I promise you I’m not here to criticize Brad Underwood.
We’re coming off one of the most successful seasons in Illinois basketball history. If that wasn’t enough, we’re right in the middle of the most successful stretch this program has ever seen.
Three Big Ten championships in six seasons Seven straight 20-win regular seasonsA Final Four and two Elite Eight appearances
It’s hard to look around and find another program that has had as much recent success as Illinois. It’s equally as hard to find a program that has had to climb from the depths of college basketball’s basement that Illinois has had to.
The ever-changing landscape of college basketball could have ruined the brand of Illinois basketball forever (no, that’s not being dramatic). We’re witnessing a true rebrand of an entire program.
After what has seemed like forever, Illinois is able to hang with the blue bloods in all aspects. We have a top-tier NIL budget, we have the top-tier facilities, we recruit at the highest level, and we’ve had four first-round NBA Draft picks in the last three years, which is nearly half of the program’s first-round picks in the previous 60 years.
It’s a pretty good time to be an Illinois fan.
However, Illinois has repeatedly been good enough to create enormous expectations. Recently, some of those expectations have seemed to work against the Illini.
Ayo. Kofi. Trent. If you couldn’t win with that group, who could? For four months, it looked like they would.
24 wins 16-4 conference record (the best conference season in program history at the time)Big Ten Tournament title
You know where I’m going with this.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – MARCH 21: Andre Curbelo #5 and Da’Monte Williams #20 of the Illinois Fighting Illini react in the final moments of the second half against the Loyola Chicago Ramblers in the second round game of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on March 21, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) Getty Images
A team who entered the NCAA tournament with the 3rd best odds gets bounced in the Round of 32 by 8 seed Loyola. Banners, records, a conference tournament trophy, and all anyone remembers is how it ended.
2022 – Another early exit
Another great regular season:
23 wins Won a share of the Big Ten titleKofi Cockburn earns first team All-American honors
Then Houston came along and ended it in the Round of 32. Again.
This was supposed to be the step forward. You just came off of two of the best regular seasons Illinois has experienced in decades. Instead we went backwards.
11-9 conference record 9 seedFirst round loss
After the first round exit, nobody would have blamed you for expecting more of the same. Instead, this group went out and won 29 games, took the Big Ten Tournament, and marched all the way to the Elite Eight. For the first time in a long time, March in Champaign felt like something real was happening.
One of the most embarrassing losses on one of the biggest stages we’ve been on. That’s the pattern. Illinois gets good enough to earn the hype, and then March makes us pay for it.
I’ll admit, I might be too hard on this coaching staff. When you look back at what this program used to be, it’s remarkable that we’re in this position, and Brad Underwood’s fingerprints are all over that success. Still, when an opportunity like the one he was presented with comes along, you have to take it.
The momentum this program has built is real, and it doesn’t last forever. You’re fresh off of a Final Four run where you finally lived up to those expectations, you need to stay hot.
Windows in college basketball open and close quickly. Players leave, coaches get poached, and the landscape shifts every offseason. Right now, Illinois is in the rare spot where the talent, the culture, and the timing all line up. Who knows when this might happen again.
You return 65.4% of your scoring from one of the best offenses in the country, capitalize on that.
You’re projected to win the Big Ten, capitalize on that.
You play a marquee non-conference schedule, capitalize on that.
Brad Underwood said it himself, “Never about anything but a national championship.” Well, this might be your best chance yet.
At the end of the day, am I saying this is a national championship or bust season? No, I don’t think so. But there’s an opportunity here that Illinois fans have been waiting a lifetime for. Take this and run with it.
Illinois has the talent, experience, leadership, and most importantly the momentum to take this gift that they’ve been given.
We don’t want to see a Round of 32 loss to an 8 seed. We don’t want to get inches away from the biggest stage in college basketball and give up 30 straight points. We don’t want to see this opportunity go to waste.
I think it’s time for Illinois fans to increase their expectations. Believe in Brad Underwood to ride this momentum and finish what he came to Illinois to do: win a national championship.