After the 1995-1996 NBA basketball regular season, one in which the Chicago Bulls won a record 72 games, players on the team wore hats that displayed this battle-cry: “72-10; Don’t mean a thing without the ring.”

In sports, most teams are ultimately judged by their performance in the postseason rather than the regular season. Statistics might be acquired in the regular campaign, but heroes and legacies are etched into our brains as a result of playoff performances.

In no other sport is this more relevant than in college basketball, primarily because the NCAA tournament is the single-greatest sporting event of the entire year.

There really is nothing better than the tourney. What other time during the year is it acceptable for grown men to sit in front of their TVs for 96 hours straight?

By the end of that first weekend, most people walk around humming the CBS basketball theme song and imitating under their breath, “Gus Johnson, Dan Bonner coming to you live from Boise, Idaho.”

Yes, for the top-tier programs the regular season is important for tournament seeding, quality wins for the RPI and getting on a roll at the end of the year. Conference championships are also nice to have in the trophy case.

But long-lasting reputations and memories are created during the Big Dance.

Last year’s Stanford Cardinal lost only one game in the regular season, capturing the Pac-10 regular season and tournament championship.

However, they will be remembered about as much as Crystal Clear Pepsi or the Brett Melton era at Illinois.

The Cardinal were washed away from memory after their second-round loss to Alabama. They also put a dent in my bank account – damn ESPN’s Andy Katz and his prophecy that Stanford’s team chemistry would win them the championship.

Meanwhile, last year’s Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were a respectable, but not spectacular, 23-9 in the regular season.

When the tourney came around, their record didn’t matter. It is all about how you play in late March and early April.

By advancing all the way to the national championship game, they further legitimized their program and eliminated those nine regular season losses from memory.

For this year’s Illini, going undefeated throughout the regular season would be a tremendous accomplishment and a tribute to the players, Bruce Weber and his staff. It would be a feat that would not be forgotten anytime soon among college basketball fans.

A second-straight outright Big Ten title also is nothing to sneeze at.

Illini fans are clearly loving and respecting this historic 100th season of Illinois basketball. This regular season has been more fun and exciting than anybody could have imagined, even with everybody back from a Sweet 16 squad from a year ago.

But the fact of the matter is that this team’s legacy will come from the tourney.

I would rather have my team finish fourth in the conference and go to the Final Four than win the conference and lose in the second round of the tournament.

However, the way this team has looked all season, that will probably not be a hypothetical situation people around here will be discussing at the end of the year.