The Fighting Illini come up short in Indy! They will be back

The Illini and the Final Four

Before the NCAA Tournament existed, Illinois was named the 1915 men’s basketball national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation. The NCAA championship tournament did not begin until 1939.

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Including this season, Illinois has now appeared in six Final Fours across 36 NCAA Tournament berths over the past 86 years.

Coach Harry Combes led Illinois to three Final Fours—in 1949, 1951, and 1952. In 1949, the tournament field included only eight teams; in 1951 and 1952, it expanded to 16. The Illini fell in the semifinal each year—twice to Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky teams and once to St. John’s—but captured the third‑place trophy all three times. (The NCAA eliminated the third‑place game in 1981.)

In 1989, Lou Henson led his “Flyin’ Illini,” (as they had been dubbed), to Seattle, Washington, for the Final Four, where they were knocked out in the semifinal game by Michigan.

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16 years and three coaches later, Bruce Webber led Illinois to St Louis for the Final Four and were knocked out in the Championship game by North Carolina.

This year, Brad Underwood guided Illinois to the Final Four. He joins coach Lou Henson as the only two coaches in Illini history to make at least six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (Henson had eight). At times, the Illini faithful had their doubts. Four overtime losses, losing games after double-digit leads. They were bounced from the B1G tournament in the quarterfinals after qualifying for the triple-bye. They were seeded number three and placed in the South Region with heavyweights like Houston and Florida. After dominating the #14 Penn Quakers, they did the same to the #11 VCU Rams, who had upset #6, North Carolina. They were thrust into the fire, playing the 2-seed Houston in Houston. They won by 10 and held Houston to its lowest point total of the season. Then, playing 9-seed Iowa, which upset 1-seed Florida. The Illini used a big second half to dispatch the Hawkeyes by 12….

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Publish date : 2026-04-05 19:29:00

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