"Hopefully it's humbling for us," Illinois center Nick Smith said. "Hell, if Ohio State can beat us, when we go to the NCAA tournament whoever we play in the second round can beat us. Hopefully this will be the worst we play for the rest of season."

But a month from today, Illinois hopes to be playing for a national championship. And if it could pull that feat, Brown knows the Illini would return to the Hall for one more celebration.

"It'd be unbelievable," said Brown, whose eight three-pointers tied Kevin Turner's single-game school record. "We have to try not to think about that, because thinking about that just gives you the chills. It's gonna be tough, but I think we can do it."

We pause from our season-long tribute to the 2004-05 Illini to view the N-G covers after every one of Bruce Weber's NCAA tournament games at Illinois. Of course, the Final Four crew is well represented.

A 70-point effort — and a 43-point second half — against the Badgers also might answer some critics questioning Illinois' offensive output in a lackluster win last week against Indiana and a come-from-behind win Tuesday at sputtering Michigan.

"I'm baffled — 10 days ago we beat Michigan State and made 12 (shots) in a row, and I was called an offensive mastermind genius," Weber said. "And a week later, everybody's going, 'What's wrong with your offense?' Nothing! People have played us different."

Sunday's crowd featured a who's who of Illinois recruiting targets, including Indianapolis junior Mike Conley Jr., sophomore E.J. Gordon and swingman Marques Johnson, a junior from Fort Wayne, Ind., and E'Twaun Moore, a sophomore guard from East Chicago, Ind.

"We talked the other night — and maybe I shouldn't have — that we're getting down to four home games, three now, for the seniors and everybody," Weber said. "Maybe you try to do too much."

"I think they have the ingredients to win a national championship," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. "I don't want to put that on their backs because there are so many other things on their backs, but as Bobby Knight once told me about my team after we beat (Indiana), 'You've got a real chance to win it,' and that was the year we won."

MADISON, Wis. - You'd learned, on the rare occasions when things tightened up on Illinois, that this group of Illini had chilly enough stuff running through their veins.

Today, after Illinois' 75-65 win at Wisconsin, you know a little more.

The standings still show Illinois as unblemished, but the long faces and short answers at Thursday's postgame news conference revealed a team feeling sour midway through one of its sweetest seasons.

"We didn't play the way we're capable of playing, and any time your team comes out with a performance like that, you can't be happy," Head said. "I  mean, you can enjoy the win, but you can't be jumping for joy like you did something special. We know we've got work to do."