'I was saying 'If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.'
Illinois plays the Iowa State Cyclones Thursday...
*Illini hoops heading to their first Sweet Sixteen appearance since 2005.....Illinois (3rd seed) vs. Iowa State (2nd seed) Thursday Night Boston start time anytime after 9 PM central TBS/TruTV.
*Illinois vs. Iowa State what I am watching...
-Terrance Shannon Jr. having a 'Glen Rice 1989' type of tourney so far.
-How will Illinois react when the Cyclones press and trap their ball handlers? Lack of a true point guard finally catch up with Brad Underwood's squad Thursday night?
-How game is refereed....Iowa State 'aggressive' on 'D' nice way of saying they do a lot of grabbing/holding Michigan State style.
-Watch 6-foot-10 post Robert Jones (#12) for the Cyclones....boom or bust type of player...when he is good Iowa State wins....that being said....Jones also has a lot of knucklehead in his play/will help the other team stay in the game cause of it.
-Both programs rabid fan bases that will show up….it’s going to be loud.
-Neither Iowa State or Houston as good as thought they would be in this tourney….line moved from Illinois plus 3 to Illinois plus 1 some books….this one a pick ‘em.
*Random memories of the 2005 run…
-Damn almost twenty years since Deron-Dee Illini run to the NCAA championship game....first memory….final game of the regular season at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago for the Ohio State game.
What a day it was cept for ruining of an undefeated regular season....place packed with Illini....'meet the coaches' Ron Zook and new staff there to meet and greet watch the game....two Chicago TV stations on hand to talk to the new head coach/get the reaction to game....had my own personal reasons for being there....Zook and his staff internet website friendly and this was my chance...was at every event/practice to make sure they got to know me/me know the assistants...hustle paid off no doubt.
-Had forgotten Bruce Weber's mother passed away (ruptured aorta) while picking up her tickets for the Big Ten tournament....Head coach didn't skip a beat, 'she would have wanted me to coach'.
-Erin Andrews in Chicago covering the conference tourney for ESPN ended up at Joe's taking pics with all the fans.
-Weber's assistants 2005...Jay Price (now out of basketball)…..Tracy Webster (now out of basketball)…..Wayne McClain (passed away 2013).
-Bill Murray at every game.....Illini 'celebrity' fan....Murray buddies with former Illini/PGA golfer D.A. Points...2008 Rose Bowl Illini 'celebrity' fan Jim Belushi...was pushing some show on ABC which televised the game....Jim Belushi? Really?
*The games...
-Like 89' Illini first round games played in Indianapolis....top-seed Midwest region vs. 16th-seed Fairleigh Dickinson Knights.....67-55 win don't remember much about this one.
-2nd round vs. 9th-seed Nevada....Wolf Pack kept up with the Illini till last five minutes....Nevada had a talented 'big' that team though it JaVale McGee (son of former Illini center George Montgomery).....nope was 6-foot-10 WAC player of the year Nick Fazekas....McGee freshman season at Nevada 2006....Illini 71 Wolfpack 59
-Regional Semi-finals Horizon in Rosemont vs. 12th-seed UW-Milwaukee whose coach the devil Bruce Pearl.....knew a Milwaukee sportswriter who covered those Pearl teams...boy the stories that guy had......Pearl would reportedly insist, 'I will never be hired by a power five school cause I am Jewish'....how anti semitic AD's were....shit like that....paranoid freak Illinois wins 77-63.
-Regional finals vs. the Arizona Wildcats....'With Deron Williams leading the way, the Illini staged an electrifying and improbable rally to force overtime and then held on to beat Arizona 90-89 Saturday night to win the Chicago Regional…….Trailing 75-60 with four minutes left, Illinois showed why it was No. 1 most of the season....."It's heart man, it's just heart," Illinois' Dee Brown said. "The whole time I was saying 'If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.' And I guess it was meant to be that we go to the Final Four." (Courtesy AP).....down by 15....rationalizing 'good year' but deep down...fuckin' losing to Luther Olson team again fuck me....so pissed.
Background...grew up in Moline...50 miles east of Iowa City...loved sports only three channels on TV then......we didn't get the Lou Henson show only the Hawkeye coaches show wanted to watch their opponent.....had to endure the arrogance/condescending attitude of one Luther Olson....Hawkeye fans adopted that arrogance then and never has gone away.....Iowa fans liked Hayden Fry they loved Luther Olson....beating an Olson team as they collapsed....Heaven on Earth......never forget Luther 2000 whining before game started about 'how physical' Bill Self's team was....Olson lap dog Bill Walton continuing that whine on the call of the game.....next stop for Weber's team St. Louis and the Final Four.
-Semi-final....beat Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals 72-57....beating Pitino/Luther and Pearl 'coached' teams consecutive games impressive....opportunity to go to the final four games passed why?....my Joe’s trip when Ohio State's Matt Sylvester hit the shot....in my mind….jinxed ‘em that day was staying away...HA HA HA.
Earlier that semi-final Saturday had gone to the Rockford Boys and Girls club for an AAU basketball event.....Had heard Jeff/Marcus Jordan (Michael's sons) would be playing...they were not there.....did see prospects like future Illini Brian Carlwell (Proviso East)…..Chicago Lincoln Park point guard Michael 'Juice' Thompson….Chicago Boys to Men prospects Thijin Moses (DePaul) and his five-star sophomore teammate Mac Koshwal (DePaul).
After watching Thompson though short (5-foot-10) thought, 'He is very good'....that summer asked Weber assistant Price, 'why not recruit Thompson?' Price, 'we can do better that him.....he can't play in the Big Ten'....most important position in Weber's offense point guard...after Deron Williams point never consistent at Illinois....Thompson became an all-Big Ten player at Northwestern. (I know I know Eric Gordon was going to or had ‘committed’ for the position.)
-Final vs. North Carolina.....Illinois fans....."How could the Tribune ignore the way that game was officiated? The most one-sided calls I’ve ever seen in my life. They let Sean May get away with murder, knocking “our” defenders over like bowling pins. “We” were supposed to beat North Carolina and the officials? What game were you watching?.......Uh, North Carolina-Illinois for the NCAA championship. The Tar Heels won 75-70. Crackling good game, for the most part. And I’m sorry, but I didn’t think the officiating had much to do with how it turned out.....Would James Augustine’s availability have made a difference? Maybe, but I doubt it. Augustine seemed to get in foul trouble in the warmup line. He played only nine minutes before fouling out and didn’t score a point.' (Courtesy Chicago Tribune)
Many reading haven’t gotten over the reffing that night......still think Illinois deserves the title cause of the UNC academic 'scandal'....Monday of the Final game Zook's first spring practice....down in Champaign Darren Bailey and I on hand...biggest news 2004 part-time starting QB Brad Bower had quit the team an hour before practice began cause he wasn't going to take first team reps....Tim Brasic was....Bower transferred to Ohio University led the Bobcats to a 2006 win over Illinois in Champaign....as they were walking off the field one of the new assistants pointing to the players...'not a lot to work with here'.....wasn't exactly what we wanted to hear.
*Ward promoted to assistant head coach...
-Thad Ward has been promoted to Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs Coach Bret Bielema announced recently....."Thad has been impressive since the day he arrived in the building," said Bielema. "Over the last year, I've seen him grow in many aspects. He will take on a larger role in the player development of our full roster, both on and off the field." (Courtesy University of Illinois sports information)
Small world...spring 2005 sitting in then Illini assistant Dan Disch's office Illinois High School football coaches convention going on in Champaign...short guy sticks his head in the door, 'Coach I will be down in the meeting room'....ducks out...say to Disch, 'who is the midget?'....Disch proceeds to tell me 'That's my buddy Thad Ward...got him a job at Western Illinois' as an assistant coach.
Ward had been at Tallahassee (Fla.) Rickards High School when Disch was a prep coach in Jacksonville/recruited Northern Florida for Zook's staff at University of Florida...Disch not the easiest guy to get along with but was great to Thad Ward....Illini assistant would always make copies of the recruiting services Big Ten program bought/give them to Ward.....Western didn't have much of a budget for such things/put Ward up at his house when it was summer camp season/Western coaches in town to participate.....all these years later 'the midget' now assistant head coach of the Fighting Illini....small world.
At Legends until 1am, left for Columbus at 6am with dear friend. Arrived, ate at Wendy's, went straight to the arena. Terrible seats in upper deck, no atmosphere. Illini got defended with a zone and completely went into a shell. Weber teams historically struggled against any decent zone coverage. Drove home half asleep / split driving, streak was over, but excited to head to Chicago the next weekend. More personalities covering college basketball back then. EA, Vitale, Lavin, Phelps. FDU game very sleepy, were only up 1 at Half. Same friend as Columbus needed a break from travel, didn't come to Indy for R1. Nearly fatal. Back then called friends and dad at halftime, texting in early onset. He was hot.
What fans don't forget is the entire Arizona game was miserable until the comeback started. We were completely out of sync and Frye and Adams were running laps on us. Turned to another friend with about 8 minutes left, 'is this how it's all going to end?' Hell off a senior year at the UI, went out with a bang. Got what I signed up for May 2001. Remember both pre-games at Al Hrabosky's bar in STL..
Electric atmosphere. - nearly drank the town dry. Another friend in convention business got us hook-up at coaches hotel, saw the aforementioned nemesis of yours Lute Olsen in the elevator multiple times. What a time to be alive. From the fateful game, remember Felton making the miracle 3 to beat the shot clock, Marvin Williams tip in, and Head getting a clean look to force OT. Tough night from 3, Illini 12 of 40. Students in tears leaving the Jones Dome. Took a cool down walk back to Illinois team hotel. Heartbreaking. Haven't been to an Illinois tournament game since.
Looking forward to Thursday!
Thanks for all the stories!
-RV