Sorry in advance for the length of this but so, so many great memories of Lou Henson. I was a kid in the 80s who grew up on Illini basketball and football (which is why I don't accept the argument we should be content that Illini football can't compete with Wisconsin and Northwestern let alone Minnesota for goodness sakes) ... Lou, you and your teams hooked me on Illini basketball. Thank you. Made me a lifelong fan. Made Assembly Hall one of the best home court advantages in the country. Made me to this day almost 40 years later see my mood swings change to a probably unhealthy level based on the results of Illini games.
There certainly were times when your teams drove me insane especially losing some of those NCAA games to Austin Peay, Villanova, Alabama...but of course I didn't realize at the time that losing those maddening NCAA games were 1,000 times better than the last 10 years of Illini basketball when we can't even sniff the type of program Lou built. (certainly encouraged that Brad Underwood and his assistants are building us back to where Lou, Jimmy Collins and company had it)
In the 80s Illinois basketball truly was one of the elite programs in the country, a top four seed in the NCAA tournament year after year while going toe to toe with some great, great teams in the Big Ten. I don't know if kids today realize just how consistent and successful those Illinois teams were, year after year. Think about 1984, Illinois didn't have any future NBA stars or even any NBA players now that I think about it, and they were the ridiculous situation of playing Kentucky on their home court away from playing against Patrick Ewing and Aakeem Olajuwon in the Final Four. Just loved the consistent toughness of Lou's 1980s teams.
Then went to Illinois in the early 90s and got to know Lou while working at the Daily Illini and learned not only was he a great coach but a total class act, as others have said here. Trying to think of my favorite memories and certainly calling out Bobby Knight for being a classic bully, which he is/was, Lou walking off the court after beating Syracuse in the '89 regional final holding up Nick Anderson and Kenny Battle's arms, but mostly I'll remember him showing the country what Illini basketball can be with that amazing run of success in the 80s that was only stopped by the crap from Bruce Pearl and Iowa. And when you think about it, even as much as Illinois basketball "struggled" in the early 90s, those 4-5 years were way, way better than this past decade. Lou Henson, thank you, and I'm so glad Brad Underwood seems to get everything Lou meant and seems to have Illinois basketball back on the path Lou had it. Go Illini