what was sure to be an epic night.That shift started with the singular goal of following the game any way possible. My cook laughed as I attempted to unbolt the break room television from the wall and bring it downstairs — I didn’t know anyone with a portable TV. I soon found out that it wouldn’t have mattered anyway, since I couldn’t manage to get good enough

reception for a picture.Having run out of all other options, I was able to convince my busboy to part with his radio for a favor sometime in the future. I knew I would regret it, but I didn’t care. Since nobody in their right mind would be sitting in an IHOP during the game, I was able put the radio on in the lobby and periodically shout out updates to my crew. As the game became more and more intense, we all found ourselves huddled around this little radio, glued to every word.After the win, the rest of the night was a blur. I was oddly happy that my boss made me work that evening. We were able to celebrate the victory together, as a team.

FANS REFLECT ON 2005 TOURNEY RUNThe Daily Illini asked fans to send in their stories about watching the 2004-05 Illinois basketball team make its way to the national championship game. We picked a few of our favorites to share with our readers.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARK JONES ILLINOIS ATHLETICS

BY TORRENCE SORRELLON-AIR SPORTS EDITOR

Despite being young at the time, former Champaign Centen-nial stars and now Illinois basket-ball players Rayvonte Rice and Michael Finke remember the 2004-05 basketball season like it was yesterday.

While many watched the monu-mental run on TV, Finke and Rice were in the atmosphere experienc-ing it first-hand in their hometown.

Growing up, Rice went to all of the Illini bas-ketball camps and home games from kindergar-ten until eighth grade.

“It was crazy, Deron (Williams) and Dee (Brown) real ly cared about Illinois and they just loved it,” Rice said. “Seeing them as counselors and seeing how they acted and seeing how Bill (Self) and Bruce (Weber) had them behave and act, I just wanted to be a part of that.”

His fondest memory he can recall of the 2004-05 Final Four team was the comeback against

Arizona in the regional finals.“I saw that comeback they had

against Arizona, I turned the TV off and turned it back on and just remembering they never gave up,’ Rice said. “(It) made me wanted to be a part of the Illini family.”

As he got older, Rice began to relish his talent by playing in elite camps. His dream finally came true a few years ago. After

playing two sea-sons at Drake, R ice t ra ns -ferred to Illinois when coach John Groce took over the program. It was a chance for Rice to suit up in orange and blue for the first time and play in front of his home-town fans and his family.

Finke shares a similar view, not expecting the miraculous 15-point come-back against

Arizona. “I remember I was in my house

and my dad got so mad he went up to his room and shut the door and was watching it there,” Finke said. “I walked in there when it was 10

minutes left in the game.”He asked his father, Jeff, “Are

we going to lose?”The elder Finke responded,

“Yeah, it’s impossible,” referring to a potential comeback.

When the team pulled off what Finke’s father considered the “impossible,” his family met on

the stairs of the house to celebrate. Finke went to many of that sea-son’s games because his friends had season tickets. Another one of his fond memories of the team was when they defeated then No. 1-ranked Wake Forest — a team that was anchored by future NBA point guard Chris Paul.

A decade later, Rice and Finke find themselves suiting up for the Illini; Rice in his last season, Fin-ke in his first. And Illinois is still hoping to get back to the level of success it once had.

[email protected] @TheRealTS4

6

pass to a streaking Brown with the perfect amount of spin to land it in his teammates’ hands. Brown fin-ished with a layup. 80-77. 45 sec-onds to play. Timeout Arizona.

“Oh my,” was all Bilas’ broad-casting partner Dick Enberg could say.

Arizona inbounded the ball with less than a minute to play. It was Ingram who tipped the pass from Stoudamire to Head. Head found Brown, who tossed a cross-court pass to Williams. Williams shot-faked, took one dribble left, and let a three fly.

The Allstate Arena crowd held its breath as Ingram tipped the pass and then exploded when Williams’ shot went through the net. 80-80.

“It was deafening,” Weber said.Arizona took a timeout with 31.2

seconds to play. Stoudamire found McClellan for an open look, but it didn’t fall, landing in Brown’s hands. Brown reared to throw a long pass to Williams, who was wide open on the other end of the court, but the pass was deflected and fell to Stoudamire with time left.

From nowhere, Head flew in and blocked Stoudamire’s shot. A last ditch-heave from Adams was well off the mark.

Overtime. ***

Overtime was back and forth the entire way. A three from Williams, a couple of twos from Frye. Wil-liams found Powell for two on one possession, then hit another three himself on the next.

Ariznoa trailed 90-89 with 11.8

to play and the ball. The last play was disorganized. Adams heaved up a three from the top of the key that didn’t even find the rim.

The Arizona players fell to the floor, some hiding their heads under their jerseys.

The Illinois bench was on the court.

“I don’t remember what we were doing,” Augustine said. “I remember running on the court and I feel like I blacked out for a while. Then, we were cutting down the nets.”

“I hugged all the coaches,” Weber said. “Seeing those guys run out there, it was such a moment. You couldn’t even hear each other.”

The team cut down the nets, Weber taking the ladder last to chants of, “BRUUUUUUUCE.”

After the festivities, the team went back to the locker room and

only had a few minutes before the press would swarm in. The room was silent when Weber walked in, and then exploded. Players jumped on him.

The coach in Weber was already thinking about the next week. The team would be on its way to St. Lou-is by Tuesday. The players needed to get back to Champaign. It took a while for things to wrap up at All-state Arena. When the team left, Weber stayed behind. He had driv-en separately.

He finally had a chance to sit down and take a deep breath. Then he got a call. It was from the team bus.

The team was driving down I-57, and there were fans in orange crowding every overpass, cheering as the bus went by below. They had heard there were hundreds assem-bling to greet them in Champaign.

Weber hopped in the car and sped south. He caught up to the team right before it arrived in Champaign. The bus pulled into town and drove to the Ubben bas-ketball complex, where it practiced all season.

It was one or two in the morn-ing, and the bus could barely get through the parking lot. People in orange were everywhere.

“It was pure madness,” Augus-tine said. “Everybody was there, it was such a happy moment. Those were the people that supported us the whole way.”

The celebration lasted an hour or two into the night before the team went back to get some rest.

And then it was on to the Final Four.

[email protected] @sean_hammond

ARIZONAFROM 4

Tuesday, March 17, 2015 The Daily Illini | www.DailyIllini.com

Rice, Finke reflect on 2004-05 season

“I turned the TV off and turned it back on and just

remembering they never gave up.”RAYVONTE RICE

SENIOR GUARD

SHIRA WEISSMAN THE DAILY ILLINI

Left: Illinois guard Dee Brown goes up for a layup during Illinois 91-73 win over then-No. 1 Wake Forest.Right: Illinois guard Deron Williams drives to the basket against Wake Forest’s Chris Paul.


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When you’re young, you rare-ly think long-term.

I grew up in a golden era of Illinois basketball in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Big Ten titles and NCAA tournament appearances were the norm. I didn’t associate Illinois basketball with anything other than success, since it had been good for as long as I’d been old enough to follow the game.

I was 11 when Illinois basketball made it to the national champion-ship in 2005. As a fifth-grader, I got to witness the winningest Illini basketball team in history, as Dee Brown, Deron Williams, Luther Head, Roger Powell, James Augus-tine and the rest of that stacked team took the Illini team to a 37-2 record and to new heights.

I lived and died with that team. Growing up in Champaign, I had

a front row seat for the hysteria that envelops a community when a group of college kids turns the school down the street into a bas-ketball powerhouse.

I was lucky enough to experi-ence the Final Four in St. Louis as one of 47,000 who watched when Illinois defeated Louisville in the national semifinal, then stumbled just short of the pinnacle of college basketball when it lost to North Carolina in the national title game. After the loss, I couldn’t process the magnitude of what I witnessed.

When the confetti rained in St. Louis and the Tar Heels celebrat-ed, my 11-year-old brain tried to rationalize the situation. I was con-vinced the Illini would be back on this stage soon. Why wouldn’t they be? I already knew that the Final Four the following year would be in Indianapolis, which is even clos-er to Champaign than St. Louis is! I’d be back at the Final Four next year, I thought, only next time Illi-nois would cut down the nets.

The loss wasn’t that big of a deal. The Illini would be good forever.

But Illinois did not make the

2006 Final Four. Rather, in the 10 years since the ’04-’05 season, the Illini have had six NCAA tourna-ment appearances and just three NCAA tournament wins. A decade removed from claiming one of the best college basketball teams ever assembled, this Illinois pro-gram, which was arguably elite at the turn of the century, has lost its national relevancy.

My immediate thoughts follow-ing the national championship were childish and short-sighted, to be sure. Even the best programs rarely make it to the Final Four year after year. Illinois has made it just twice since 1952. But even as an 11-year-old with little knowl-edge of the intricacies of college basketball beyond what I saw on the court, my notions had some merit behind them.

The recent fate of Illinois bas-ketball makes one wonder: Why did the Illini fall off the mountain after nearly reaching the summit, and why couldn’t they build off unprecedented success?

Incompetence from a coaching and recruiting perspective defi-

nitely played a huge role. Bruce Weber could coach great talent, but could not sustain a high-level program. He had bad luck along the way, as well. Eric Gordon flip-flopped, Jamar Smith threw away a promising career and Jereme Richmond was a knucklehead.

But much like his offense’s infa-mous shot-clock draining posses-sions sapped any and all momen-tum, Weber’s downfall was his inability to gain any traction from year-to-year. After 2007, NCAA tournament berths became an every-other-year occurrence.

That’s not enough for a hungry fan base like Illinois’ — so often starved by disappointing foot-ball seasons. The fans want to win so bad that they take to Twitter to attempt to steer star recruits toward their beloved program.

John Groce took over at Illi-nois after Weber was fired in 2012, and he’s given fans some reason to believe in a return to glory. His charismatic approach and insa-tiable recruiting appetite has been encouraging, but the on-court results have been inconsistent in

his three years in charge.Groce sees the potential in this

school and fan-base. “Why not Illi-nois?” he asked in his introductory press conference, wondering why Illinois basketball is a national afterthought, while our Big Ten peers consistently win, re-tool and repeat.

If Groce gets Illinois back to the Final Four, just imagine the may-hem that would ensue.

To see it unfold in 2005 was something special. Even off-cam-pus, Champaign street corners had makeshift kiosks where Final Four shirts flew off the shelves. The Alma Mater statue was draped in an oversized basketball jersey and 25,000 fans showed up at Memorial Stadium for the second-place cele-bration. Bill Freaking Murray was their honorary bandwagon fan.

Just imagine if, no, when the Illi-ni make it back.

Then fans can all cheer like 11-year-olds again.

Alex is a junior in AHS. [email protected] @aroux94

Memories of 2005 spur hopes for futureALEX ROUX

Basketball columnist

the daily illini: basketball commemorative

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