EAST LANSING, Mich. – East Lansing tried their best to honor their seniors, much in the same way Illini fans did in Champaign. But the Illini came, they saw, and they conquered. Together they ruined the party set for the Spartan seniors.

When all was said and done, the Illini had eaten most of the cake and claimed all the good presents as their own in a 75-68 win Saturday. The victory ended the Big Ten regular season and left fans and analysts alike wondering what this team is capable of in the postseason.

Illinois struggled for a stretch, losing at home to Penn State and on the road to Ohio State and Michigan. But after rallying around the seniors to defeat the previous conference-leading Iowa Hawkeyes, it rolled off two very impressive road wins against Minnesota and Michigan State.

Magically, the offense seemed repaired over night – the young and old, short and tall alike all started to fit into the system. While a week and a half ago we were wondering if Illinois would get a decent seeding in either tournament, it locked up the three seed in the Big Ten and more than likely locked up at least a three in the NCAA tournament.

Illinois, for the first time in a long time, was playing without its future in its own hands. But instead of pouting and hoping for the top teams to fall, it took matters into the gym and worked the kinks out. While the Big Ten regular season title is Ohio State’s, Illinois is hitting its stride and the Big Ten Tourney is there for the taking.

The last step to officially declaring Illinois as dangerous was taken Saturday afternoon. The win at Michigan State even prompted Dicky V to jabber about Illinois in the Final Four. Two oxymorons together – Dicky V giving Illinois publicity and the thought that the Illini could literally make it back to the Final Four.

As usual, when arriving to the Breslin Center, the squad looked towards James Augustine and Dee Brown to lift the team to victory. But for the first time, neither of them were available to play superman – in the first half Augustine had to walk off a knee injury, while Brown succumbed to foul trouble.

But Illinois went into halftime only down one. With very little contribution from Brown or Augustine, the Illini hung around with one of the more talented teams around. How? Chester Frazier ran the point and Warren Carter played Augustine’s role. Neither one could have been asked to do more. Jamar Smith caught fire and lit up the bottom of the nets, and Shaun Pruitt played big inside and remained a powerful low-post presence.

Although he’s known as one of the fiercest competitors around, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo could not have felt good in this one. It was sooner or later that the seniors would come back and put the kiddies to bed. In the end, Brown and Augustine came back and finished the game with a combined 30 points.

How could Dicky V, while watching Duke vs. North Carolina of all games, think of Illinois? Because Illinois is no longer the Dee and James show; some of the other guys grabbed the mic and loudly proclaimed they can play, too.

The young contribution was most impressive, mainly because it was the first time we were convinced. But not praising the seniors would be a crime. James Augustine, on a bad knee, made the play of the night taking back momentum with a steal and taking it the length of the court for a “goodnight moon” dunk. And Dee Brown once again drew admiration from everyone in attendance, some Spartan fans wouldn’t leave the stadium until they got a chance to meet Mr. Illinois. Izzo included.

“The Big Ten is going to miss Dee Brown,” Izzo said. “He shouldn’t be called a great guard or a great shooter, he’s just a great winner.”

But even with Brown on the brain, Izzo couldn’t help but mention names like Frazier, Smith, Pruitt and Carter.

Ian Gold is a senior in Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].