Brown: Illinois has 'a championship roster'
· Yahoo Sports
Apr. 2—CHAMPAIGN — The memories are still fresh for Dee Brown.
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The nostalgia for the Flyin' Illini. The reminders that Illinois' last Final Four appearance was closing in on two decades in the past.
Then Brown and the 2004-05 Illini men's basketball team made their own run to the Final Four after a nearly flawless regular season. Cemented their spot in program history.
"I understand how tough it is," Brown said Tuesday. "Our fans dream of this. They want it every year. That's all they talk about. I understand how hard it is to get here.
"I'm going to enjoy this moment. I don't care it took (21 years). I'm living my best life right now."
The 2004-05 Illinois team reaped the rewards of a 29-1 regular season and double Big Ten titles with an NCAA tournament path that started in Indianapolis, continued in Rosemont and ended in St. Louis. The Illini's Final Four shootaround in St. Louis drew roughly 20,000 fans to the Edward Jones Dome.
Brown expects a similar following in Indianapolis this weekend after Illinois' tournament run started in Greenville, S.C., and continued last week in Houston. Third-seeded Illinois (28-8) meets second-seeded Connecticut (33-5) at 5:09 p.m. on Saturday in the first of two national semifinal games at Lucas Oil Stadium, with top seeds Arizona (36-2) and Michigan (35-3) playing later Saturday night to determine who advances to Monday's national championship game.
Brown played in the two largest crowds to watch an Illini game, with 47,754 fans on hand to see Illinois beat Louisville 72-57 in the 2005 national semifinal game before a crowd of 47,262 showed up for the national title game against North Carolina, a 75-70 loss for the Illini.
Brad Underwood's current players will have an even bigger audience watching them in person on Saturday night, with capacity at Lucas Oil Stadium expected around 70,000.
"The fan base is amazing," Brown said. "They just want you to produce. We want to win. It's obvious they're very passionate. This team has allowed the passion and love to really be out there now. We've got to live this moment and understand how hard it is to get here. The reason why people love Illinois basketball is what it does for their life and all the memories they have of the teams and they favorite players. That right there, for me, when I talk about myself, I think I'm always going to be loved because ya'll saw me grow from an 18-year-old to a 22-year-old."
Now 41 years old, Brown reached out to Underwood after the Elite Eight victory against Iowa this past Saturday night. He was far from the only former Illini to hit up the current Illinois coach. Underwood said he heard from several players from both the 1989 and 2005 Final Four teams at Illinois, including Deron Williams, Marcus Liberty and Kendall Gill.
"That's part of the beauty of this program is the great players and the history," Underwood said. "The guys that had success are just as excited for this group as they were. That's the beauty of having a great program with a historic and well-versed past."
Brown emphasized his continued support of the program with the idea "that orange and blue is just in me."
The former Illinois guard — who just completed his fourth season as the coach at Roosevelt University in Chicago and has overseen the program making a move from NAIA to Division II — said choosing the Illini was the best decision he ever made. It certainly showed on the court.
The 6-foot point guard, who committed to the Illini with Bill Self as the coach and shined on the court with Bruce Weber as the Illinois coach, won the Sporting News National Player of the Year honor in 2005 before becoming a two-time consensus All-American.
Brown, who became a fan favorite early on at Illinois and turned into a national sensation with his well-known jersey pop of the Illini uniform, is still fourth at Illinois in career points with 1,812 and is tied with James Augustine for experiencing the most wins as an Illini player with 114 victories from 2002-06.
"Going to the University of Illinois and going through that experience and living those moments and having those memories, we built a legacy there," Brown said.
The current Illinois team has done the same. Another Final Four appearance after a 21-year drought, but with the opportunity this weekend in Indianapolis to carve out an even larger, more prominent place in program history. With a chance to maintain that level of success moving forward with Underwood, even as the changes in college basketball since Brown last suited up for Illinois 20 years ago have made that more difficult.
"Every coach is going to get critiqued really hard being at the University of Illinois," Brown said. "I remember how people used to talk about Bruce. Me and Bruce won a lot of games together. I just hear a lot of critique on Brad, but I thought he's done an amazing job. He should be a lifer for us. He's tough. He always talks about Illinois being his dream job. All he does is bring in talent each and every year, and this team he has now, it is a championship roster."