It’s been six full seasons since the last time the Chicago Bulls have made a playoff appearance, but here they are in the year 2005, finally back in the postseason.

The Chicago Bulls seemed to have been forgotten here at the Illinois campus until this year’s unexpected season. Playing an exciting brand of basketball, the Bulls are once again winning their way back into fans’ hearts and onto their televisions.

“It’s so great to see that the Bulls are back in the playoffs again,” said Jim Webb, freshman in FAA. “I hadn’t been following them hardcore until this season, but I’ve jumped right back into being a Bulls fan.”

The “Baby Bulls,” as they have been dubbed, are led by Coach Scott Skiles and a bevy of young players, including rookie and Sixth Man of the Year award-winner Ben Gordon.

After posting a 10-18 record, including an 0-9 start to the season, the Bulls won 13 of 14 games in January to climb three games over .500. They rode that momentum all the way to clinching the fourth seed in the Eastern conference and securing home court for the first round of the playoffs.

With their success, the campus is finally starting to show some excitement in the Bulls again. Lifelong Bulls fan Chad Lewis, freshman in LAS, said he thinks the Bulls have been overlooked for a majority of the season, but lately he has seen more people join him to cheer on the Bulls.

“I go out with my buddies to watch the games at the bar, and lately a lot more people have been out to cheer on the Bulls,” Lewis said. “It’s real exciting to have a chance to win something; we don’t miss a game.”

Part of the reason the Bulls have been overlooked this year has a lot to do with the Illini men’s basketball team having such a good season. Both Lewis and Webb agreed that after the spectacle that took place on campus during the Final Four, the Bulls’ success just doesn’t seem to match up.

The team in the playoffs right now is playing without Eddie Curry and Loul Deng, both of whom were vital to the team’s success prior to being injured. With Deng and Curry out, other players have stepped up big, but none more so than Ben Gordon and Andres Nocioni.

“Nocioni is awesome,” said Justin Castillejos, senior in engineering. “Me and my friends call him ‘coast to coast Nouch’; you never know what he’s gonna do to surprise you when he gets the ball. He’s a tough player and we like to see him take it all the way to the hoop after a rebound.”

The Chicago Bulls are currently down 3-2 in a best-of-seven series against Washington, after a heartbreaking last-second loss Wednesday. The Bulls will head back to Washington for Game Six on Friday, and then back to Chicago for Game Seven, if necessary, on Sunday. Should the Bulls win these two games they will face Shaq and the Miami Heat in the next round.

“I’m happy with the Bulls right now,” Lewis said, “With Curry out they don’t have a chance against Miami, but having won 2 games against the Wizards is unbelievable, I’m really proud of them.”