Remembering 2004-05: UI 91, Wake Forest 73

Remembering 2004-05: UI 89, Gonzaga 72

Remembering 2004-05: UI 87, Delaware State 67

Remembering 2004-05: UI 92, Lewis 61

Remembering 2004-05: UI 78, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 58

Remembering 2004-05: N-G front pages

Remembering 2004-05: Midnight Madness

Remembering 2004-05: Orange & Blue Scrimmage

EACH WEEK, WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT A MEMORABLE MOMENT IN ILLINI HISTORY, THANKS TO THE WORDS OF THE NEWS-GAZETTE

This week: In our continuing series on the five-year anniversary of the 2004-05 Final Four Illini, a look at the Illini's reaction to moving to No. 1 in the national polls.

Headline: Having Fun at No. 1

Date: Dec. 6, 2004

By BRETT DAWSON

CHAMPAIGN – It took 497 games to get here. It took three coaching changes and the better part of 14 seasons.

It's been a long climb back to No. 1 for the Illinois basketball program. The Illini would like to stick around a while.

"When we were No. 1 in high school, we had a party as a team," Illinois guard Dee Brown said Monday after top-ranked Illinois hammered Chicago State 78-59. "We had a party – popcorn, pizza. Blown out the next two games. I'm serious."

So believe Brown when he says he's serious, too, about staying put.

It wasn't easy to climb to No. 1. Brown and his teammates figure staying there will be even tougher.

It didn't start out that way, of course, Brown's 15 points and nine assists helping the Illini dispatch Chicago State in a game notable only as Illinois' first-ever win as the top-ranked team in The Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches' polls.

From here, the road gets tougher.

Georgetown looms Thursday night in Washington, D.C. Oregon awaits in the United Center two days later.

"You win those, you think you're going to maintain No. 1, (since) you don't play 'til the next Sunday," Illinois coach Bruce Weber said. "It would be nice to keep that thing, but it will not be easy."

Says who? Everything else has been for the Illini (7-0).

Monday's game certainly was, a 47-32 halftime lead expanding to as many as 25 points in the second half. It was ragged and rugged and – in Brown's own analysis – "boring," but it was a breeze.

And it's conceivable the Illini could keep on breezing.

Look at the schedule, which next features a team currently ranked in the AP Top 25 on Jan. 20 (Iowa). Look at the ease with which Illinois has dispatched its opponents (an average victory margin of 21.1).

And look at these Illini, who are under such stress that they turned Wednesday's postgame press conference into a 12-minute comedy routine.

They laughed when a reporter knocked a microphone off their postgame podium. They shot inside jokes at each other under their breath. They even mocked one writer's oversized tape recorder, Brown cracking, 'You got Microsoft Word on that?'

"They're a fun group," Weber said. "I don't want them to be uptight. That's the worst thing, fearing to lose. If we lose, we lose, but the thing I've emphasized is, 'Don't lose because you played tight and you played hesitant.' "

He's pretty sure they'll lose, for some reason or another. Eventually.

But Weber is liking life at the top. He'd just as soon stay there.

So would his players.

Illinois' No. 1 ranking is its first since 1989 and just its third ever. The only other Illini teams to reach the polls' premium perch – in 1952 and '89 – went on to the Final Four.

"I hadn't heard that," said Luther Head, who scored a season-high 17 points Monday. "That's good to hear."

That's it. No predictions of a repeat. No fear of a jinx.

"I feel good to be No. 1, but sometimes we forget we're a Top 5 team," Brown said. "Fans go crazy about it. We're humble.

"I ain't never been around a humble team like this."

And that, the Illini said, is why they might be equipped for a long stay at the top.

"I always talk about the two H's – staying humble and staying hungry," forward Roger Powell Jr. said. "If we do that, we're going to be fine."

But just in case, Weber will keep teaching the lessons he thinks can keep the Illini in the driver's seat. He'll prepare them to take their opponents' best shot. He'll caution them against being satisfied.

He'll remind them that Illinois is 0-3 all-time on the road as the nation's No. 1 team.

"I talk a lot about respecting the game, appreciating what we have, the opportunity," Weber said. "I think they realize it can go very fast. Last year, we win 13 in a row and lose to Wisconsin, and people are saying, 'They're done.' "

This team, though, is just getting started.

Weber hopes Illinois has more than 30 games left. He wants the Illini to keep their No. 1 ranking, but more than that, he wants them to keep their edge.

His players, meanwhile, have had a taste of life at the top.

Brown wants to savor it longer than he did in his Proviso East days.

"Now we're getting the recognition we deserve – we never had it (before)," Brown said. "Now people are showing us love, and it feels so good. We come to practice every day, smile, have fun, work hard and win. (Everybody) hates to lose on this team. Winning is contagious and winning is addictive."