The most numb I've felt to a tournament loss by Illinois ever.
For those who need a 20-second recap of today’s game...the following quotes:
Brian Barnhart:
“The Illini got off to a slow start...”
“This is a beatable team (Arkansas) we’re playing here...”
“They (Illini) just got to play better...”
“Matt Meyer, two points. Needed more from him today...”
“It might be a short stay in Des Moines...”
“A lot of things in this game reflected the season.”
Deon Thomas
“We are playing like we’ve NOT been here before...”
“We gotta get back to playing a lot tougher...”
“It seems like sometimes we push the panic button...”
“A lack of intensity. We need to play hard...”
“This has been the hardest year for Brad Underwood...”
“So many high expectations. This is a really tough way to end the season.”
There are some movies you like to watch over and over. Maybe a holiday classic like, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’. Or TV shows like the original Star Trek. No matter how many times you see them... you can still enjoy watching them all over again.
And then there are the horror shows. No, not the scary kind that you don’t want your little kids watching at night. Other horror shows... like March Madness Tournament contests that look and end the same bitter way year after year after year.
To Illini Nation... nothing will make this feel good or place a good face on this thing. But we could see it coming. It’s not your fault or mine. We weren’t out there on the floor. We did our part... giving this Team again a piece of our heart. And most of us will do all this again after a great Summer ahead.
One of the beauties of Basketball is that it’s a meritocracy. You do it (or not) on the court. And if you fall short... you shake the hands of the guys who bested you because they earned it. And you had your chance.
And then you ask yourself what you need to do better. And then you DO IT.
Side Note: I still wonder if there was something going on below the surface this season that we aren’t aware of. There seems to be a piece of the story missing.
We may never find out.