Remembering 2004--05: A scare at Purdue

Remembering 2004-05: Big Ten opener's a blast

Remembering 2004-05: Illini braggin' but draggin'

Remembering 2004-05: Chicago gets taste of No. 1

Remembering 2004-05: UI climbs to No. 1

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 2004-05 Illini, the program notched win No. 1,500, but coaches and players had their minds on something much bigger.

Date: Jan. 12, 2005

Headline: Incentive plan has Illini flyin' high

By BRETT DAWSON

CHAMPAIGN - Illinois basketball's new address is a tony uptown spot in college hoops' ultimate high-rent district.

So who let the noisy neighbors onto 1500 College Basketball Ave.?

It takes 1,500 wins to get in the gate, and the top-ranked Illini picked up their keys Wednesday with a 90-64 rout of Penn State at the Assembly Hall.

But college ball's orange-clad stepchildren still don't feel like they belong.

"It seems like (the national media) will do anything to get Illinois out of that No. 1 spot," Illini guard Dee Brown said after a 15-point, five three-pointer performance. "That's where our hunger comes from."

Illinois (17-0) feasted on Penn State, rewriting the record books in the process.

In addition to its 1,500th career win — a feat only 14 other teams have accomplished in college hoops history — Illinois tied a school record for most consecutive wins at 17 and set a school mark for three-pointers in a game with 15.

It's the kind of performance you'd expect from the nation's No. 1 team — and the Illini still are hanging on to the top spot, though some national analysts are starting to wonder if they fit the description.

ESPN's Digger Phelps this week said North Carolina is the nation's true No. 1 team. Cohort Mike Jarvis agreed.

And Bruce Weber spent the moments immediately after Tuesday's practice telling his team that every mediocre performance will cost it votes in The Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches' polls, both of which currently list Illinois No. 1 by a wide margin.

"I'm looking for little things to motivate them," Weber said.

And just maybe Weber's a little miffed, too, by some perceived snubs.

The sudden orange-and-blue backlash, Weber figures, is a reaction to a national opinion that the Big Ten is down. If the Illini don't hang on to the No. 1 ranking, he said, pundits can break out their "I-told-you-so's."

And what if Illinois wasn't at the bottom of college basketball's elite? What if it was a longtime resident in the 1,500-win club, rather than a recent arrival with boxes unpacked?

Might national opinion differ if the Illini were fourth or fifth in all-time wins as opposed to 15th?

"Yeah, there's probably no doubt," Weber said. "And if we'd been in the Final Four more than once (in the past 15 years), then it's a different response to it."

No surprise, then, that the coach and his players took a 1,500th win, and a Flyin' Illini-tyin' 17th consecutive victory, in stride.

Asked what it would take to get the Illini excited in the postgame, guard Deron Williams hardly took a second to answer, "a national championship."

It's the answer Weber wanted.

"Their decision not to do (ESPN's documentary show) 'The Season' told me there's more substance to them than getting on TV and the frills .. ," Weber said. "They've stayed focused and hungry."

Still, Wednesday was a night to remember — if not for a forgettable victory against an overmatched opponent than for its place in history.

"It's great to have those accomplishments, to leave your mark on this program, especially with the 100th-year celebration we're having now," said Williams, who scored 11 points and dished out a career-high 12 assists. "We can start the new 100 years. That's great for us, and it's something we take pride in."

But not too much. Weber urged his players not to be satisfied with tying the 1989 Final Four team with 17 consecutive wins.

Instead, he urged, they should etch their names alone in the history books with a win Saturday at Northwestern.

"Now, (let's) just don't be satisfied with tying it," Weber said. "Go out and grab another one and really leave a legacy in the next one, the 200th anniversary of Illinois basketball."

It might take that long before the Illini feel like they belong in this classy new address of theirs.

But Weber, for one, was feeling pretty good about his place in the world Wednesday night.

"As a coach .. you want your kids to improve as people and graduate as students, but at the same time you want to leave a little something there that people remember," Weber said. "That you came to the program, you improved it, you got it to another level and you had some special seasons that'll go down in their history."