This piece is dedicated to Illinois alumni.
If you have ever called the University of Illinois home, I am writing this to let you know that I hear you.
This run to the Final Four was amazing. Many of us didn’t experience these heights as students. Some, like our fearless leader Stephen Cohn, had to endure the time when big man recruiting wasn’t Kofi Cockburn, but Spicy G and the guy everyone loved to call “Muh-Teets.”
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The state of Illinois has traditionally been the best high school talent pipeline in the country. “Just get the top players from Peoria and Chicago, and you’ll be fine” was a common refrain for much of my life.
All of us who went to Illinois have those memories. There’s that one player with whom you always identify.
For me, it was Sergio McClain.
Big Serge and I sat next to each other during sessions of our OMSA Student Orientation. It was surreal for me, since just six months prior, I was in the crowd at Carver Arena watching Manual win a state title against Chicago area stalwarts like Whitney Young and Thornton.
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And those teams I saw under Kruger and Self were good ones. And even before that, as a native Chicagoan, I got to cheer for Deon Thomas, Kendall Gill, Marcus Liberty, and Nick Anderson, among others.
The University of Illinois was truly the University of Illinois.
This is a different era.
The University of Illinois is an elite public university. Perhaps now, even more so than before. But it is a true global school. The best and brightest regularly make their academic home in Champaign-Urbana.
So now, when you tell people you (or your kids) go/went to the University of Illinois, you can tell them that you didn’t have to go to Ann Arbor, Iowa City, or Madison to get a “real college experience.” You can tell them that Shad Khan, Larry Gies, and Josh Whitman represent your school.
And you can tell them that now, Brad Underwood has given an elite global university an elite global basketball program.
It can’t be underscored enough that this wasn’t a season in a vacuum. Oh no, this was a part of a broader era of Illinois hoops.
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Two trips to the Elite Eight and beyond in three years is special for a program that, in previous elite eras, was more of a top-15 program year after year.
Doing so with a largely international roster of skilled, intelligent humans that looks an awful lot like The Beloved itself is icing on the cake.
Can you imagine the hilarious on-court interactions Giorgi and Mirk would have had? Kylan and Ayo putting fools in captivity with tenacious defense? Tomislav Ivisic making that one extra pass to make sure Alfonso Plummer got the perfect shot?
The manic dream state this kind of historical greatness induces has special meaning for those who actually can recite from memory how the original Kam’s smelled at 9:00 vs. after midnight.
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There will be ups. There will be downs. But the Illinois alumni and family base has a chance to redefine the entire fandom.
For the finance bros in River North with Gies MBAs and the LAS grads who oversee teams at Express Scripts, wear your fandom with pride.
To the fixed-income analysts at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis and the accountant at EY in the West Loop, follow the Larry Gies example and show the world what a successful Illinois alumna or alumnus looks like.
Every airport, outdoor festival show, four-star and above hotel lobby, and major professional convention should feature orange and blue neckwear and alumni pins.
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You get to root for people like Cam Crocker. And I must say, that’s pretty damned cool.
Represent, like our friends from Michigan, Indiana, USC, and Notre Dame, always seem to do. Hook ‘em Horns? Sure.. But all the Illini working at Apple and Amazon, show your colleagues in South Texas the correct shade of orange to rock.
With the job Josh Whitman, Bret Bielema, Shauna Green, and Brad Underwood have done raising the profile of the DIA, public displays of affection for your alma mater mean more now that the entire nation is taking notice.
National pundits like Michael Wilbon (who is the best thing about Northwestern) and Colin Cowherd (who lives in Chicago now) are talking about the Illini renaissance.
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This is fitting with the overwhelming preponderance of Renaissance women and men with Illinois degrees.
For the lapsed Illini fan, I used to be one of you. This is my message to you.
You watched the Music City Bowl. You may have even gotten your friends together and had a party in Nashville. Or if you didn’t, you’ve been regretting not doing so.
You watched the Final Four run. You dusted off an old hoodie, maybe a Dee Brown jersey, maybe even an old commemorative cup from C.O.s.
For you, it’s not hopping on some random bandwagon. It’s not trying to recapture your youth, or remember life before family obligations, kids, your executive career trajectory, or the general notion of “adulting on hard mode” took over. It’s simply adding a little extra time every week to reinvigorate your fandom.
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You may even be so passionate that you ask my aforementioned site manager to write an article or two.
But even if you don’t go to the same extreme that befell me, just take a few minutes of your spare time on the treadmill, on the Brown Line, at the airport, at the office, or during your wind-down moments. And in those moments, read your favorite Illini writer. Listen to a hit of your favorite Illini podcast.
And don’t let the ignorant noise from some corners of the fandom put a damper on your joy. Don’t confuse the toxicity of social media with cheering for the school you proudly represent every day in your life and career.
Meet up at Brickhouse before Cubs games with an Illini hat lording over your PCA jersey. A subtle acknowledgement that always goes a long way. See how many I-L-L shouts you get walking through Wrigleyville.
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Find alumni club meetups and game watches, as my friends in the Twin Cities Illini Club do at Paddy Wagon in South Minneapolis during football and basketball season. If you live somewhere there is no Illini bar, show up for a game with a bunch of friends in orange and blue. It will be an Illini bar soon.
Sure, the season is over. But this is the time when our voices matter the most.
So the sting of the last loss of the season has been salved. The wound is clean and disinfected.
And the Michigan Wolverines are the National Champions.
Morez Johnson and Nimari Burnett have national titles. Two Chicago dudes hoisted the trophy that Ayo, TSJ, and Deon Thomas never got to raise.
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And between the financial largesse and on-court success, this program is geared to make consistent runs.
Theo Epstein once said his goal for the Chicago Cubs was to deliver sustained success, an annual feast of postseason baseball.
With this program’s trajectory being as limitless as the cosmos, the impending Champaign Supernova is inevitable.
I’ll close with my favorite words with which to end a column here at The Champaign Room.
On this particular journey, this road of Illinois fandom…
Pump the brakes? Slam on the gas? Nah, just enjoy the ride.
