To rejoice SLAM’s thirtieth anniversary, we’re spotlighting the 30 most influential males’s faculty groups from our previous 30 years. Stats, information and chips aren’t the primary issue right here, it’s all about their contribution to the sport’s cultural material.
For the subsequent 30 days—Monday via Friday— we’ll be unveiling the full listing right here. We’ve additionally bought an unique retro collegiate assortment, out now, that pays homage to every squad’s threads. Store right here.
The early 2000s was a tough time for all however one basketball program within the Large Ten.
This was when the Large Ten ran via them boys in Champaign, Illinois. Annually from ‘00 to ‘04, the Combating Illini received both a Large Ten common season championship or a Large Ten event championship. Their ‘04-’05 group introduced all of it collectively and received each, doing so in mesmerizing trend. A reign of terror was brewing within Meeting Corridor.
They have been any coach’s dream and any opponent’s nightmare; it begins with their unimaginable guard play.
Deron Williams (D-Will) was a prototypical 6-3 level guard, with a nasty deal with, elite imaginative and prescient and a pure knack for buckets. He went on to change into the third choose within the NBA draft, a three-time All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist and among the finest level guards within the League for a while.
Dee Brown is an NCAA icon, remembered as we speak for sporting contemporary cornrows, an orange or white headband low on the forehead and an extended pair of shorts. He was 6 ft on an excellent day, however his blinding pace, defensive tenacity and swagger greater than made up for what he lacked in dimension. He was a four-time All-Large Ten choice, two-time All-American, Large-Ten Defensive Participant of the 12 months and Bob Cousy Award winner.
D-Will and Dee Brown are some of the thrilling backcourt pairings in faculty basketball for the reason that flip of the century, but it surely was a third guard who led the ‘04-’05 Combating Illini in scoring. That honor belongs to Luther Head, a senior, 6-3 taking pictures guard, who would ultimately carve out a strong six-year profession within the League.
Illinois approached the ‘04 basketball season with one factor on their thoughts. It was championship or bust–nationwide championship or bust. They hit the bottom operating; there have been no indicators of a hangover from their disappointing Candy Sixteen loss the season prior. 4 video games into the ‘04-’05 marketing campaign, the Combating Illini beat No. 24 Gonzaga by 17 factors, placing the nation on discover. The very subsequent sport, just some days later they’d beat No. 1 Wake Forest by 18, placing any remaining doubt to relaxation.
They made it via the common season nearly unscathed, successful 29 video games in a row earlier than a small hiccup towards Ohio State the place they suffered a one-point loss, their solely loss headed into the postseason. Illinois responded by dominating the Large Ten Event, sweeping the convention en path to a No. 1 total seed within the Large Dance.
They bought via their first three video games of March Insanity with out breaking a sweat. However an Elite Eight matchup towards No. 3 Arizona, led by then-future lottery choose Channing Frye, would outline the make-up of this Illinois group. With solely 4 minutes left within the second half and their season on the road, Illinois discovered themselves down 15 factors. Unfamiliar territory, problem accepted.
Illinois didn’t flinch; their confidence didn’t waver. They only stayed the course. They turned up the strain on protection, created a number of transition alternatives and hustle buckets, hit a number of threes and growth… the sport was headed to extra time. Carrying the momentum into the additional interval, they clawed their solution to the end line and gutted out the victory, finishing one of many memorable comebacks within the event’s current historical past. Last rating: 90-89.
They’d go on to decisively defeat Louisville within the Last 4 earlier than ultimately falling 5 factors quick, to a loaded North Carolina group, within the Nationwide Championship sport.
Illinois completed the ‘04-’05 season with a 37-2 report, which on the time tied the all-time NCAA report for essentially the most wins in a season. A powerful 31 of their 37 victories have been by 10 factors or extra. They completed the season ranked ninth within the nation in rebounding, eighth in protection, fourth in factors scored, second in three-point area objectives made and first in assists. Now, that’s a recipe for achievement.
Regardless of shedding and falling in need of their final season objective, the 04-’05 Illinois group is etched in fashionable faculty basketball historical past. While you consider one of the best groups to not win a nationwide championship, that ‘04-’05 Illinois squad is on the high of the listing. And so they’re celebrated in Champaign as such.
Photographs by way of Getty Photographs.
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