Illini on a Hot Streak
By Jeff Mayfield

[March 08, 2021]   The Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team has had better weeks, but I don’t know when! History says that the Illinois- Fighting Illini began play in 1906 with Elwood Brown as their first coach. In 1915, Illinois won their first ever Big Ten title, going 16–0 (and 12–0 in Big Ten play) under Coach Ralph Jones. But did any of those former teams have a better week than this past week for the Illini?

This week will become legend someday if it hasn’t reached that status already. The Illini came to a fork in the schedule that can only be described as a gauntlet. They were to go on the road to face three top 25 teams in a row; Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State.

Being the astute basketball brain that I am [& one that the LDN has invested heavily in] I did my own reconnaissance and deducted that IF Illinois could win one of the three that would be a good outcome and get them ready for the upcoming tournaments. Being a basketball savant, I reasoned that IF the Illini could get lucky and win two out of the three-that would be other-worldly-and would really give us all a good feeling about going deep into March.

So much for the LDN’s investment. Illinois not only won all three-they did it with flare and pizazz! Wisconsin made a scary late run, but Illinois had dominated up to those final minutes. At Ohio State [do we ever play well there?] things might have looked bleaker than they actually were as the Illini trailed by four with under four minutes to play. Why was I worried? After all we’ve got O-H-AYO! Right? I guess I need to relax.

But like I said, IF you saw this coming, would you please contact me here at the LDN? I would love to take you with me for my next consultation w/ my financial advisor. Your allocations might really help me. But seriously folks, what the Illini did this week is unprecedented.

• They became the first Illini team ever to win 16 league games.

• They lead the Big Ten standings by a half a game, but somehow are in 2nd place? [Big Ten office sent out a press release stating that the conference champion would be determined by winning percentage-even if other teams played 3 or more less games].

• The Illini closed the regular season winning 11 out of 12 games.

• Illinois went 8-1 in their last 9 league road tilts.

• They may end the regular season rankings later today at #3 in the nation [highest since the 2004-05 team was ranked #1 most of that season].

• With plenty of individual hardware to come…!

However, I’m also sad to report-that it’s possibly the end of the road for LDN coverage. Because of Covid, Big Ten schools are only handing out five credentials for the tournament and the LDN is not in the select group or company to receive one. And though there will be a few fans in the stands for the games-again, the allocation of said tickets doesn’t reach down enough to include very many that we know. In addition, our connections to the Big Dance are not available because of the virus either-so this may well be the end of the 2020-21 coverage from this impeccable source.

But we would be remiss if we did not take a moment to say how much we’ve enjoyed the ride this season. Last year the Illini were on fire at the end of the season and had a legitimate shot of making a deep NCAA tournament run. This year, the potential is probably greater. So, we not only thank the Illini for giving us back to back seasons of joy, for making our program relevant again, but for also letting us hear our name called out on Selection Sunday as one of the best four teams in the nation! CONGRATULATIONS! AND thank you!

AND thank you to our great LDN readers, who text and email us during the season and are just a joy to serve! We always appreciate you more than you will ever know. AND if there is any way we can sneak into a game or two, we will try to supply you with some bonus coverage somewhere along the way.

[By JEFF MAYFIELD]

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