When Illinois ran over then-No. 1 Wake Forest on Dec. 1, the entire Illini bench got a turn on the floor.

When the No. 1 Illini trounced conference opponent Penn State 83-63 two and a half months later, the bench was emptied yet again.

But three Illini never logged a minute. In any game.

Marcus Arnold, Calvin Brock and Brian Randle are redshirting this year.

For the trio, Illinois historic season has been a bittersweet one; while their teammates are making history on the court, these three are permanently planted on the sidelines.

Their is an awkward balance between team member and cheerleader, and it hasn’t been an easy role to shoulder.

Especially on the No. 1 team.

“That is kind of hard, because they’ll clear the bench and let everybody play, but I’ll still be sitting there in my uniform,” Brock said. “But we’re winning, and I’m just using this year as a learning experience so I’m just going to use it to get better and be prepared for next year.”

While the rest of the Illini nation focuses on the next few weeks, it’s easy for these three to let their thoughts wander forward seven months to next season.

That is, after all, the next time they are going to see minutes.

For Arnold, redshirting was not a choice. After transferring from Illinois State, Arnold was required by NCAA regulations to sit out his first season on campus.

The power forward will have a chance to start next year for Illinois with Roger Powell Jr. graduating, having two years of eligibility in an orange uniform.

It was not a personal decision for Randle, either. It was more of a reactionary one.

The lanky forward was forced to redshirt after he broke his right hand in practice. He punched a wall before Illinois’ first game of the season and will have three years of eligibility left.

Brock is a different story. Being a freshman guard on the team with the best backcourt in the country, Brock knew he wouldn’t see significant playing time.

He was faced with a decision – settle for limited minutes with Illinois’ trio of guards in front of him, or use this year to improve his game.

With the payoff coming down the road.

“(Coach Bruce Weber) was telling me I’d probably play but not as many minutes as I want to because Dee, Deron and Luther average 30 or almost 40 (minutes) a game,” Brock said. “So he said I should use this as a learning experience.”

Brock said he’s made significant progress this season, improving his physical skills along with the mental ones.

Instead of tensing up and immediately turning the ball over, the game is slowing down for Brock. He said he’s been able to mature, and that his game has significantly improved.

With the help of Illinois’ All-Big Ten guards.

“I’m getting better day-by-day, but there’s still a lot of things I need to work on,” Brock said. “The players, they teach me a lot of new things along the way too. I think it’s working out for the better.”

One of the biggest benefits the freshman has gotten out of redshirting is that he was already sidelined when he broke his left hand in practice last week.

Had he not redshirted he still would have been eligible to compete in the majority of Illinois’ games, but this way Brock says he can’t think about the “what if’s” when it comes tournament time.

“This hand thing, man, I don’t know if I could have handled sitting out the rest of the season because my hand was messed up,” Brock said.

For Randle, who has missed the entire season because of his injury, the questions about what could have been popped up everyday.

Even though Illinois is 32-1, Randle still wonders how he could be helping the Illini by coming off the bench against teams ranging from Arkansas to Minnesota.

“Some games I go into like, ‘they don’t need me,’ and others they may need me,” he said. “It’s just the fact that you’re watching, and you want to get in there each day and you can’t.”

While the rest of the team reaches for the top, the redshirts have had to settle this season.

They settle for practicing, training and cheerleading. They say they still feel like part of the squad, but it comes at a price.

“When we’d go on road games I’d be suited up but I wouldn’t play, and the fans at other schools didn’t know I was redshirting so they’d trash talk about me not playing,” Brock said. “That was the only hard part, but we were beating them, so it didn’t really matter to me.”

But staying on the sidelines becomes a little easier, Randle said, by setting their sights a little farther ahead than the rest of the team’s focus point.

“The competitive nature thing, it’s hard to sit back and just watch everything transpire,” Randle said. “Everybody says everything happens for a reason, and right now I’m starting to see that and accept that. Don’t focus so much on the negative, turn it into a positive.”