Wisch: Can Illinois Finally End Its 'Self' Obsession?
By Dave Wischnowsky--
The NCAA Tournament monkey is finally off its back.
And now the tantalizing question is whether the Fighting Illini basketball program – and, in particular, its embattled head coach Bruce Weber – can stare down the 800-pound gorilla in the gym.
And make Bill Self blink.
Come 7:40 p.m. on Sunday night when No. 9 Illinois (20-13) tangles with No. 1 Kansas (33-2) and ex-Illini coach Self in the third round (can't we still call it the second?) of the NCAA tourney, we're going to find out.
And man, oh, man – oh, man – is it ever going to be interesting.
On Friday, a focused and fired-up Illinois squad ripped through No. 8 UNLV and its own former Illini coach Lon Kruger for a 73-62 victory in the NCAA Tournament's second round (can't we still call it the first?) at the BOK Center in Tulsa.
Against the Runnin' Rebels, the Fighting Illini blistered the nets at a 60 percent clip and saw their much-maligned senior class combine for 49 points – including 22 from Mike Davis and 17 from Demetri McCamey – as the team played its best game since at least the first week of January when it routed Northwestern 88-63 in Champaign.
Friday's win was Illinois' first NCAA tourney victory since 2006 and it came as sweet relief for Illini Nation.
But now comes Kansas – and the chance for even sweeter revenge.
Considering the opponent (Self and hated KU), the circumstances (a Sweet 16 berth hangs in the balance) and the current state of Illinois basketball (blah), it's difficult to overestimate the magnitude of what a victory on Sunday would mean for Weber & Co.
Because Self and the Jayhawks present the ultimate opportunity for Illinois to not only turn a disappointing season into a triumphant one but to also completely alter the national perception of the flagging Illini program and point it back on a path toward a place among the game's upper crust.
Yes, for Illinois, Sunday's game is that big.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
"Obviously, Kansas, they're a monster," Weber said Friday night in the postgame locker room after his Illini had run the Rebels out of Tulsa.
Weber wasn't talking about the specter of Bill Self with that comment, although he could have been. Because, it's Self's slick-talking ghost that continues to loom over the Illinois basketball program – and its fidgety fan base – more than seven years after Weber held a mock "funeral" to bury the ex-coach's so-called legend in Champaign.
Back in mid-December 2003, Weber was in his first season at Illinois after Self had bolted Assembly Hall for Phog Allen Fieldhouse the previous spring. And after the Illini suffered an ugly 70-51 blowout to Providence, dropping their record to 4-2, so frustrated was Weber that his new team was still longing for its old coach that he dressed in black before the next game and delivered a controversial locker room eulogy.
"I'm going to throw a funeral," Weber angrily told the Illini. "It's the end of Bill Self. It's over. There's no more comparing. He's gone. No more talking about it. I'll be honest, I'm fed up with it."
When Self caught word of his "demise" at the hands of Weber through a newspaper report the following morning, he dismissed his successor's rant as "hilarious." And now on Sunday night, after long last, we'll finally discover who gets the last laugh on the court.
The stakes in the matchup are high for both programs. Many experts are picking Kansas to win its second national championship during the Self era, while Weber is trying right the Illini's ship – and his own reputation – by leading the Illinois to the Sweet 16 for the first time since the national runner-up season of 2005.
While the game might mean exponentially more to Illinois and its fans in terms of the coaching matchup, all the pressure for the contest is actually on Self and his top-seeded Jayhawks.
Kansas is supposed to win this one. Illinois is not.
On Friday night after the Illini won to set up this juicy showdown, I was exchanging text messages with a source familiar with both the Illinois and Kansas programs. He assured me that Bill Self cares far less about Illinois than Illinois cares about him.
I have no doubt about that, considering that Self was the dumper and not the dumpee in the relationship. But I'm also quite certain that Self – as well-known for losing to the likes of Bucknell and Bradley in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament as he is for winning a national title – does care a great deal about not getting upset by a No. 9 seed.
And there would be no more embarrassing No. 9 seed for him to be upset by than Bruce Weber's. And, of course, there would be no sweeter No. 1 seed for Weber to knock off than Self's.
Seven seasons after he tried to wipe Bill Self's memory from the minds of his players with a mock funeral, Weber now has the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of Illinois' fans and allow them to finally let go of their "Self" obsession with a victory over KU.
Quite simply, you couldn't ask for a more compelling matchup than the one we'll get on Sunday.
It's "The Coach" vs. "The Recruiter." It's Illinois vs. Kansas. It's eight years in the making.
And it is finally on.
Do you agree with Dave? Post your comments below.
If nothing else, Dave Wischnowsky is an Illinois boy. Raised in Bourbonnais, educated at the University of Illinois and bred on sports in the Land of Lincoln, he now resides on Chicago's North Side, just blocks from Wrigley Field. Formerly a reporter and blogger for the Chicago Tribune, Dave currently writes a syndicated column, The Wisch List, which you can check out via his blog at http://www.wischlist.com.
