The Illinois team that dominated the 2004-05 college basketball season en route to a national runner-up finish has been inducted to the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The Fighting Illini squad was honored at a reception and banquet on Saturday at Redbird Arena in Normal.
LOOKING BACK AT THE 2004-05 FIGHTING ILLINI SEASON
The Illinois program enjoyed a record-breaking season during its centennial year of basketball in 2004-05, captivating the college basketball world with its unselfish and entertaining style of play.
Entering the year ranked in the top five, Illinois stormed out of the gates and went a perfect 14-0 during nonconference play, with three wins over ranked teams. The biggest contest during that stretch came on Dec. 1, 2004 when the Illini hosted No. 1 Wake Forest in the annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge. After months of build-up, the Illini welcomed the Demon Deacons to then-Assembly Hall, the first visit to Champaign by a No. 1-ranked team since 1979. With the entire arena painted Orange, the Illini blew past Wake Forest 91-73 to take over the No. 1 spot in the national polls.
In retrospect, perhaps the most amazing feat of the season was that after earning the nation's No. 1 ranking on Dec. 6, the Illini held on to that top spot for the remaining 15 weeks of the season, ending the year ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press poll.
The Illini cruised to its second straight outright Big Ten championship with a 15-1 record, equaling the best-ever record by a Big Ten team during the conference's 16-game schedule format. Illinois' biggest wins on its way to the title were a pair of road contests at Wisconsin and Michigan State.
The game on Jan. 25, 2005 was hyped as "Something's Gotta Give" as the undefeated Illini traveled to Madison to take on Wisconsin and its 38-game homecourt winning streak, the longest in the nation at that time. Despite trailing by eight points in the second half, the Illini roared back behind a pair of 3-pointers by super-sub Jack Ingram and left town with a 75-65 victory, stunning the Kohl Center and delighting Illini fans watching on ESPN in what was the network's highest-rated game of the season.
Illinois traveled to East Lansing on Feb. 1, 2005 in a game that both programs knew would decide the Big Ten Championship. That night, the top-ranked Illini went into the Breslin Center and put on an offensive and defensive clinic. With an array of 3-pointers, steals, and breakaway layups, Illinois roared to a double-digit lead. In the second half, the Illini scored on an amazing 12 consecutive possessions to put the game away as the national media horde surrounding the UI program turned the focus toward not only a conference title, but also an undefeated season.
Following the final home game of the season – an 84-50 victory over Purdue on March 3, 2005 – the Illini cut down the nets to celebrate the outright Big Ten Championship.
That victory also extended the UI's record to 29-0, the third-best start in Big Ten history and 12th-best in NCAA history. The perfect season was not meant to be, however, as the Illini fell at Ohio State in the regular season finale on a last second 3-pointer.
But the loss did not linger, as Illinois returned to the court a week later at the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago with as much focus and determination as ever. Playing in front of three straight sellout crowds at the United Center, the Illini rolled to the Big Ten Tournament title with wins over Northwestern, Minnesota and Wisconsin, defeating the Badgers for the third time on the season in the title game.
A season-long goal of having an Indianapolis-to Chicago-to-St. Louis route during the NCAA Tournament was realized when the 32-1 Illini received the nation's top overall seed as the brackets were unveiled on "Selection Sunday." The Illini earned the No. 1 seed in the Chicago Region and began their road to the Final Four in Indianapolis at the RCA Dome. A pair of wins over Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round and Nevada in the second round propelled Illinois to its fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years.
The Allstate Arena in Rosemont transformed into Illinois' alternate homecourt for the Chicago Regional, with nearly the entire arena rooting for the Illini. A double-digit victory over Wisconsin-Milwaukee put Illinois in the Elite Eight and just one step away from a coveted trip to St. Louis. All that stood in the way was a tough Arizona squad.
The Illini and the Wildcats traded blows throughout the first half, but then Arizona slowly started to pull away. Illinois, which had never trailed by more than nine points at any time during the season, soon fell behind by double figures. The deficit grew to a seemingly insurmountable 15 points at 75-60 with just four minutes remaining.
But what followed was an Orange and Blue blur, an amazing 20-5 run to tie the game at 80. In a hectic series of 3-pointers by Deron Williams and Luther Head and steals by Head and Dee Brown, the Illini fought back. It culminated with 40 seconds left when Ingram stole an inbounds pass and ultimately found Williams, who hit perhaps the biggest shot in Illini history, a 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime. The heroics continued in OT, and when Williams' defense forced an off-balance Arizona shot at the end of the game that missed, the buzzer sounded and the Illini bench stormed onto the court to celebrate the improbable 90-89 victory. Illinois was headed to the Final Four for the first time since 1989.
The city of St. Louis was a week-long Orange party, with tens of thousands of Illini fans out in full force. It was announced that three Illini players had earned consensus All-America honors with Brown making the first team and Head and Williams chosen to the second team. It marked the first time that three guards from the same team received consensus All-America honors in the same season. Bruce Weber also was named National Coach of the Year prior to the weekend.
An NCAA Final Four record-crowd of 31,500 attended Illinois' open practice session, and an unprecedented number of media was in St. Louis to cover Illinois' quest for the national title. In front of more than 47,000 in attendance on April 2, the Illini took on Louisville in the National Semifinal. In a combination of hot shooting by Head, an explosive second half by Roger Powell and suffocating defense by Williams, Illinois posted a 72-57 victory to record its 37th victory, tying the most wins in a single season in NCAA history (since broken). More importantly, the Illini had advanced to the national championship game for the first time in school history.
It was the game that college basketball fans had waited for the entire season with Illinois and North Carolina vying for the title, marking the first time in 30 years that the nation's No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams had met in the championship game. The Illini battled through an off-shooting night and foul trouble to fight back from a 15-point deficit and tie the game at 70 with two minutes remaining. Illinois had a number of open shots to take the lead or tie it in the final minutes that just would not fall, and the Tarheels went on to win the title by the score of 75-70.
Despite not winning the national championship, the 2004-05 Fighting Illini left fans with a lifetime of memories. A final tribute came the day after the NCAA title game when the team was welcomed back to Champaign by a crowd of 25,000 at Memorial Stadium as the players, coaches, administration and fans gathered together to celebrate the most successful year in the history of Fighting Illini basketball.
