I wondered same. I pondered and puzzled. Then I realized it's a subtle allegory:
The dire loading dock and the solid, though weathered brick walls that have seen many a prairie winter come and go aside the Illinois Central rail lines intersecting the East Central Illinois horizon, represent #everydayguys as well as the spare, functional, gritty elegance of the program's foundation. We're blue collar, not blue blood.
The vertical electrical conduit and meter? Is it an external power source animating Kofi and this scene? Or vice versa? Clearly, my friends, the latter.
The airborne, gaseous fireballs represent the futile protestations of our opponents' fans, currently consumed in paroxysms of agony as they slowly realize the Illini are back to stay among the BT's élite. These also serve as a metaphor for Curbelo's evanescent, transcendent, and levitating creative genius.
The large window above Kofi represents the universe into which the program is inexorably expanding. The window at far right, with an irregular pattern of rectangular panes, evokes the elegance, flair, and joie de vivre of the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods: the team is ushering in the vanguard of an artistic revolution on the court (see, above, Curbelo.)
The stacked tires are a puckish allusion to Fletch and his training regimen. They're grounded and yet enable one to step easily from the floor to the loading dock. Note the black steel axis, barely visible, around which they're arrayed. The flame emanating form the top of it represents the combustible nature of strength and conditioning, radiating from that source, yet incapable of melting that enduring steel axis, and in no danger whatsoever of creating a tire fire (I mean, this ain't Madison, amirite?).
The two pallets leaning on the walls on either side of Kofi are especially intriguing. The one to his right, solid and leaving no gaps between the planks, represents the seamless integrity of the squad now that Kofi has returned to the fold. The one to his left represents the early off-season: individuals and fans on a lesser squad might fall through those cracks. Kofi and his Illini mates, however, bestride it as a collective colossus, and we stand on their shoulders of greatness as they do so. The single, askew plank represents the transfers and AC losses, now a distant, inconsequential, nay amusing, memory.
The hulking mass in the right foreground is clearly a slumping Darth Vader, in the process of bowing and prostrating himself to King Cockburn. It represents our sworn conference enemies, shrinking and faltering before the majesty of the Illini.
Or it all might be a really lame, camp, pastiche of bad '80s metal hair band music videos.
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