Illinois' Fighting Illini

Illini a team like no other

The NCAA Basketball season has wrapped up, the Tar Heels of the University of North Carolina have been crowned the national champions (thank god that they do not call themselves the World Champions of College Basketball like their peers in the professional arena do).

The recently-ended March Madness, for all the drama and overtime games and last-minute comebacks, really fell short on one side - providing us the spectre of a grown man shedding tears. For the uninitiated, Roy Williams, the Tar Heels head-coach, is a rather emotional man and has been known to shed tears when his teams lose especially in the national title game. Anyways, that sadism aside, what this years March Madness failed to provide was the exclamation point to the spectacular season that the University of Illinois Fighting Illini team was having. They had been ranked as the best team in the nation since about December of 2004 - thats almost four straight months as the No. 1 team. They embodied team spirit to the core (cliched I agree, but this was a team that was far greater as whole than the sum of its parts). On paper, no where close to many teams on talent, but they had the "it" going for them - chemistry.

Chemistry, camaraderie, trust, team-execution, these are things that are often overlooked in team sports, especially when faced with the razzle-dazzle of superlative individual talents. Heck, NBA is caught up in its own idolatory craze, its losing sight of the fact that the league represents what is arguably the best team sport in North America (American football is a contender too, but that game is so drawn out, so stretched out, I sleep off during games sometimes). Proof of chemistry being the overridingly important factor over an assemblage of talent actually came in droves this past couple years.

Anaheim Angels of 2002, Florida Marlins of 2003, Boston RedSox of 2004, San Antonio Spurs of 2003, Detroit Pistons of 2004, New England Patriots of 2003 and 2004, University of Connecticut Huskies of 2004. Not to diminish the talent of these teams. But what put them over the top was their sheer chemistry - their ability to come together as a team.

This brings us back to the incomplete story of the 2004-5 Fighting Illini basketball team. Their ability to execute as a team, to trust each other on the floor. One play from earlier this year sums up their "team"-ness. In their Feb 23, 2005 game against Northwestern U., the Illini showed how basketball was probably meant to be played. After garnering a rebound, the Illini ran back to their offensive end, and set their play up, and ended up using the entire 35-second shot clock before making a shot. And no, unlike the selfish Kobe Bryant, they didnt just keep dribbling the ball. They passed the ball around an incredible 15 times, meaning that during that possession, all five players handled the ball an average of three times. Imagine the precision passing, the cutting, the movement without the ball. Simply wow. As one coach succintly put it, they passed up good shots to make great shots. Despite their short-comings against the Tar Heels in the championship game, this is one team, that, to me atleast will not be forgotten just because they came in second.