Although we may not have won the National Title, there is no greater team that has been through the NCAA. To win every game that Dick Vitale said we would lose (and that was pretty much all of them), to win 37 games in a season, to come back from being behind 15 points with 4 minutes left to beat Arizona, to beat Louisville to make it to our first final, to coming from 15 points behind in the national title game to tie it with a few minutes left.
This has been the greatest season in Illinois history, 100 years of basketball. 100 years of pride.
47,000 fans showed up in St Louis, 39,000 were wearing orange. 12,000 showed up at the Assembly Hall. The fans are the best in the nation. The best in the world.
Congratulations on a season worth being proud of for the rest of your lives, boys. We’re proud of you.