First the earth cooled, then the dinosaurs roamed the earth...
Then a big meteor came down and offed the dinos. And then these two-legged things with arms and thumbs took over and started to play a game with a round ball going through a round hoop. And as weird as that sounds... this game brought delight and joy to many of those two-legged things with arms.
And one day, a group of those two-legged things that wore colors of Blue and Orange and White coming from the prairies of the Midwest won a National Championship in the 21st Century. And then another, and another. And that brought even greater joy and delight to millions of fans of that group all over the World.
And then another big meteor came down and... and... everything had to start anew all over again. And all things were changed except for one. When a continent with a Midwestern part evolved again... another group of two-legged things came along and called themselves,’ The Illini’. But no one ever knew why. But they ended up pretty good at throwing the ball through the hoop, too. And they won more championships.
Some things are just meant to be.