Herb Gould put together an article about the young Illini team in 1999 that was seeded #11, but reached the finals in the United Center before losing to Michigan State, led by Mateen Cleaves. Some highlights:
Game 1: Against sixth-seeded Minnesota, Illinois jumped to a 33-11 lead and cruised home 67-64 behind 22 points from freshman Cory Bradford.
Game 2: The Illini proceeded to beat No. 3 seed Indiana 82-66 as freshman Lucas Johnson, who had not scored more than eight points in the regular season, poured in 17 and Illinois outrebounded the Hoosiers 51-26.
Game 3: Things really got serious when Illinois shot a season-high 51 percent to beat No. 2 seed Ohio State 79-77, leaving coach Jim O'Brien gushing about ''the best last-place team in America'' before he guided the Buckeyes to the Final Four.
Finals: The Illini ran out of gas in the championship game, losing 67-50 to Michigan State, which also went on to the Final Four.
Apparently, Coach Lon Kruger made some changes to the Illini offense back in 1999 that helped the young players relax and score more consistently. Let's hope Coach Weber can make a similar move with his Illini team this year.
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