To have fun SLAM’s thirtieth anniversary, we’re spotlighting the 30 most influential males’s school groups from our previous 30 years. Stats, data and chips aren’t the principle issue right here, it’s all about their contribution to the sport’s cultural cloth.
For the subsequent 30 days—Monday by Friday— we’ll be unveiling the full checklist right here. We’ve additionally acquired 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 by them boys in Champaign, Illinois. Every year from ‘00 to ‘04, the Combating Illini gained both a Large Ten common season championship or a Large Ten match championship. Their ‘04-’05 workforce introduced all of it collectively and gained 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 turn out to be 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 immediately for sporting contemporary cornrows, an orange or white headband low on the forehead and an extended pair of shorts. He was 6 ft on a great day, however his blinding pace, defensive tenacity and swagger greater than made up for what he lacked in measurement. 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 one of the vital thrilling backcourt pairings in school basketball for the reason that flip of the century, however it was a third guard who led the ‘04-’05 Combating Illini in scoring. That honor belongs to Luther Head, a senior, 6-3 capturing guard, who would ultimately carve out a stable 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 recreation, just some days later they’d beat No. 1 Wake Forest by 18, placing any remaining doubt to relaxation.
They made it by the common season virtually unscathed, profitable 29 video games in a row earlier than a small hiccup in opposition to 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 general seed within the Large Dance.
They acquired by their first three video games of March Insanity with out breaking a sweat. However an Elite Eight matchup in opposition to No. 3 Arizona, led by then-future lottery choose Channing Frye, would outline the make-up of this Illinois workforce. 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 simply stayed the course. They turned up the strain on protection, created just a few transition alternatives and hustle buckets, hit just a few threes and growth… the sport was headed to time beyond regulation. 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 match’s current historical past. Remaining rating: 90-89.
They’d go on to decisively defeat Louisville within the Remaining 4 earlier than ultimately falling 5 factors quick, to a loaded North Carolina workforce, within the Nationwide Championship recreation.
Illinois completed the ‘04-’05 season with a 37-2 report, which on the time tied the all-time NCAA report for probably 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 fulfillment.
Regardless of dropping and falling wanting their final season aim, the 04-’05 Illinois workforce is etched in fashionable school basketball historical past. Once you consider the most effective groups to not win a nationwide championship, that ‘04-’05 Illinois squad is on the prime of the checklist. They usually’re celebrated in Champaign as such.
Photographs through Getty Pictures.