Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win vs Iowa

5. We are Big Ten champs once again

I feel extremely old typing this, but man, I have been waiting 17 years for the Illinois basketball team to win a Big Ten regular season title.

Honestly, I can’t believe it happened. The end of the Bruce Weber era and the entire John Groce era really put the Illinois basketball team in a hole. This program was not winning at the level it needed to win, and we were living on the bubble for what seemed like over a decade.

The hiring of Brad Underwood changed everything, though. He came into a program that needed a massive rebuild. His ability to put a coaching staff together is what started the Illini in the right direction.

His first coaching staff, the one that is pretty much at Kentucky right now, did a great job recruiting some of the best talent Illinois has seen in the history of the program. Ayo Dosunmu is doing well with the Chicago Bulls. Kofi Cockburn is going to have his jersey lifted in the rafters. These are special players.

Underwood has now put together another excellent coaching staff. This coaching staff has helped develop the players on the roster, and they are good at recruiting new talent into the program.

The turnaround for the Illinois basketball program started with the change in leadership. Underwood was installed and everything else fell into place. We are finally Big Ten champs. It feels so good.