Kendall Gill still hurts.

He remembers walking off the court after losing to Michigan 83-81 in the NCAA Tournament semi-finals. It made the 1989 season incomplete.

Illinois heard Gill’s story during the Big Ten Tournament with the hopes it will be the Illini’s only sob story of this tournament.

“He has been in the pros, he is a millionaire, he has everything he wants but that national championship game or that ring,” said Illinois junior forward James Augustine. “People still look back on that game.

“These next three or four weeks summarize the whole year.”

Everything Illinois has accomplished under head coach Bruce Weber has been with the next few weeks in mind.

Win six games and Illinois will live in history.

Fall short. Augustine and Gill will be able to commiserate together forever.

“We’ve been talking about it since October,” said Illinois senior center Nick Smith. “It is Final Four or bust.”

Thirty-two wins. Fifteen straight weeks at No. 1 and a Big Ten title. They will not look the same for the Illini without getting to St. Louis.

A Big Ten Tournament ring is not a NCAA Tournament ring.

Not when March to the Arch talk started during Weber’s first meeting with the Illini after becoming coach over two years ago.

Talk about long term planning. And it has paid off this year.

The players have taken it upon themselves to make sure the team ended up in position to have as easy a tournament run as possible, going from Indianapolis to Chicago to St. Louis.

All the off-season workouts. All the preseason practices. All the wins against top teams in non-conference play. All the road wins in conference.

All of that makes the next three weeks easier. Illinois is the No. 1 overall seed. The less treacherous the terrain on the March to the Arch, the better.

“We put ourselves in position like we wanted to all year,” Augustine said. “Now we have to take advantage of it.”

Illinois is atop the college basketball polls because it never glanced past what was directly in front of them. The Illini had tunnel vision.

Illinois junior guards Dee Brown and Deron Williams would say after every game they just look at the opponent on the court against them. The possession at hand. Whatever immediately stood between Illinois and another win.

That may be clich‚, but it’s what the Illini did.

Weber mentioned those tidbits to his team in passing, not sure if it would stick with the Illini or not.

Now it’s the perfect mind frame for the next six games.

It’s also the only thing Weber has not worried about when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.

“Are we prepared? Have we faced enough different opponents? Can we deal with any scenario that comes up? Any style? Do we have the right mental focus?” Weber said, second-guessing himself more than looking to the media for answers.

He had Illinois play a top team (Gonzaga) on a so-called neutral court in Indianapolis. He set up a mini-tournament in December. Play at Georgetown and two days later play Oregon in Chicago. Just like the real one.

Not to mention, beat a No.1 team, Wake Forest.

Illinois has seen every type of basketball anyone will play in the postseason. Weber even had Illinois wear its white jerseys for a few games, so the team could get used to the foreign color.

The NCAA makes lower seeded teams wear white in the tournament.

And Illinois is not sure if they will be allowed to substitute orange for white.

“It’s been such a great run,” Weber said. “I don’t want people to forget about that. I know how you finish is how you are going to be remembered.”

Even Weber’s first practices this year focused on the Final Four. He forced his guards to work the ball inside and played suffocating defense.

Weber said teams are good at the end of the year because of what they focus on at the beginning of the year.

It worked.

Illinois won the Big Ten Tournament because of its defense and its post players.

“As long as we play defense we will play well,” said Illinois senior guard Luther Head.

Probably another passing comment from Weber that stayed with the team.

The only thing Weber did not set up for the Illini in March two years ago? His guard shooting drought.

Head has struggled for several weeks. Williams did not have his shot at the Big Ten Tournament. Since Brown has had teeth problems against Ohio State, he hasn’t been the same Big Ten Player of the Year.

But like when he came to Illinois, Weber has a plan.

“Get a layup,” Weber said. “Now the hoop looks bigger. Shooting is so mental. Make a few and it is so much easier.”

Will the next few weeks come together like Weber planned over two years ago, the way most everything else has?

“We’ll see,” he said.