Just be thankful Fanatics isn't making your jerseys.... the NHL took a huge L last weekYes, this again. Adidas is really a joke of a uniform provider, and Under Armour seems good from afar but it sounds like they are not in great shape to be getting into a partnership moving forward, especially if basketball is a priority for us. Nike is a bit of a monopoly, and we are not a priority for them, but they are probably our best option.
I measure Nikes prioritization by how many SKU’s they offer for retail through their website… your list lines up pretty well with my thoughts.People keep saying we are “not a priority” for Nike … who is, and why do we believe this? Besides the Blue Bloods, we’d be as profitable for them as anyone else; even when we were bad, we were one of the 15 most profitable basketball programs in the nation. Of the “Blue Bloods” and programs I grew up thinking of as “Blue Blood” or close, these are the brands:
Kentucky: Nike
North Carolina: Jordan
Kansas: Adidas
UCLA: Jordan
Duke: Nike
Indiana: Adidas
Louisville: Adidas
UConn: Nike
Villanova: Nike
The following are some examples of programs I’d consider just above/in/just below our tier historically or due to other factors like having (at least) as big of a fan base as ours, followed by some traditional football powers and/or football programs with massive fan bases:
Michigan State: Nike
Ohio State: Nike
Syracuse: Nike
Arizona: Nike
Michigan: Jordan
Arkansas: Nike
Texas: Nike
Florida: Jordan
Georgetown: Jordan
Purdue: Nike
Maryland: Under Armour
Wisconsin: Adidas
The only schools I’d say Nike is 100% prioritizing over us - and literally everyone - for quality basketball uniforms are Oregon (duh), Kentucky, Duke, Ohio State and Texas. Even UConn and Villanova are probably just lumped into the same big bucket as us. I admit I don’t know, but do we really think traditional football powerhouses that use Nike but keep their football jerseys literally the same each year (Alabama, Georgia, PSU, USC mostly) are cutting to the front of the line for Nike’s creativity regarding basketball uniforms? I don’t.
I had no idea how bad Fanatics' reputation was before last week, but yeah it is a shockingly bad situation for the NHL. You do have to wonder if/when there will be a college that is desperate enough to sign a deal with Fanatics. We've seen what college licensing purgatory looks like with Georgia Tech and New Balance. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, but probably pretty close.Just be thankful Fanatics isn't making your jerseys.... the NHL took a huge L last week
Fanatics makes cheap garbage for every college, they already have the relationship they're looking for (see the shop at FightingIllini.com, branded at the top as "A Fanatics experience"). And they don't make basketball shoes, football cleats, receiver gloves, stuff like that, they're an apparel company not a sporting goods manufacturer so it would have to be a different sort of deal if they wanted to expand their presence.I had no idea how bad Fanatics' reputation was before last week, but yeah it is a shockingly bad situation for the NHL. You do have to wonder if/when there will be a college that is desperate enough to sign a deal with Fanatics. We've seen what college licensing purgatory looks like with Georgia Tech and New Balance. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, but probably pretty close.
Lol the zigzags were not pretty but I do applaud the effort to do something original and uniquely ownable to our heritage. Good idea, bad execution IMO.Maybe we could go back to the classic look with throwbacks to the zig zags?
1LL1NO1S... it's like they ran low on their budget while doing Missouri basketball's redesign and gave us some cheap knockoffs as a result.People keep saying we are “not a priority” for Nike … who is, and why do we believe this?
We need to DITCH the 1LL1NOIS look. Why can't someone figure out a consistent classic look?1LL1NO1S... it's like they ran low on their budget while doing Missouri basketball's redesign and gave us some cheap knockoffs as a result.
A simple cursive Illini as someone suggested earlier would be much better!We need to DITCH the 1LL1NOIS look. Why can't someone figure out a consistent classic look?
How about this?We need to DITCH the 1LL1NOIS look. Why can't someone figure out a consistent classic look?
Personally, I don't care for cursive and I don't think it looks all that classic. Block letters, as boring as some think they are, are classic as hell.A simple cursive Illini as someone suggested earlier would be much better!
I'd take that over 1LL1NO1S any dayHow about this?View attachment 24572
Traditional, cleaner and less cluttered than "Fighting Illini"(which is the best uni that we have now). Spoon liked it.I'd take that over 1LL1NO1S any day
It absolutely was! I would love for a set of white/orange/blue FIGHTING ILLINI jerseys to be our regulars and occasionally busting out the white/orange/script jerseys VERY selectively (like the UC game or Braggin' Rights or NCAAT games).idk if this is what the 'bump' may be alluding to, and i don't have any info, but wouldn't be surprised to see us go classic and those throwbacks become the full time uniforms
Yeah, it looks completely awful ... but I don't think it's an intellectually responsible conclusion to assume Nike like actively pushes Illinois down the pecking order compared to a school like Mizzou just because they totally struck out with our last design.1LL1NO1S... it's like they ran low on their budget while doing Missouri basketball's redesign and gave us some cheap knockoffs as a result.
I do appreciate your opinion. And I am as pro-Nike as anyone can be. However, there are a number of signs that they do not prioritize us. Uniforms are part of it. I am pretty sure we were perhaps the last Power 5 team that was wearing Nike's mid-2000s lame piping template that we had until the 2014 rebrand.Yeah, it looks completely awful ... but I don't think it's an intellectually responsible conclusion to assume Nike like actively pushes Illinois down the pecking order compared to a school like Mizzou just because they totally struck out with our last design.
This is what we need. These 6 jerseys. Nothing more, nothing less.I know we wore them for the Arizona game last year, because I attended that one. We also wore them for Braggin' Rights, IIRC. My impression from last year (and the year before) is that we GENERALLY wore the throwbacks for "big games" (with the exception of wearing the regular oranges for the "Orange Out" vs. OSU last year) and wore the regulars for the other games ... and it created a weird situation where we were pretty much wearing our four jerseys at equal frequencies, and the throwbacks didn't feel like a "special occasion" thing at all.
On that last point, I think that's why a lot of fans like me just wanted the throwbacks to be the main jerseys. Seriously, other than this weird attachment to throwbacks being special (which is ridiculous, because schools with great jerseys like Kansas and Michigan just wear classic jerseys all the time, and it looks great!!), what is the argument for wearing our new ones? I respect a difference of opinion and all, but I don't think I have heard a single person say they don't prefer the throwbacks, haha.
I guess I understand the desire for consistency across sports, and the script is a very specific look ... so, if it were up to me, we would go with the 1980s "FIGHTING ILLINI" as our default font for everything, making our hoops jerseys:
Home
Away
Alternate (Hardly ever worn, as blue is cursed, amirite?? )
Throwback #1 (Big/special games and definitely each year at the UC and Braggin' Rights)
Throwback #2 (Big/special games and definitely each year at the UC and Braggin' Rights)
Throwback #3 (Busted out in the 2024-25 season to honor the anniversary!)
[DIA: I am willing and able to join the team...]
I dunno… the 1909-10 throwbacks would look cool.This is what we need. These 6 jerseys. Nothing more, nothing less.
Maybe run a little Picket Fence action on offense as well!
Gotta find some regulation peach baskets.Maybe run a little Picket Fence action on offense as well!
Yeah, I really appreciated the sentiment ... it was a nice shoutout to the Chief. I'll go further and say that I only really thought it looked that bad with hindsight.Lol the zigzags were not pretty but I do applaud the effort to do something original and uniquely ownable to our heritage. Good idea, bad execution IMO.
The zigzags were a nod to our past, but we had no other nod to that so it felt very out of place. I do like the current blue uniforms the best out of the new uniforms (non-throwback division) for that reason, it's the only uniform that has some connection to Illini heritage.Lol the zigzags were not pretty but I do applaud the effort to do something original and uniquely ownable to our heritage. Good idea, bad execution IMO.
I'm still waiting for one of our players to tell us what flavor gum one of the following players was chewing...Maybe run a little Picket Fence action on offense as well!
whats the connection the current blues have?The zigzags were a nod to our past, but we had no other nod to that so it felt very out of place. I do like the current blue uniforms the best out of the new uniforms (non-throwback division) for that reason, it's the only uniform that has some connection to Illini heritage.