The 1989 Flyin' Illini

As the 2005 Illini became the dominate team within the world of college basketball, the fans began to wonder: Is this team better than the 1989 Flyin' Illini? With the National Semifinal two days away, the '05 vs. '89 debate has become a burgeoning media sub-plot to the point of distraction. The 2005 team has broken many records of the school records held by the 1989 team, and with a win on Saturday against Louisville they will make it farther than any other Illinois team in the NCAA tournament (and go a ways towards squashing the debate perhaps). Nevertheless, the intensity of the discussion is a tribute to legendary status of the 1989 squad.

Lou Henson's 1988-89 squad was lead by Kenny Battle, Nick Anderson, Kendall Gill, Steve Bardo, and Lowell Hamilton, with Marcus Liberty first off the bench. They scored and dunked with ease; a splendid team with a premature tragic conclusion.

• Bragging rights battle >>
  [chicagotribune.com]
• Worst time to argue about Illini's best >>
  [suntimes.com]

1989 Flyin' Illini 31-5 (14-4) Final AP Ranking: 3 2nd Place in Big Ten
Date	Opponent	Result
Nov 26	Illinois-Chicago	W 85-59
Nov 29	Metro State	W 86-55
Dec 3	Mississippi	W 91-79
Dec 6	Florida (19)	W 97-67
Dec 9	Duquesne	W 112-81
Dec 10	Arkansas-Little Rock	W 107-88
Dec 17	Tennessee Tech	W 105-77
Dec 19	Missouri (10) (at St. Louis)	W 87-84
Dec 22	at Louisiana State	W 127-100
Dec 28	Tulsa (at Honolulu)	W 85-58
Dec 29	Georgia Tech (17) (at Honolulu)	W 80-75
Dec 30	at Hawaii	W 96-87
Jan 7	Michigan State	W 71-54
Jan 12	Wisconsin	W 103-80
Jan 14	Michigan (6)	W 96-84
Jan 19	at Northwestern	W 75-70
Jan 22	Georgia Tech (2OT)	W 103-92
Jan 26	at Minnesota	L 62-69
Jan 28	Indiana (16)	W 75-65
Feb 2	at Purdue	L 72-76
Feb 5	at Iowa (9)	L 82-86
Feb 9	Ohio State (16)	W 62-60
Feb 11	Northwestern	W 86-69
Feb 16	at Michigan State	W 75-56
Feb 18	at Wisconsin	L 52-72
Feb 20	Purdue	W 102-75
Feb 26	at Ohio State	W 94-71
Mar 2	Minnesota	W 63-58
Mar 5	at Indiana (3)	W 70-67
Mar 8	Iowa (15)	W 118-94
Mar 11	at Michigan (8)	W 89-73
NCAA Midwest Regional
Mar 16	McNeese St. (at Indianapolis)	W 77-71
Mar 18	Ball State (18) (at Indianapolis)	W 72-60
Mar 24	Louisville (12) (at Minneapolis)	W 83-69
Mar 26	Syracuse (7) (at Minneapolis)	W 89-86
NCAA Final Four, Seattle
Apr 1	Michigan (10)	L 81-83

Filed under: Illini Basketball