What does this Final Four appearance mean to Illinois?
After crushing the glass slippers of the last Cinderella (and accomplishing what Florida couldn’t), Illinois made it back to the Final Four for the first time since 2005. That 2005 team was led by Dee Brown, Luther Head and Deron Williams, all of whom got drafted to the NBA and had varying levels of success. They sadly lost to Sean May’s UNC, and that is the only time Illinois has ever been in the final.
The Fighting Illini have never won a National Championship, but they’ve come close a few times. Besides the 2005 Final, there’s also 1989 with Nick Anderson, where they lost in the Final 4 to Michigan thanks to a Sean Higgins buzzer beater. Then there’s the early 1950s, when they made the Final Four in 1951 and 1952, only to lose each game by just 2 points, neither on a buzzer-beater. They’ve come close, but have never been able to close the deal.
Now, they’re in their strongest era outside of the early-to-mid 2000s. Before the hiring of head coach Brad Underwood, Illinois was very turbulent, to say the least. The team hadn’t made it to the NCAA tournament since 2013. After 2005, Illinois ranked 67th in wins, 6th in the Big Ten. They weren’t a punching bag; instead, they were mediocre.
Even when Underwood arrived, he didn’t turn them around right away. They had a couple of lean years and finally became a legit threat in 2019-20, finishing a season ranked for the first time since 2006.
Since 2020, they rank 15th in total wins. While not the cream of the crop, they no longer could be ignored. Especially after they won the Big Ten Tournament in 2021 and 2024, now, they have the highest single-season offensive rating in NCAA history, with a chance to go down as one of the greatest offences in college basketball history, led by a superstar freshman, Keaton Wagler.
Wagler might be the perfect representation of this team. Wagler was ranked #261 in the 247 Sports Composite coming out of high school. On Rivals, he was ranked #179. Even when he looked like a star freshman, he remained overshadowed by other freshmen in his class, yet he has continued to prove himself at every turn, propelling Illinois to greater success, which very few saw coming.
Obviously, the most significant part of this is Illinois’s chance to win their first ever National Championship. However, everything else that has gone into it, including the possibility of slaying a Big Ten giant in the final, would make it even sweeter.
