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Enjoy from my personal collection of NCAA Tournament games. Oh, how this game still hurts to this day as it was the last game in the Orange and Blue for Dee Brown and James Augustine. I remember watching this game while on the phone with my Dad, trying to figure out how to do my taxes given that I had lived in two states, Illinois and North Carolina, the previous year. I was quite annoyed as my attention was being taken away from a game during which Washington came out and punched the Illini in the face. Illinois would have an incredible rally and even lead by 10 points at one point in the second half. After finishing my taxes, I remember getting on the phone with my brother to talk about how if Illinois continued to play like this, the Illini could beat #1 UCONN in the Sweet Sixteen. Of course, Washington came back to take the lead. Illinois had a final shot to win the game, but Brown missed a three over the outstretched arms of Washington's Bobby Jones. I will never forget the CBS cameras following Brown running into the locker room for the last time as an Illini. The realization hit me then and stays with me today: one of the greatest eras in Illinois basketball history, the Dee Brown years, had come to an end. :-( Luckily for me, I got to witness three of those amazing four years as a student at the U-of-I. To this day, Illinois has had better basketball players than Dee, but no one player was more important in the program's history than the orange headband-wearing Brown! :-)
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