Nothing like bringing up the all-time worst enemies of Illini Nation on a Monday morning when you’re back at work, and the madness is over…for now. Don’t worry, it ramps right up again in only three days. It’s time for the #3 seed Illinois to face #2 seed Houston, led by head coach Kelvin Sampson, on Thursday night.
The game will tip around 8 or 9 pm local, and it’s taking place in Houston, so yeah, this is not exactly totally fair.
How do you think the #1 seed in this bracket, Florida, feels about this? Houston whooped Illinois up pretty bad in the last meeting, during the 2022 NCAA Tournament round of 32. Sampson was in charge of that Cougars team, who were favored despite being the lower seed, as well.
Houston are favored by 2.5 here.
Anyways, let’s move on to the ten biggest villains in the eyes of Illini fans; in no particular order. Here they are, and I’ll let you determine your own order.
Kelvin Sampson
We just covered this whole episode a couple days ago, and you can learn about 2006’s Mr. Telephone Man at this link. Both Indiana and Illinois have not reached the title game, or the Final Four for that matter, since Sampson poached Eric Gordon and made the defection thing happen.
Illinois is in a much better place than Indiana right now and perhaps that’s just karma for what happened here.
Bruce Pearl
You know the story. He ratted out Deon Thomas and got the Illini screwed over by the NCAA. This was back when he was an assistant under Dr. Tom Davis at Iowa. If you put the signature Illini program on probation, you have a good case for #1.
Over time though, everyone else has come up with a reason to hate this guy. Simply because he keeps giving everybody reasons to hate him. He’s not just an enemy of Illini Nation now. He’s an enemy of everybody.
Even the program that he built up and elevated, Auburn, is now completely wrecked due to his actions.
Officials who Protected Sean May in the ’05 Natl Title Game
Seeing May fizzle out in the professional ranks kind of verified that he really wasn’t all that special a player. And thus his domination of the paint during the biggest game in Illini history is an even harder pill to swallow.
Yes, a lot of it was May’s offense and a lot of it was bad Illini interior defense. But some of that was lopsided, ridiculous officiating too.
Illini starting Center James Augustine fouled out after playing just nine minutes. NINE MINUTES! Ridiculous.
Cliff Alexander
He, along with every other recruit, can go about his recruitment any way that he wants. He could have just signed a letter of intent privately and made an announcement on Twitter.
He went the other way: a nationally broadcast reality show after school special. And once you’ve chosen that path, you are no longer “a kid.” You are open to be ripped. And when you do something so immature that it’s literally the only thing people remember about that reality show, well, you will get lit up.
And then when your justification for that silly act is, well, your friends told you to do it… Illini fans have ample reason to loathe you. However, in the grand scheme of things, this was just more silly and nonsensical than consequential or worthy of vitriol. Alexander never amounted to anything in college basketball.
He’s had a decent overseas pro career though.
Eric Gordon
“Basketball Judas” as he was known in 2007. He was Cliff before Cliff but worse. There wasn’t social media yet to fuel more Illini hatred of him. Like Alexander, over time, the animosity has largely dissipated.
For both Gordon and Alexander, there has long been no real reason to despise them anymore.
Referees in the 2000 football game vs Michigan in 2000
Two calls were enough to cost the Illini this game and a very rare home win over Michigan. Watch the video to see how the refs screwed the Illini. The Big Ten officials even apologized a couple days later for screwing Illinois out of a W.
Illini were 3-0 and ranked at the time. They finished 5-7.
Evan Turner
The 2010 Big Ten Tournament semi-final; a loss that kept Illinois out of the NCAA Tournament. The Illini had Ohio State on the ropes. But apparently Demetri McCamey and company started talking trash to the consensus national player of the year when they had a big lead.
Turner made them pay. So although the Illini brought this one themselves, Evan could have handled it with more class and dignity.
Someone of his stature, the top national college basketball player, shouldn’t have been so easily rattled.
One of the top 5 most popular videos that I’ve ever shot, Turner explains it himself below:
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.