Hail To The Orange, Hail To The Blue

I still don’t believe it.

How can I? Down by fifteen points with four minutes to go against Arizona on Saturday - but then a couple of steals and a rain of threes to get back to eight down with 63 seconds left. I admit it: I’d given up. But then a few more steals and a few more threes and an avalanche of sound from the stands and we were in… overtime?

Overtime! Where the Illini jumped to a quick lead and Arizona frittered away a good ten seconds during their last possession [“WHAT are they DOING???” I was screaming] before the Wildcats finally heaved up a desperation bomb that fell short. Good Guys win, 90-89!

And then I resumed breathing. Either this Illinois team has just used up a season’s worth of luck, or they’re this year's team of destiny.

The signs were already there that this might be THE year: just a single loss during the regular season, the first round of the NCAA tournament games in Indianapolis, the next round in Chicago, the Final Four in St. Louis – all just a short drive from Champaign so you knew the fans would be there, and no need to deal with airlines or time zones or foreign cuisines.

But still. These are not the kind of results I’m accustomed to. I’m a Cubs fan, fer chrissakes – we don’t accept victory lightly. I’m more used to teams like the 1988-89 Flying Illini, who came into Minneapolis in January at 17-0 and ranked #1 for the first time since 1952, only to lose to the Gophers and slink out of town. I was there, of course.

And then later in the season, to make it to the Final Four (also for the first time since 1952) in Seattle only to lose their semi-final game to eventual champion Michigan, a team they’d already beaten twice that season.

So now, on to St. Louis. Bring on Louisville. Bring on North Carolina. Bring on whoever.

48 hours later, I still don't believe it. I’m not used to this.

But I’m willing to learn.

Oskee wow wow, indeed.