Last Sunday, the Illinois men’s golf team fell just short of winning its sixth straight Big Ten title. Mike Small’s team finished second, four strokes behind Minnesota.

A week before that, the men’s tennis team suffered a similar fate, coming in second place at the Big Ten Tournament behind Ohio State.

The golf and tennis finishes of the last two weeks were a sort of microcosm for the past year of Illini athletics. Illinois’ best programs were good, they were exciting, but they just weren’t elite.

The words “second place” understandably sting a little bit more to Illini fans as opposed to the average sports fan. Every Illini die-hard still feels the pain of losing the 2005 National Championship basketball game to North Carolina. More recently, the Illinois volleyball team came in second place nationally, falling in the 2011 NCAA title match to UCLA. The men’s golf team also finished second in the NCAA Championships last season. Excluding the men’s 2012 National Championship gymnastics team, it seems that Illini teams of the recent past just can’t quite get over the hump.

The bottom line is, Illinois has a good amount of solid programs in its athletic department. Many of them gave us some exciting moments throughout 2013-14. 

The volleyball and soccer teams made it all the way to the Sweet 16 after slow starts to their seasons. The wrestling, men’s tennis and gymnastics squads each enjoyed time being ranked in the top 15 in the country.

But none reached the top.

Forgive me if I sound slightly negative and unappreciative of the success that some Illini teams have enjoyed this past year. I don’t want to take anything away from their achievements. But when a team’s fans have a taste of success, it usually leaves them wanting more and wondering what could have been.

To be fair, we should keep in mind that several Illini teams still have a chance to make noise in the postseason this spring. Maybe the baseball, men’s tennis or men’s golf teams will shut me up by making a postseason tournament run. Maybe they’ll take the next step and win it all.

Though we haven’t had any elite teams so far this year, our sports were not devoid of elite athletes. Soccer’s Janelle Flaws led the nation in goals scored with 23. Wrestling’s Jesse Delgado won his second straight national championship at the 125-pound weight class. Jordan Valdez of the men’s gymnastics team is the 2014 NCAA Champion in the high bar event. Farris Gosea of the men’s tennis team had a breakthrough season and was named Big Ten Player of the Year. The list goes on.

And though none of our teams have reached an elite level this year, many of them are in a great position to do serious damage in 2014-15. The baseball team, currently in second place (of course) in the Big Ten standings, has only two seniors on its roster this year and a great young core. Volleyball also only graduated two seniors and will likely be solid again next year. Brad Dancer’s men’s tennis program is probably in the best shape of any at Illinois, with no seniors on its roster and a stellar lineup that will be largely made up of experienced upperclassmen in 2015.

So this year has been good, not great. I can live with that since the future looks bright. But Illini fans will probably have to wait until next year to see if their teams can make the leap to an elite level.

Alex is a sophomore in AHS. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aroux94.