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As Illinois returned to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, I wrote a very reflective piece about my Illini Men's basketball fandom.
Included in that piece were my earliest memories of the Fighting Illini, beginning with the team's victory against Syracuse in the Elite Eight of the 1989 NCAA Tournmanet and extending to vague recollections of Illinois losing to Vanderbilt during the second round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament after almost knocking off the Fab Five in Champaign earlier that season.
While I was an Illinois fan from distance, growing up in Chicago and rooting more for the Chicago Bulls and even the DePaul Blue Demons at the time, I began to follow the program more during the 1996-97 season after watching the Illini upset UCLA at the United Center days before Christmas. With new Head Coach Lon Kruger and seniors Kiwane Garris and Chris Gandy, the Illini appealed to me as I became obsessed with college basketball while realizing that the Bulls weren't going to be around for too many seasons. I have even uploaded this UCLA-Illinois game which turned me into a full-born Illini fan for the purpose of this post. Enjoy! It's a fun one.
Included in that piece were my earliest memories of the Fighting Illini, beginning with the team's victory against Syracuse in the Elite Eight of the 1989 NCAA Tournmanet and extending to vague recollections of Illinois losing to Vanderbilt during the second round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament after almost knocking off the Fab Five in Champaign earlier that season.
While I was an Illinois fan from distance, growing up in Chicago and rooting more for the Chicago Bulls and even the DePaul Blue Demons at the time, I began to follow the program more during the 1996-97 season after watching the Illini upset UCLA at the United Center days before Christmas. With new Head Coach Lon Kruger and seniors Kiwane Garris and Chris Gandy, the Illini appealed to me as I became obsessed with college basketball while realizing that the Bulls weren't going to be around for too many seasons. I have even uploaded this UCLA-Illinois game which turned me into a full-born Illini fan for the purpose of this post. Enjoy! It's a fun one.
Ultimately, I would consider myself an Illinois fan from 1996-97 until today, though I will admit I tuned out during the last two or three seasons of the John Groce years and even the first few seasons under Brad Underwood.
As my Illinois fandom has reached 30 years, covering nearly three-fourths of my life, I thought it would be fun to roll out my favorite 30 Illinois basketball players since the time I became a fan. For clarity, this list is not whom I think are the best Illinois players of all time, which would include many members of the 1989 Flyin' Illini, as an example. Rather, these are the 30 Illinois players I have most enjoyed watching or just liked as a person since Illinois basketball became the only team I cared about.
To get this started, I have compiled a list of players off the top of my head whom I will be considering for my favorite 30 Illini basketball players of my fandom. You will notice a gap during the latter stages of the Groce years and beginning stages of the Underwood years, when my fandom lapsed. Also, I attended the U-of-I from 2000 to 2004 so expect a lot of players from this time period to be on this list given how good the program was at the time and how meaningful it was to me from ages 18-22.
Here are the players I will be considering:
As my Illinois fandom has reached 30 years, covering nearly three-fourths of my life, I thought it would be fun to roll out my favorite 30 Illinois basketball players since the time I became a fan. For clarity, this list is not whom I think are the best Illinois players of all time, which would include many members of the 1989 Flyin' Illini, as an example. Rather, these are the 30 Illinois players I have most enjoyed watching or just liked as a person since Illinois basketball became the only team I cared about.
To get this started, I have compiled a list of players off the top of my head whom I will be considering for my favorite 30 Illini basketball players of my fandom. You will notice a gap during the latter stages of the Groce years and beginning stages of the Underwood years, when my fandom lapsed. Also, I attended the U-of-I from 2000 to 2004 so expect a lot of players from this time period to be on this list given how good the program was at the time and how meaningful it was to me from ages 18-22.
Here are the players I will be considering:
- Kiwane Garris.
- Chris Gandy.
- Bryant Notree.
- Matt Heldman.
- Kevin Turner.
- Jerry Hester.
- Brian Johnson.
- Jarrod Gee.
- Sergio McClain.
- Cory Bradford.
- Lucas Johnson.
- Damir Krupalija.
- Robert Archibald.
- Cleotis Brown.
- Fess Hawkins.
- Nate Mast.
- Frank Williams.
- Marcus Griffin.
- Sean Harrington.
- Brian Cook.
- Luther Head.
- Roger Powell, Jr.
- Dee Brown.
- Deron Williams.
- James Augustine.
- Rich McBride.
- Warren Carter.
- Brian Randle.
- Jack Ingram.
- Marcus Arnold.
- Shaun Pruitt.
- Calvin Brock.
- Jamar Smith.
- Chester Frazier.
- Trent Meacham.
- Demetri McCamey.
- Mike Tisdale.
- Bill Cole.
- Mike Davis.
- Jeff Jordan.
- Dominique Keller.
- Brandon Paul.
- D.J. Richardson.
- Tyler Griffey.
- Joseph Bertrand.
- Jereme Richmond.
- Meyers Leonard.
- Nnanna Egwu.
- Tracy Abrams.
- Sam McClaurin.
- Malcom Hill.
- Rayvonte Rice.
- Kendrick Nunn.
- Giorgi Bezhanishvili.
- Trent Frazier.
- Ayo Dosunmu.
- Kofi Cockburn.
- Adam Miller.
- Jacob Grandison.
- Damonte Williams.
- Andre Curbelo.
- Coleman Hawkins.
- Alfonso Plummer.
- R.J. Melendez.
- Brandin Podziemski.
- Luke Goode.
- Ty Rodgers.
- Matthew Mayer.
- Terrence Shannon Jr.
- Dain Dainja.
- Marcus Domask.
- Quincy Guerrier.
- Kylan Boswell.
- Kasparas Jakucionis.
- Will Riley.
- Tre White.
- Morez Johnson.
- Tomislav Ivisic.
- Jake Davis.
- Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.
- Ben Humrichous.
- Andrej Stojakovic.
- Keaton Wagler.
- David Mirkovic.
- Zvonimir Ivisic.
As you can see, the competition will be stiff, with 85 players vying for my favorite 30 Illini of all time.
This should be hard, as I am going to try and remove recency bias, but quite fun to do as well.
At a time when the Illini basketball program is as exciting as it has ever been, I am excited to reflect upon my 30 favorite Illini of the last 30 years.
This should be hard, as I am going to try and remove recency bias, but quite fun to do as well.
At a time when the Illini basketball program is as exciting as it has ever been, I am excited to reflect upon my 30 favorite Illini of the last 30 years.
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