KRUSH EDITION: As hard as it might be to accept, it’s the Year of the Hawkeye
By Alex Roux
February 2, 2016
Looking to avoid an Illini hoops disaster in a difficult season
By Alex Roux
January 18, 2016
At Illinois, it’s reasonable to expect the men’s basketball team to make the NCAA tournament.Barring extreme circumstances and an occasional rebuilding season, that expectation was solidified and instilled into multiple generations of Illini hoops fans over the course of nearly three decades. From ...
Hometown Illini players reflect on historic 2004-05 season
March 16, 2015
Despite being young at the time, former Champaign Centennial stars and now Illinois basketball players Rayvonte Rice and Michael Finke remember the 2004-05 basketball season like it was yesterday. While many watched the monumental run on TV, Finke and Rice were in the atmosphere experiencing it first...
Illinois basketball has come a long way since 2005
March 16, 2015
When you’re young, you rarely think long-term. I grew up in a golden era of Illinois basketball in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Big Ten titles and NCAA tournament appearances were the norm. I didn’t associate Illinois basketball with anything other than success, since it had been good for...
Illinois vs. Arizona: 10 years later
March 16, 2015
It was truly a magical season: a 29-0 start, a No. 1 ranking for 15 straight weeks, a Big Ten championship and a Final Four appearance. Illinois fans still want to talk about the 2004-05 Illini. Luther Head, Dee Brown, Deron Williams. 37-2, NCAA runner-up. Until the Illini win a national title — i...
Where are they now: 2004-05 Illini basketball players and coaches
March 16, 2015
It has been an eventful 10 years since the 2004-05 Illinois men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA championship game. Much has changed at Illinois in those 10 years. But what have the players and coaches from that year’s team been up to since then? Dee Brown No. 11 guard Brown was drafte...
Abysmal offense haunts Illinois in loss to Nebraska
January 12, 2015
Illinois’ 53-43 loss to Nebraska on Sunday night was ugly enough offensively to give Illini fans flashbacks. John Groce’s team lost 48-39 to Ohio State and 49-43 to Northwestern last season in similarly depressing performances. Bruce Weber’s Illinois teams were known for offensively anemic sh...
A win Saturday will help Illini win Chicago
December 12, 2014
It’s only December, so it’s too early in Illinois’ basketball season for a true must-win game. But a loss to Oregon on Saturday at United Center in Chicago would hurt, and it would hurt badly. It would be a crushing blow to the Illini’s nonconference resume that the NCAA tournament committee wil...
Egwu vows to make senior season count
November 4, 2014
Illinois head coach John Groce didn’t recruit Nnanna Egwu to Champaign. Groce was the head man at Ohio when Egwu committed to former Illini coach Bruce Weber in 2009. But now, Groce, beginning his third season coaching the 6-foot-11 center at Illinois, is running out of superlatives to describe Egwu and th...
