I still can’t believe Illinois basketball came away with the huge win over Houston on Thursday night.
This was one of the biggest wins in recent memory. During the game, I said this was one of the most nervous I had been for an Illini game since the 2005 national championship. That still rings true as of typing this.
An element that I wasn’t taking into consideration when typing that was the magnitude this game had on certain Illinois fans, like me. The history we have with Kelvin Sampson is one that is long, despite Illinois and Houston not playing much.
Some might be saying, what is the big deal? Sure, Sampson led Houston to a win over Illinois in 2022, but they beat us down. It isn’t that big of a deal.
This win on Thursday night wasn’t about getting revenge on Sampson from that loss. I can handle a Round of 32 defeat. What I can’t handle is losing the best player in the country to a lying, stealing, no-good, backstabbing fool.
Exactly 19 years, five months, and 14 days before Illinois took out Sampson and the Cougars in the Sweet 16, the Illini had one of the biggest losses in program history. It was October 13, 2006, so no, Illinois wasn’t playing a game yet.
That is the fateful day it was announced that Eric Gordon was flipping his commitment from Illinois to Indiana.
Yes, that Eric Gordon, who was the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2006, ahead of players like Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, James Harden, and Blake Griffin, to name a few.
It is the same Eric Gordon who went No. 7 overall in the 2008 NBA Draft and is currently in year 18 of his NBA career.
It is also the same Eric Gordon who would go on to sign with Indiana, and at the time, their head coach, Kelvin Sampson.
This isn’t just a scorned Illinois fan wanting revenge. Believe me, there is a lot of that in there. But Sampson did his time for his shady dealings. He didn’t make it fully through his second year in Bloomington because he “resigned” due to recruiting violations.
These violations left Indiana on the scrap heap. The team suffered greatly, and Sampson was hit with a five-year show-cause penalty. Essentially, he was banned from college basketball for a half-decade.
The Illinois basketball win over Kelvin Sampson and Houston is a nice cherry on top
While Indiana was in a world of hurt, Illinois also suffered greatly from the Gordon fiasco.
The Illini went on to go 16-19 during the season Gordon was at Indiana. That was just three seasons removed from a national championship appearance.
Bruce Weber’s entire career at Illinois was also altered. Just imagine if someone like Gordon had come to Illinois. The floodgates of talent could have followed. Illinois only made the NCAA tournament three times in the 12 seasons after Gordon’s decision.
With that being said, Thursday night was kind of the close to the chapter of Sampson. The hatred for him and what he did to our program will always be there, but the fact that Brad Underwood sent him packing at home is so very sweet.
This revenge, 19 years, five months, and 14 days, is still as sweet as it would have been the very next year. Sampson gets to watch us, Illinois, in the Elite 8, while he tries to figure out what recruit he is going to swindle next. Finally, the good guys win one.