Clarkmeister
04-06-2005, 01:15 AM
Lots of thoughts right now, the day after the game. I’m sure I’ll ramble, but here’s a trip report and brief season wrap-up all in one package. This is almost guaranteed to be self-indulgent as possible. Pregame and Gametime sections are brief. Postgame is long. Be warned. If you’ve never lived and died with a sports team you may not get it.
Pregame
I flew into St. Louis and landed at about 11:10am. After some delays with the rental car company, I left for my cousin’s house at noon. Got there and took the brief tour. She didn’t have an opinion on what to do all day, so I made a few calls with the other two of our party of four. My Dad was still 3 hours out of town and my best friend Dave was just getting up. Part of the package my Dad had set up included two rooms at the Adam’s Mark hotel in downtown St. Louis, about 6 blocks from the arena. So we all decided to rendezvous there at about 2:00 and wait for my Dad. My cousin decided she would stay downtown in case we were up late drinking and so we took one car with the intention of me dropping her back off in the morning in time for her to go to work.
Colleen and I got downtown about 1:40 or so. As we are trying to get in the hotel we realize it’s the home hotel for the North Carolina team. Dave shows up shortly thereafter and undeterred by all the blue, drinking commences in the sports bar. We walk by Andrew Bogut on the way in. Dude is skinny. Anyways, several beers later, the guy with our tickets and room keys shows up and my Dad appears a few minutes after that. We drink a few more, bring our personal belongings upstairs, and at 4:00 start heading towards the arena.
Part of our package included VIP tickets to a fully comped party upstairs. This started at 6:00, so we drank outside the stadium in a beer tent from 4:00-5:30. During this time, it’s a party atmosphere outside, tons of orange, very exciting. I call a bunch of my friends, say hi, drink some more and soon we head into the stadium.
Somehow we get lucky and they open up a new entrance line right as we get there. Waits had been up to 45 mins on Saturday. So we are running good. We get up to the VIP party in the Rams Club and it’s free food, booze, everything. In keeping with their perfect track record of unbelievable hypocrisy, the NCAA does not allow beer sales to the public, but apparently it’s perfectly ok to hand out unlimited free booze to corporate VIP’s in the arena lounge. But hey, I’m not complaining, free beer = the bomb. Two hours and many more beers later we head for the arena. On the way I meet up with fellow twoplustwoer bugstud for a brief “hello” and it’s on to the seats and the game.
Gametime
Our seats are about 30 rows up, dead center behind the benches. And I mean dead center. The center court line splits Dave’s legs. Teams come out and do warm-ups. The arena is pretty loud. I’d put it at about 80% orange in the arena, maybe a shade lower.
Right behind us, about 15 rows, is the North Carolina skybox with Michael Jordan and Dean Smith. Very cool. They embrace at one point before the game. Security is everywhere around them. About 7 rows in front of us is Gene Keady. So now we know where we rank in the scheme of things, behind Keady but ahead of Dean and Michael.
The first half is terrible. Down 9-2, we tie it up, IIRC end up taking a small lead somewhere around 18-17 or so, our last of the game. Carolina goes on a big run to end the half, right when it looked like the run might go the other way. It was at like 12, we cut it down to like 6 and then a few terrible shot choices and Carolina dunks and suddenly it was back to 13 at the half. A half that likely cost us the game as we only get a few minutes out of Augustine, our offense takes not one but many many uncharacteristic bad shots. In particular stand out a turnaround 18 footer by Jack, a brutally bad 3 by Dee and a botched 3-1 fastbreak. Basically, we totally stopped doing what we had been doing and instead of staying patient and running the offense, we started taking bad shots early in the possession. Ugh. It seems that May is allowed to do whatever he wants. Just a really bad half of basketball.
Halftime we run down to the VIP party, chug a few more beers and back down to the seats.
Second half is haunting. James plays for a total of like 2 minutes, picking up 3 fouls to be out of the game. Without commenting on the officials, I feel bad for James, he has to feel like he let his team down and worse, that he never really got a chance to help. Him not playing the whole game takes its toll as we no longer have any inside scoring threat. This turns us into strictly a jump-shooting team. Something that isn’t so bad if we weren’t in such a big hole. With the deficit, our guards must expend ridiculous amounts of energy on defense to try and get back in the game. You couple that with the emotional wearing of trailing and the sheer number of jump shots and your legs can do nothing but fail you.
The half goes fast. Down 15 right away, we cut it to like 8 at a TV timeout. Crowd starts to get loud – really loud. We come back from the timeout and over the next few minutes cut it all the way to a 2 point deficit, somewhere about 52-50 or so. Crowd is delirious. Carolina answers though and extends it back to 10 at like 65-55. Devastating. That would have ripped the heart out of any lesser team, I have no doubt. To cut it from 15 to 2 and then right back to 10 is so debilitating. But this team was so special they never gave up and came right back to tie it at 65. Simply amazing. Some makeup calls go our way in that run and the crowd is so loud I can hardly do it justice. Deafening. I can’t even begin to describe how loud the arena got. Wow. Somewhere in there Weber called what I thought was a real good timeout to give the guys a blow.
Coming on the next possession after tying it, we play great D, deny everything and I think it’s Felton who takes a bail out 3 from about 24 feet and pures it. Maybe the biggest shot of the night for Carolina. Really sucked the air out of the building. The protracted nature of the comeback just makes every little setback seem super major.
Our guys are visibly exhausted. Somehow we comeback and tie it at 70 with a little over 2:30 to go. It is at this point that we pay the price for taking so many jump shots, playing so hectic on D the 2nd half, and for having no inside game. Our legs and shots leave us.
My recollection is that we had 2 chances at 70-70 to take the lead and missed them both. I recall four *great* looks under about 2:30 and not one of them went down, looks that would normally be about 50%. We can’t make one. Too tired. Make any of them and I think we win.
Carolina goes up 72-70 on a putback. Bad time to give up a second chance point. We get like 3 chances in one trip down the court while down two and just cannot put the ball in the hole. It seems we have chance after chance and simply cannot get it past 70 points. For some reason, Dee seems afraid to shoot other than one he takes that goes halfway down and comes back out. Luther misses a look that is as good as you could ask for. Then, in what I would later find out is our only TO of the entire half, Luther makes a bad pass and Felton who played a lot of minutes with 4 fouls steals it. We foul, and Felton hits 1 of 2. Down 3, we run a play for Lu and he gets a great look and what looks like a great stroke, but it’s off the mark. 2 UNC free throws later, and we just come up short by a hair in a gutty performance where we had to play basically without one of our key starters. They played their hearts out, but 10 minutes of terrible basketball in the first half really killed us. They showed so much heart and pride coming back. They just ran out of gas. Hard to believe they didn’t make any of those shots down the stretch. Even one of them could have changed the outcome.
The game ends and I have three things I noticed amid the Carolina celebration.
1. Deron Williams goes over to McCants, tries to shake hands and give a hug and the Carolina player stonewalls him, turns away and takes his shirt off to start celebrating by the UNC fans.
2. Luther is inconsolable on the sideline, sitting on a chair at the end of the NC bench. He won’t get up and leave the court. Coach tries several times to pick him up and get him to stand. Finally, Lu gets up and quietly leaves the court.
3. Coach is walking down the runway. I see a streaking figure and it’s Roy literally sprinting to catch Bruce in the entryway. They sort of shake hands, then embrace. Roy pulls him closer, says something in his ear for a good 15 seconds. They embrace again, this time it looks incredibly genuine. They separate, Roy goes back to the court, Weber goes down the hallway to the team.
Postgame
After watching much of the ceremony in near-shock, we finally leave the dome. Deciding that drinking in our hotel, which was also the UNC hotel, would not be much fun, we instead avoided the bars and decided to go to the Marriott which was the Illinois hotel to join anyone else there to cheer the team when they got back.
It’s emotional to even recall a lot of the rest. We watch some highlights on ESPN while we have a beer and relax, figuring the team would eventually come through. Seeing that we hit like 1 of our last 12 three’s, many of which were great looks, really struck home how tired the guys were. Roy comes on but I only see him, whatever he is saying doesn’t register.
A little bit later the team comes in and in response to hearing some clapping, we run to the lobby. We join a few hundred Illini faithful in giving them some cheers, a long round of applause, and shower them with “Thank-you’s”. The guys have their heads down, many seem in shock. They slowly go past and up the stairs to what I assume are some meeting rooms. Eventually they would then come around again on the 2nd floor to take the elevators to their rooms. Parade notes:
Luther is visibly emotional and shaken. I really feel for him, he took it harder than anyone else, yet down the stretch he gave an effort such that he should never have any regrets.
Jack gets some of the loudest applause. What a journey for this guy. Follows Bill Self to two different schools, finally has to stay at one, and moves from the end of the bench to our first guy off the bench to play 30 terrific minutes in the (I can still barely believe it) National Championship game. What a gutty effort.
Nick is quiet and detached as usual. I’ll never understand what happens in that guys head. It’s a shame, really.
Deron goes by with headphones on. He starts to ascend the stairs and the crowd starts chanting “one more year!”. He looks a little sad and waves, not in acknowledgement, but what I interpret as a grateful “good-bye” wave of his own. Obviously he’s going pro, but it was kind of tough to see nonetheless.
James is quiet. I can only imagine how he must feel having not been able to help the team out in a game where any little thing might have been the margin.
I don’t see Dee, but I’m sure he was there. It was tough to take it all in. I do see all the next-gens. Warren, Shaun, Rich (I don’t think he even got in the game?), Calvin.
Walking slower than the rest is Roger Powell. He stops and hugs his Mom, a solitary figure slightly away from the group. I shake his hand, say “Thanks for the season Roger, you gave us everything you had.” He nods thanks and heads up the stairs.
Cheers and clapping continue as they go by. Also in the group are Illini greats like Kenny Battle, Cookie, Sergio, Marcus. Great to see the older generation giving the new guys support.
After Roger walks up, Coach Weber, who had kind of stayed a little behind, paused about halfway up the stairs after thanking and shaking hands with the fans. Everyone watched him, this clearly tired figure, yet one could see the appreciation for the support on his face. He raised his hand, said “Thank you everyone, you have been so wonderful” and walked up after the team. People cheered even louder and considering that by now there were maybe 100 people left, a deafening ILL-INI chant broke out. What a great moment.
Feeling a little lost and still in shock, we kind of mill around for a few minutes. Tubby Smith walks right by, I congratulate him on a great season and say he’s a class act. He smiles, says thanks.
We sit down on a couch in the lobby right in front of the elevators. You can see the players come by now in a trickle to go up to their rooms. I think they were having some sort of meetings/talks. The crowd cheers each one of them. It’s a tough thing to see, but it was very cathartic. We are all spent, but none of us want the night to end. The finality to sink in. Somehow nowhere near ready to sleep and end the night, we order another round.
A while later James Augustine comes down, the first of several players to do so. People mill around, maybe two dozen, and he signs some autographs. My cousin decides to have him sign his photo in her official program, so she walks up to him and he does so. We also take a picture of the two of them together. Quite a trooper, he stays downstairs for what must be like 90 minutes, sitting on the floor in his shorts, sweatshirt and flip flops. He takes photos, talks to his friends. He seems sort of wired and like all of us, I suspect he didn’t want the night to end. Later on I actually hear some of the other players say this explicitly. Eventually my Dad and I take a photo with James. I mention to him that his Dad was my grade-school gym teacher (true) and he smiles, laughs and says jokingly, “I’m going to need some confirmation on that one.”
Warren Carter comes down and by now we are 4 of about 60 spread out in the lobby. We say thanks to him, I say his time is coming next year and that we are looking for big things from him. He says thanks but he’s still thinking about tonight and can’t seem to wind down.
Calvin Brock, who redshirted as a freshman this year is kind of quiet and hanging out. I recognize him and approach and say some words of encouragement to the effect of how happy we are that he’s an Illini etc. He says “I can’t wait” in response to me saying we are looking forward to him being a big part of the team next year.
It’s pretty late now and Dave has to drive home to Chicago in like 3 hours. I don’t want the night to end as the whole scene in the Marriott is so cathartic, but acquiesce to heading back. For some insane reason we decide to head into the bar at the Adam’s Mark. Suffice it to say that Illinois fans wearing Dee Brown jerseys weren’t at the front of the bartender’s priority list. We decide to head out, Dave says he’s going to bed. As we walk towards the elevator, someone pats Dave on the back and says “way to show your support, we’ll get them next year.” It’s Vince Vaughn. Cool.
But it hammers home just how special of a season this was. Because we *won’t* get them next year. It’s such a rare season we had. Next year it’s back to thinking the S16 is good and the E8 is great. It’s likely 4 or 5 years before we again get the pieces in place to have a 1-Seed caliber team. At least, that’s what history tells us. Maybe once we get the scholarships balanced that will change.
Anyways, Dave heads to bed and My Dad, Colleen and I decide to go back to the Marriott and do so. On the way in, Rich McBride is out front talking with a young lady, kind of upset. Dad and Colleen don’t know who he is and I leave him be. After we walk by, I mention who he was, they turn around and look. Someone else hears me and says “Where’s Rich? I’m his roommate and I’m trying to find him.” I point him the direction where I saw him and we go inside.
Back in the lobby, Shaun Pruitt walks by. This kid was a highly touted prospect out of Peoria, Bruce’s first big signing. Only regret is that he didn’t redshirt. Big body down low. Anyways, I say “chin up Shaun, you’ll get your chance next year”. He looks up and says very earnestly “Man….I really really hope so.” I say you will, you’ll do Peoria proud, just keep working and you’ll come up huge. He smiles, but you can tell he’s pretty upset.
My Dad goes to get some beer, and Colleen almost goes with him. In what was the hugest call of the night, I stop her and say to stick around and I’ll point out some more players to her (all the ones I’ve mentioned so far except for Rich she got their autograph in the program).
Not 30 seconds later, Kenny Battle, Marcus Griffin and Sergio McClain walk by. Marcus and I have a friendly exchange, he has a great genuine warm smile. Colleen gets all of their autographs. They couldn’t have been nicer. The lobby now has like 30 people in it, tops.
A few seconds later, Deron walks by in a long white tee shirt on the phone. I totally grab Colleen, say “go get his, he’s our best player” and she goes and approaches him. He smiles as he wraps up his call, signs her book and takes a photo with her. Sweet.
Then, the coolest moment of the night. Coach comes down and is standing at the base of the stairs, Orange suit coat on full display. He signs some autographs, and I ask for my only one of the night. He signs my ticket. Colleen says “will you sign this for my Uncle who got me the tickets?” He says “sure, what’s his name”, She tells him and he signs the ticket “To John, a true Illini fan – Bruce Weber.” I take a picture of her and Coach.
There’s no one else really around other than maybe 5 people so I actually chat with him for about 5 full minutes. I tell him how proud everyone is of the team and how grateful we all are. What wonderful representatives of the school they are. He says he’s grateful as well, which is why he came down – to say thanks again to the fans. Someone asks about Nick for a possible autograph and he says, with a little sadness in his voice “Nick doesn’t normally do things like that.” I say “Don’t mothball that blazer Coach, we expect to see it in the future.” He confides that it’s actually a brand new one, different from the one he wore in the Wake game, because everyone told him he had the shade of Orange a little wrong and that now everyone says he finally got it right. A few more pleasantries, a final thank you from me and I leave him alone. He signs a few more straggling autographs and finally heads up the stairs. The people left give him a hearty round of applause.
My Dad comes back and we relay what he missed. James is still hanging around. We see a small group gather and it’s Bill Murray. Colleen gets his autograph and a photo. Someone else calls his friend and says “dude, I’m standing next to Bill Murray.” And Bill hears him. He grabs the phone and says “who is this? Because your friend is right, I AM Bill Murray!” Eventually, he heads off and talks one on one with James for a little bit.
We get Frank Nkmbe’s signature for Colleen. Finally drained, we decide to call it a night. We head out and on the way back in is Serge, Marcus, Kenny and Deron. In passing I say “Thank you Deron, great season and I hope you kill them in the NBA.” He seems genuinely grateful for the comment (I’m guessing he feels bad/is sick of all the “one more year” stuff) and says “Hey man, thanks a lot.” And he walked back into the hotel. Final confirmation that Deron is long gone, all while showing what a classy team this is and just how proud we can be of them all. Seems like an appropriate ending to the night, really.
All in all, I can’t have asked for anything more other than one more big shot to go down. And if we had to lose in what was likely a once-in-a-lifetime type season, at least I’ll have the memories of the whole season. Ending the night at the Marriott was a great part of what I can only call a closure and healing process. It’s been a long, emotional season. In the end, it was too big a hole, too sloppy, and even this guttiest of gutty teams couldn’t quite dig out of it. What a shame, but nothing to be ashamed of. What a great season.
Thank you Illini.
PS. I hope to post pictures later when I get the photos form my cousin and Dad.
Pregame
I flew into St. Louis and landed at about 11:10am. After some delays with the rental car company, I left for my cousin’s house at noon. Got there and took the brief tour. She didn’t have an opinion on what to do all day, so I made a few calls with the other two of our party of four. My Dad was still 3 hours out of town and my best friend Dave was just getting up. Part of the package my Dad had set up included two rooms at the Adam’s Mark hotel in downtown St. Louis, about 6 blocks from the arena. So we all decided to rendezvous there at about 2:00 and wait for my Dad. My cousin decided she would stay downtown in case we were up late drinking and so we took one car with the intention of me dropping her back off in the morning in time for her to go to work.
Colleen and I got downtown about 1:40 or so. As we are trying to get in the hotel we realize it’s the home hotel for the North Carolina team. Dave shows up shortly thereafter and undeterred by all the blue, drinking commences in the sports bar. We walk by Andrew Bogut on the way in. Dude is skinny. Anyways, several beers later, the guy with our tickets and room keys shows up and my Dad appears a few minutes after that. We drink a few more, bring our personal belongings upstairs, and at 4:00 start heading towards the arena.
Part of our package included VIP tickets to a fully comped party upstairs. This started at 6:00, so we drank outside the stadium in a beer tent from 4:00-5:30. During this time, it’s a party atmosphere outside, tons of orange, very exciting. I call a bunch of my friends, say hi, drink some more and soon we head into the stadium.
Somehow we get lucky and they open up a new entrance line right as we get there. Waits had been up to 45 mins on Saturday. So we are running good. We get up to the VIP party in the Rams Club and it’s free food, booze, everything. In keeping with their perfect track record of unbelievable hypocrisy, the NCAA does not allow beer sales to the public, but apparently it’s perfectly ok to hand out unlimited free booze to corporate VIP’s in the arena lounge. But hey, I’m not complaining, free beer = the bomb. Two hours and many more beers later we head for the arena. On the way I meet up with fellow twoplustwoer bugstud for a brief “hello” and it’s on to the seats and the game.
Gametime
Our seats are about 30 rows up, dead center behind the benches. And I mean dead center. The center court line splits Dave’s legs. Teams come out and do warm-ups. The arena is pretty loud. I’d put it at about 80% orange in the arena, maybe a shade lower.
Right behind us, about 15 rows, is the North Carolina skybox with Michael Jordan and Dean Smith. Very cool. They embrace at one point before the game. Security is everywhere around them. About 7 rows in front of us is Gene Keady. So now we know where we rank in the scheme of things, behind Keady but ahead of Dean and Michael.
The first half is terrible. Down 9-2, we tie it up, IIRC end up taking a small lead somewhere around 18-17 or so, our last of the game. Carolina goes on a big run to end the half, right when it looked like the run might go the other way. It was at like 12, we cut it down to like 6 and then a few terrible shot choices and Carolina dunks and suddenly it was back to 13 at the half. A half that likely cost us the game as we only get a few minutes out of Augustine, our offense takes not one but many many uncharacteristic bad shots. In particular stand out a turnaround 18 footer by Jack, a brutally bad 3 by Dee and a botched 3-1 fastbreak. Basically, we totally stopped doing what we had been doing and instead of staying patient and running the offense, we started taking bad shots early in the possession. Ugh. It seems that May is allowed to do whatever he wants. Just a really bad half of basketball.
Halftime we run down to the VIP party, chug a few more beers and back down to the seats.
Second half is haunting. James plays for a total of like 2 minutes, picking up 3 fouls to be out of the game. Without commenting on the officials, I feel bad for James, he has to feel like he let his team down and worse, that he never really got a chance to help. Him not playing the whole game takes its toll as we no longer have any inside scoring threat. This turns us into strictly a jump-shooting team. Something that isn’t so bad if we weren’t in such a big hole. With the deficit, our guards must expend ridiculous amounts of energy on defense to try and get back in the game. You couple that with the emotional wearing of trailing and the sheer number of jump shots and your legs can do nothing but fail you.
The half goes fast. Down 15 right away, we cut it to like 8 at a TV timeout. Crowd starts to get loud – really loud. We come back from the timeout and over the next few minutes cut it all the way to a 2 point deficit, somewhere about 52-50 or so. Crowd is delirious. Carolina answers though and extends it back to 10 at like 65-55. Devastating. That would have ripped the heart out of any lesser team, I have no doubt. To cut it from 15 to 2 and then right back to 10 is so debilitating. But this team was so special they never gave up and came right back to tie it at 65. Simply amazing. Some makeup calls go our way in that run and the crowd is so loud I can hardly do it justice. Deafening. I can’t even begin to describe how loud the arena got. Wow. Somewhere in there Weber called what I thought was a real good timeout to give the guys a blow.
Coming on the next possession after tying it, we play great D, deny everything and I think it’s Felton who takes a bail out 3 from about 24 feet and pures it. Maybe the biggest shot of the night for Carolina. Really sucked the air out of the building. The protracted nature of the comeback just makes every little setback seem super major.
Our guys are visibly exhausted. Somehow we comeback and tie it at 70 with a little over 2:30 to go. It is at this point that we pay the price for taking so many jump shots, playing so hectic on D the 2nd half, and for having no inside game. Our legs and shots leave us.
My recollection is that we had 2 chances at 70-70 to take the lead and missed them both. I recall four *great* looks under about 2:30 and not one of them went down, looks that would normally be about 50%. We can’t make one. Too tired. Make any of them and I think we win.
Carolina goes up 72-70 on a putback. Bad time to give up a second chance point. We get like 3 chances in one trip down the court while down two and just cannot put the ball in the hole. It seems we have chance after chance and simply cannot get it past 70 points. For some reason, Dee seems afraid to shoot other than one he takes that goes halfway down and comes back out. Luther misses a look that is as good as you could ask for. Then, in what I would later find out is our only TO of the entire half, Luther makes a bad pass and Felton who played a lot of minutes with 4 fouls steals it. We foul, and Felton hits 1 of 2. Down 3, we run a play for Lu and he gets a great look and what looks like a great stroke, but it’s off the mark. 2 UNC free throws later, and we just come up short by a hair in a gutty performance where we had to play basically without one of our key starters. They played their hearts out, but 10 minutes of terrible basketball in the first half really killed us. They showed so much heart and pride coming back. They just ran out of gas. Hard to believe they didn’t make any of those shots down the stretch. Even one of them could have changed the outcome.
The game ends and I have three things I noticed amid the Carolina celebration.
1. Deron Williams goes over to McCants, tries to shake hands and give a hug and the Carolina player stonewalls him, turns away and takes his shirt off to start celebrating by the UNC fans.
2. Luther is inconsolable on the sideline, sitting on a chair at the end of the NC bench. He won’t get up and leave the court. Coach tries several times to pick him up and get him to stand. Finally, Lu gets up and quietly leaves the court.
3. Coach is walking down the runway. I see a streaking figure and it’s Roy literally sprinting to catch Bruce in the entryway. They sort of shake hands, then embrace. Roy pulls him closer, says something in his ear for a good 15 seconds. They embrace again, this time it looks incredibly genuine. They separate, Roy goes back to the court, Weber goes down the hallway to the team.
Postgame
After watching much of the ceremony in near-shock, we finally leave the dome. Deciding that drinking in our hotel, which was also the UNC hotel, would not be much fun, we instead avoided the bars and decided to go to the Marriott which was the Illinois hotel to join anyone else there to cheer the team when they got back.
It’s emotional to even recall a lot of the rest. We watch some highlights on ESPN while we have a beer and relax, figuring the team would eventually come through. Seeing that we hit like 1 of our last 12 three’s, many of which were great looks, really struck home how tired the guys were. Roy comes on but I only see him, whatever he is saying doesn’t register.
A little bit later the team comes in and in response to hearing some clapping, we run to the lobby. We join a few hundred Illini faithful in giving them some cheers, a long round of applause, and shower them with “Thank-you’s”. The guys have their heads down, many seem in shock. They slowly go past and up the stairs to what I assume are some meeting rooms. Eventually they would then come around again on the 2nd floor to take the elevators to their rooms. Parade notes:
Luther is visibly emotional and shaken. I really feel for him, he took it harder than anyone else, yet down the stretch he gave an effort such that he should never have any regrets.
Jack gets some of the loudest applause. What a journey for this guy. Follows Bill Self to two different schools, finally has to stay at one, and moves from the end of the bench to our first guy off the bench to play 30 terrific minutes in the (I can still barely believe it) National Championship game. What a gutty effort.
Nick is quiet and detached as usual. I’ll never understand what happens in that guys head. It’s a shame, really.
Deron goes by with headphones on. He starts to ascend the stairs and the crowd starts chanting “one more year!”. He looks a little sad and waves, not in acknowledgement, but what I interpret as a grateful “good-bye” wave of his own. Obviously he’s going pro, but it was kind of tough to see nonetheless.
James is quiet. I can only imagine how he must feel having not been able to help the team out in a game where any little thing might have been the margin.
I don’t see Dee, but I’m sure he was there. It was tough to take it all in. I do see all the next-gens. Warren, Shaun, Rich (I don’t think he even got in the game?), Calvin.
Walking slower than the rest is Roger Powell. He stops and hugs his Mom, a solitary figure slightly away from the group. I shake his hand, say “Thanks for the season Roger, you gave us everything you had.” He nods thanks and heads up the stairs.
Cheers and clapping continue as they go by. Also in the group are Illini greats like Kenny Battle, Cookie, Sergio, Marcus. Great to see the older generation giving the new guys support.
After Roger walks up, Coach Weber, who had kind of stayed a little behind, paused about halfway up the stairs after thanking and shaking hands with the fans. Everyone watched him, this clearly tired figure, yet one could see the appreciation for the support on his face. He raised his hand, said “Thank you everyone, you have been so wonderful” and walked up after the team. People cheered even louder and considering that by now there were maybe 100 people left, a deafening ILL-INI chant broke out. What a great moment.
Feeling a little lost and still in shock, we kind of mill around for a few minutes. Tubby Smith walks right by, I congratulate him on a great season and say he’s a class act. He smiles, says thanks.
We sit down on a couch in the lobby right in front of the elevators. You can see the players come by now in a trickle to go up to their rooms. I think they were having some sort of meetings/talks. The crowd cheers each one of them. It’s a tough thing to see, but it was very cathartic. We are all spent, but none of us want the night to end. The finality to sink in. Somehow nowhere near ready to sleep and end the night, we order another round.
A while later James Augustine comes down, the first of several players to do so. People mill around, maybe two dozen, and he signs some autographs. My cousin decides to have him sign his photo in her official program, so she walks up to him and he does so. We also take a picture of the two of them together. Quite a trooper, he stays downstairs for what must be like 90 minutes, sitting on the floor in his shorts, sweatshirt and flip flops. He takes photos, talks to his friends. He seems sort of wired and like all of us, I suspect he didn’t want the night to end. Later on I actually hear some of the other players say this explicitly. Eventually my Dad and I take a photo with James. I mention to him that his Dad was my grade-school gym teacher (true) and he smiles, laughs and says jokingly, “I’m going to need some confirmation on that one.”
Warren Carter comes down and by now we are 4 of about 60 spread out in the lobby. We say thanks to him, I say his time is coming next year and that we are looking for big things from him. He says thanks but he’s still thinking about tonight and can’t seem to wind down.
Calvin Brock, who redshirted as a freshman this year is kind of quiet and hanging out. I recognize him and approach and say some words of encouragement to the effect of how happy we are that he’s an Illini etc. He says “I can’t wait” in response to me saying we are looking forward to him being a big part of the team next year.
It’s pretty late now and Dave has to drive home to Chicago in like 3 hours. I don’t want the night to end as the whole scene in the Marriott is so cathartic, but acquiesce to heading back. For some insane reason we decide to head into the bar at the Adam’s Mark. Suffice it to say that Illinois fans wearing Dee Brown jerseys weren’t at the front of the bartender’s priority list. We decide to head out, Dave says he’s going to bed. As we walk towards the elevator, someone pats Dave on the back and says “way to show your support, we’ll get them next year.” It’s Vince Vaughn. Cool.
But it hammers home just how special of a season this was. Because we *won’t* get them next year. It’s such a rare season we had. Next year it’s back to thinking the S16 is good and the E8 is great. It’s likely 4 or 5 years before we again get the pieces in place to have a 1-Seed caliber team. At least, that’s what history tells us. Maybe once we get the scholarships balanced that will change.
Anyways, Dave heads to bed and My Dad, Colleen and I decide to go back to the Marriott and do so. On the way in, Rich McBride is out front talking with a young lady, kind of upset. Dad and Colleen don’t know who he is and I leave him be. After we walk by, I mention who he was, they turn around and look. Someone else hears me and says “Where’s Rich? I’m his roommate and I’m trying to find him.” I point him the direction where I saw him and we go inside.
Back in the lobby, Shaun Pruitt walks by. This kid was a highly touted prospect out of Peoria, Bruce’s first big signing. Only regret is that he didn’t redshirt. Big body down low. Anyways, I say “chin up Shaun, you’ll get your chance next year”. He looks up and says very earnestly “Man….I really really hope so.” I say you will, you’ll do Peoria proud, just keep working and you’ll come up huge. He smiles, but you can tell he’s pretty upset.
My Dad goes to get some beer, and Colleen almost goes with him. In what was the hugest call of the night, I stop her and say to stick around and I’ll point out some more players to her (all the ones I’ve mentioned so far except for Rich she got their autograph in the program).
Not 30 seconds later, Kenny Battle, Marcus Griffin and Sergio McClain walk by. Marcus and I have a friendly exchange, he has a great genuine warm smile. Colleen gets all of their autographs. They couldn’t have been nicer. The lobby now has like 30 people in it, tops.
A few seconds later, Deron walks by in a long white tee shirt on the phone. I totally grab Colleen, say “go get his, he’s our best player” and she goes and approaches him. He smiles as he wraps up his call, signs her book and takes a photo with her. Sweet.
Then, the coolest moment of the night. Coach comes down and is standing at the base of the stairs, Orange suit coat on full display. He signs some autographs, and I ask for my only one of the night. He signs my ticket. Colleen says “will you sign this for my Uncle who got me the tickets?” He says “sure, what’s his name”, She tells him and he signs the ticket “To John, a true Illini fan – Bruce Weber.” I take a picture of her and Coach.
There’s no one else really around other than maybe 5 people so I actually chat with him for about 5 full minutes. I tell him how proud everyone is of the team and how grateful we all are. What wonderful representatives of the school they are. He says he’s grateful as well, which is why he came down – to say thanks again to the fans. Someone asks about Nick for a possible autograph and he says, with a little sadness in his voice “Nick doesn’t normally do things like that.” I say “Don’t mothball that blazer Coach, we expect to see it in the future.” He confides that it’s actually a brand new one, different from the one he wore in the Wake game, because everyone told him he had the shade of Orange a little wrong and that now everyone says he finally got it right. A few more pleasantries, a final thank you from me and I leave him alone. He signs a few more straggling autographs and finally heads up the stairs. The people left give him a hearty round of applause.
My Dad comes back and we relay what he missed. James is still hanging around. We see a small group gather and it’s Bill Murray. Colleen gets his autograph and a photo. Someone else calls his friend and says “dude, I’m standing next to Bill Murray.” And Bill hears him. He grabs the phone and says “who is this? Because your friend is right, I AM Bill Murray!” Eventually, he heads off and talks one on one with James for a little bit.
We get Frank Nkmbe’s signature for Colleen. Finally drained, we decide to call it a night. We head out and on the way back in is Serge, Marcus, Kenny and Deron. In passing I say “Thank you Deron, great season and I hope you kill them in the NBA.” He seems genuinely grateful for the comment (I’m guessing he feels bad/is sick of all the “one more year” stuff) and says “Hey man, thanks a lot.” And he walked back into the hotel. Final confirmation that Deron is long gone, all while showing what a classy team this is and just how proud we can be of them all. Seems like an appropriate ending to the night, really.
All in all, I can’t have asked for anything more other than one more big shot to go down. And if we had to lose in what was likely a once-in-a-lifetime type season, at least I’ll have the memories of the whole season. Ending the night at the Marriott was a great part of what I can only call a closure and healing process. It’s been a long, emotional season. In the end, it was too big a hole, too sloppy, and even this guttiest of gutty teams couldn’t quite dig out of it. What a shame, but nothing to be ashamed of. What a great season.
Thank you Illini.
PS. I hope to post pictures later when I get the photos form my cousin and Dad.