Chicago’s United Center has been the focal point of the college hoops universe on more than a few occasions these past few years. Sadly however, the flagship state school program is toiling away in a galaxy far far away. Yet it’s only a short two hours and change drive away the second city.
We’re used to seeing Illini football fall off Chicago’s radar here and there over the years, and sometimes return, but Illini basketball?
This kind of irrelevance, the level we’re currently experiencing, has not been seen in a generation.
Like Mr. Burns told Waylon Smithers when his nuclear plant employees went on strike:
“Oh, it didn’t use to be like this. No, it didn’t use to be like this at all.”
Once upon a time, actually not even that long ago, Illini basketball WAS THE college basketball annual event at the United Center, and the games Illinois played in the venue had both local and national relevance.
Now the venue is hosting the Champions Classic and the McDonald’s All-American Game with regularity, and Illini basketball is nowhere near being relevant to either event.
I feel it in spades every year when the McDonald’s All-American Game comes to the UC. Lots of teams with great tradition, but sadly also teams with absolutely no tradition, sign recruits playing in the event, and this showcases the plain brutal truth about Illini recruiting these days.
Illinois takes on UIC at the UC Saturday afternoon and I whole heartedly expect to see apathy rivaling the Illinois versus Northwestern football game at Soldier Field this past Thanksgiving weekend.
Actually, attendance might be much worse since UIC basketball is a completely invisible program, while NU football is actually the fourth or fifth best team in the Big Ten this season.
Obviously, the last couple years of the Bruce Weber era brought a decline, and those depths have reached new and previously unfathomable lows under John Groce, but it still doesn’t tell the whole story here.
Look at the names of some the Illini basketball opponents at the United Center 2000-2008: Duke, Arizona, Kansas, Arkansas, Oregon, Xavier and Arizona again.
In those days you could easily sell 22,000 seats, and everybody in them wore orange. Here are your last eight Illini basketball opponents at the United Center: UIC, Oregon, UIC, Auburn, UNLV, UIC, Georgia
You could say that the United Center game on the schedule got less attractive.
While the decline of Illini basketball is the fault of their own leaderships, the regression of all the local teams here is obviously far beyond their control. The sad decline of the four Chicago programs is certainly not doing Illinois any favors. If UIC, DePaul, Loyola and Chicago State had any level of competency, people would be engaged, and Illinois could foster some rivalries.
You could take the United Center game and turn it into a double-header/mini-tournament. However, you need enough fans who care, and care enough to show up so that you can pay the venue rent. Phillip Hersh penned a must-read piece in the Chicago Tribune last month on the dire straits of UIC, DePaul, Loyola and Chicago State.
Some facts that Hersh highlighted:
Since 1991, the four teams have made a combined four NCAA tournament appearances, two by DePaul and two by UIC, most recently in 2004 for each.
• Chicago State has had one winning season in those 24, Loyola just five. UIC has six straight losing conference seasons, DePaul and Loyola eight straight.
• Average home attendance at the schools last season numbered 411 (Chicago State), 1,745 (Loyola), 2,913 (UIC) and 6,238 (DePaul). The arenas they play in have capacities ranging from 4,963 to 18,500.
That DPU number is extremely inflated by the way, Crain’s did a piece last year exposing their creative accounting practices with attendance. Anyone willing to go way out to Rosemont with regularity will tell you that they draw about 2,000 per game. Illini basketball is struggling with apathy, but these four teams have something much worse- invisibility. It’s sad, because a relevant local team would create more general local interest in the sport.
Hence people would get more excited when Illini basketball came to town.
It’s happened before; during the 2005 Final Four run, the Sears Tower antennae were orange and blue. Most of the skyline lit up in orange and blue that weekend. It was ten years ago, but it feels like 110.
Walk into Nike Town on Mag Mile and you’ll find five to six times the amount of Michigan State and Ohio State merchandise on sale as you will for Illini basketball. That’s IN CHICAGO!
Illini basketball cannot afford to be this much of an afterthought in their own back yard. Losing Chicago kills the visibility of the program and that in turn will destroy recruiting. And as you all know, recruiting is the lifeblood of any college basketball program.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye.
He also appears regularly on numerous talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram