What is the best Illinois University basketball team ever?

By JACKSON HEWITT
Sheridan High School Student

Editor’s note: The Sheridan Student Column is brought to readers by Sheridan High School’s 10th grade honors English class, taught by Tanya Busailah.

Illinois University, founded in 1867, is one of the original members of the Big Ten along with University of Chicago, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, IU, Wisconsin, Iowa State, and Ohio State.

With a total of 18 men’s basketball regular season conference championships, giving them the fifth most, and four tournament championships, giving them the third most, Illinois basketball has had a largely successful history. They have also found success in the NCAA tournament, making the tournament more than 25 percent of the time, and having 10 Elite Eight appearances and five Final Four appearances.

Out of all these teams though, which has been the best Illinois men’s basketball team ever?

The 1988-1989 Illinois team, nicknamed the Flying Illini, averaged 86.4 points a game. With a record of 31-5, the Flying Illini are considered one of the most fun college basketball teams to watch in history, with two players getting drafted in the first round and three overall.

About halfway through the season Illinois star player Kendall Gill broke a bone in his foot and missed 12 games. After the loss of Gill, Illinois lost three of its next four. Gill was back for the tournament, though, where they earned a No. 1 seed and made it all the way to the Final Four where they faced Michigan University.

Illinois had already beaten Michigan twice in the season during Big Ten play, but in a game that included 33 lead changes, Illinois lost to Michigan by two with a score of 83-81. Michigan after this game went on to beat Seton Hall by 1 in overtime in the national championship.

The 2004-2005 Illinois team is considered to be one of the greatest NCAA basketball teams ever. With a record of 37-2, they won their first 29 games of the season before losing the last game of the regular season to Ohio State 65-64. In the Elite Eight they fell behind by 15 against Arizona but came back to win in overtime. Then in the Final Four, they beat Louisville 72-57.

Later in the national championship they lost to UNC 75-70. UNC went on to have four players drafted in the first round and six players overall. Illinois had four players from this team drafted and two in the first round.

This team in 2014 was voted by Sports Illustrated as the best team ever to not win a national championship.

Both of these teams deserve to be considered the best for different reasons. The 1988-1989 team is considered one of the most fun teams to watch, but the 2004-2005 was considered fun to watch themselves. The 1988-1989 team lost earlier, but they also beat the team that won the national championship twice earlier in the season. The 1988-1989 team had 10 ranked wins while 2004-2005 only had seven, but one was over the No. 1 seed.

Both teams were very good and had success, but I think that the 2004-2005 was better overall – not just because they made it farther, but they won their first 29 games and had a 15-point comeback in the Elite Eight.