Riding The Orange Wave, What A Season!!!
I just rolled back in from what was by far the best day of my life in St. Louis! Forget the outcome of the game, very disappointing all the way around, and focus on this amazing season we were all blessed to experience! I will now cover my experience, including game summary. Pictures to follow!!!
Spending Monday in St. Louis reminded me how very special our season has been, and how lucky I was to be a small piece of the experience for the tourney. To be sure, the atmosphere in St. Louis was ELECTRIC!! I got into town with my two brothers at 3pm on Monday and checked into the downtown Radisson with a view of the Arch and the river from our room. We decided to head to Al Hrabowski's bar by Busch Stadium, which was the official bar for the Illini fans in town.
The sea of orange shirts welcomed us to the bar, where at least 500-1000 fans were crammed into the bar and several tents on the property. Beers were $5 and were cold, so we partook rather liberally of the sweet brew. The crowd was very excited and everyone was having fun, cheering, and drinking. Even the few stray UNC fans seemed to be having a good time. After I bought my first beer, I turned and was looking in the face of Lucas Johnson. SWEET! Illini players and lots of folks partying it up! However, the real treat came later. We were inside when the crowd erupted and started yelling and cheering. We scrambled outside to get a look, and finally we saw the head coming through the crowd....Brian Cook, closely followed by Jerrance Howard, Marcus Griffin, and Sergio McClain. I rushed over and got to talk with Brian for a few minutes and shake his hand, then I got my picture taken with Serge and was sufficiently geeked out.
At about 6pm we headed back to the hotel to grab our tickets and grab some over priced burgers at the bar there. At that time we noticed that UNC was boarding their bus across the street from our hotel, so we went over to taunt them and their fans, and got into a conversation with some nice UNC folks about the ins and outs of the game. Most of the UNC fans we encountered were happy to have the game with Illinois and thought that it would be a tough but good game.
We headed to the Dome at 7pm and were amazed at the wash of the crowd as we got closer. The place was packed to the hilt with fans of all sorts milling about and getting excited for the game. We stood in line for about 5 minutes and were in the Dome, shouting I-L-L to the crowds riding the escalator to the top of the Dome. Our seats were right behind one of the baskets and about 6 rows from the very top of the Dome, but they were great seats to see the whole game.
The National Championship
The game was tough. Augie...what happened man? Losing you changed our whole game plan and let the elephant May romp wild in the second half. The first half was by far the worst half of basketball we have played all season. Quick shots, dumb shots, no passing...we did not look like the Illini.
Give credit to UNC, they finally brought a tough defense to a game and completely shut down our inside game. The second half was amazing to experience. My brother said at halftime that we would be back in the game within five minutes and he was right. We put on a furious fight and came so close. Our shots did not fall in the end, and we lost to a quality opponent. I still think we beat UNC 6 games out of 10, but they had our number Monday night.
Thoughts on the Season
How lucky we are. How extremely lucky to have experienced this year. Big Ten Champs, Big Ten Tourney Champs, winners of 28 games in a row, #1 tourney seed, tied for the most wins in NCAA history, and National Runner-Up. I never would have believed you had you told me those stats before the season.
We got to be spoiled like little children this year. We got to see the game be played by a group of outstanding young men the way it was meant to be played. We played with character, courage, and pride. To see Luther Head flourish after so much drama last year, it was very rewarding to see. Watching the growth of these young men over the past three years has been amazing. I will miss them all.
I will hope that by some bizarre chance Deron comes back for another year. Without him, it might be rough. We have some solid contributors returning in Dee and Augie. Marcus Arnold becoming eligible might fill the hole at PF. Warren Carter, Rich McBride, and Brian Randle will all hopefully contribute. The truth is, we have not landed any big name recruits, so we may have to rebuild and struggle a bit next year. If Deron were to come back we might avoid some of that.
All in all, the Illini experience has been amazing this year. I felt blessed to be able to share the title game with the team, it will be something I never forget.
Oskee Wow Wow.
Spending Monday in St. Louis reminded me how very special our season has been, and how lucky I was to be a small piece of the experience for the tourney. To be sure, the atmosphere in St. Louis was ELECTRIC!! I got into town with my two brothers at 3pm on Monday and checked into the downtown Radisson with a view of the Arch and the river from our room. We decided to head to Al Hrabowski's bar by Busch Stadium, which was the official bar for the Illini fans in town.
The sea of orange shirts welcomed us to the bar, where at least 500-1000 fans were crammed into the bar and several tents on the property. Beers were $5 and were cold, so we partook rather liberally of the sweet brew. The crowd was very excited and everyone was having fun, cheering, and drinking. Even the few stray UNC fans seemed to be having a good time. After I bought my first beer, I turned and was looking in the face of Lucas Johnson. SWEET! Illini players and lots of folks partying it up! However, the real treat came later. We were inside when the crowd erupted and started yelling and cheering. We scrambled outside to get a look, and finally we saw the head coming through the crowd....Brian Cook, closely followed by Jerrance Howard, Marcus Griffin, and Sergio McClain. I rushed over and got to talk with Brian for a few minutes and shake his hand, then I got my picture taken with Serge and was sufficiently geeked out.
At about 6pm we headed back to the hotel to grab our tickets and grab some over priced burgers at the bar there. At that time we noticed that UNC was boarding their bus across the street from our hotel, so we went over to taunt them and their fans, and got into a conversation with some nice UNC folks about the ins and outs of the game. Most of the UNC fans we encountered were happy to have the game with Illinois and thought that it would be a tough but good game.
We headed to the Dome at 7pm and were amazed at the wash of the crowd as we got closer. The place was packed to the hilt with fans of all sorts milling about and getting excited for the game. We stood in line for about 5 minutes and were in the Dome, shouting I-L-L to the crowds riding the escalator to the top of the Dome. Our seats were right behind one of the baskets and about 6 rows from the very top of the Dome, but they were great seats to see the whole game.
The National Championship
The game was tough. Augie...what happened man? Losing you changed our whole game plan and let the elephant May romp wild in the second half. The first half was by far the worst half of basketball we have played all season. Quick shots, dumb shots, no passing...we did not look like the Illini.
Give credit to UNC, they finally brought a tough defense to a game and completely shut down our inside game. The second half was amazing to experience. My brother said at halftime that we would be back in the game within five minutes and he was right. We put on a furious fight and came so close. Our shots did not fall in the end, and we lost to a quality opponent. I still think we beat UNC 6 games out of 10, but they had our number Monday night.
Thoughts on the Season
How lucky we are. How extremely lucky to have experienced this year. Big Ten Champs, Big Ten Tourney Champs, winners of 28 games in a row, #1 tourney seed, tied for the most wins in NCAA history, and National Runner-Up. I never would have believed you had you told me those stats before the season.
We got to be spoiled like little children this year. We got to see the game be played by a group of outstanding young men the way it was meant to be played. We played with character, courage, and pride. To see Luther Head flourish after so much drama last year, it was very rewarding to see. Watching the growth of these young men over the past three years has been amazing. I will miss them all.
I will hope that by some bizarre chance Deron comes back for another year. Without him, it might be rough. We have some solid contributors returning in Dee and Augie. Marcus Arnold becoming eligible might fill the hole at PF. Warren Carter, Rich McBride, and Brian Randle will all hopefully contribute. The truth is, we have not landed any big name recruits, so we may have to rebuild and struggle a bit next year. If Deron were to come back we might avoid some of that.
All in all, the Illini experience has been amazing this year. I felt blessed to be able to share the title game with the team, it will be something I never forget.
Oskee Wow Wow.
posted by GT at 10:05 PM
2 Comments:
You really should consider taking up a career in sports writing or some other type of writing. Mr. Opitz would be very proud of your progress!
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