A year ago, Illinois carried a few simple goals into the Big 10 season. The Fighting Illini wanted to return to the top division, draw an NCAA tournament bid and polish their probation-tarnished reputation.
This year, the tournament is almost a foregone conclusion. The reputation is sparkling again. The 21st-rated Illini (7-2) have weightier expectations as they wade into their conference opener Saturday afternoon against Michigan State (9-4, 0-1 in the Big 10) in East Lansing.
“We’re not saying, `Hey, we want to finish third or fourth and get to the NCAA tournament,’ ” swingman T.J. Wheeler said. “We’re not even worried about the tournament. We have one thing in mind, and that’s to win the Big 10.”
Illinois does that about as often as Wisconsin goes to the Rose Bowl. The Illini have shared only one Big 10 men’s basketball title since 1963, splitting the banner with Purdue in 1984. The football team, by comparison, has won one league crown and shared another since 1963.
Of course, conference titles have meant less and less as the NCAA tournament has expanded. The winner of a prestigious conference receives a high seed and little more.
This week, coach Lou Henson predicted that a mere 9-9 split of the Big 10 slate probably would bring Illinois a tourney bid and that a 10-8 mark would guarantee it.
But don’t tell Illinois that the conference schedule has devolved into a tuneup for March Madness. Emotions still boil every time Illinois meets an Indiana, an Iowa, a Purdue or a Michigan on the basketball court.
With the Big 10 balanced and lacking a dominant team, this could be a perfect year for the Illini to make that once-a-generation rise to the top.
Every school seems to have at least one weakness. Illinois? It must prove it can win away from Champaign. The Illini’s two losses came at Marquette Dec. 7 and against Missouri in neutral St. Louis Dec. 22.
“I see both of those games as Big 10-type games against teams that aren’t in the Big 10,” center Deon Thomas said.
Both games were viewed as measuring sticks; so is the game against Michigan State, which dropped its conference opener Wednesday night at Michigan. By the time the Illini leave Breslin Center, they may know whether their dream of a conference title is realistic.
“For anybody to win the Big 10, you’re going to have to win games like this,” Wheeler said.
To beat Michigan State, Illinois has to strap down guard Shawn Respert, who’s averaging nearly 23 points per game. The Illini probably will throw Wheeler, Richard Keene and Jerry Hester at him at various times.
“We can’t have somebody guard him for more than four or five minutes,” Wheeler said. “That’s too much, because you have to run through so many picks to guard him. Using three guys on him, that’s 15 fouls if we have to use them.”
