Not really a fan this era. As much as I dislike the current 1LL1NO1S typeface, I prefer it over these. The script and classic block typeface on Fighting Illini throwbacks are the best.
Illini Basketball Uniforms
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Waiting for someone to start pining for the Phoenix Suns shorts to make a comeback.
I will never like the rebrand basketball uniforms aesthetically, especially the font. They are actually quite antiquated already by 2025 design standards. The one thing I'll say is I will look on this era fondly, and those uniforms were worn for that Elite Eight run we just had, so I'll feel nostalgia towards them without thinking they look good at all.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I didn't love them at the time, but they've grown on me since the 1LL1NO1S uniforms have been so exceptionally bad and the 2007-2014 uniforms that still utilized the 2005 typeface just seemed like trying too hard to combine the 2005 uniforms with whatever trend was cool from 2007-2014.
However, regardless of one's opinion of the 2005 uniforms, they had a VERY clear place being worn at least once this year, in the 20th anniversary of arguably the most special team in program history. Massive fail by Nike and the DIA to not make it happen, especially considering what wonderful work we had done on the football side of things to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Memorial Stadium. I find it near-impossible to believe that Josh Whitman could oversee the debut of those excellent Grange Era football uniforms, various throwback helmets and an awesome 100th anniversary logo, and the thought to have Nike whip up a 2005 basketball uniform for one frickin' game to honor that team didn't even cross his mind ... and if it did and the flaw was on Nike's end, that is equally frustrating.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
The 1LL1NO1S font is the worst thing to ever happen. I hate that it’s on the court, I hate that it’s on the jerseys, and I really hate it’s our championship banners.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Yeah, but as a bona fide, dyed-in-the-wool 1LL1NO1S hater until the day I die, let's just remember that we wore THESE while hoisting three Big Ten championship banners in four years...
... and we wore THESE while giving up a 30-0 run to UConn to end our Elite Eight run...
Lol, obviously there are exceptions ... we suffered our Loyola loss in the white Script throwbacks, and we beat Iowa State to go to the Elite Eight last year in our regular orange uniforms. However, my point is that we wore the Script or Flyin' Illini uniforms often enough in these past five years that I think I will look back fondly enough on this era without having any sentimentality for the uniforms at all.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
It seems weird that the DIA seems totally willing to move on from that crap font in SOME ways (e.g., our social media utilizes the Script font A TON), and yet we stubbornly stick to it in some really (and unfortunately) prominent places. How much cooler would script Illinois look in our end zones for football or the block Flyin' Illini look on the baseline of our basketball arena?? And yet we see our awful 1LL1NO1S font proudly displayed in both, lol.
It would be literally so easy YESTERDAY for the DIA to simply say ... "Hey, you know that font that we use for those Flyin' Illini throwback uniforms? Get it in A-Z, and use it for everything until we have a proper rebrand of some kind."
Eh, I'm not so sure. Imagine someone who's fandom came of age in the right era. Maybe you're a freshman at UIUC for the 2020-2021 season. Ayo and Kofi playing the team to a BTT championship and #1 seed. The next season the team wins the conference. Your senior year the team makes it to the Elite Eight. And man, 1LL1NO1S is the jersey. That's the look for the majority of games. When you look back on those iconic moments, you're going to remember that font. When you close your eyes and think about Illini basketball, you're going to see it. As a student there from 2004-2008, I know the jersey in my head is this not any of the throwbacks we currently use, but this:
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
These jerseys are 1000% better than the current ones tho. I don’t think many people 25 years from now are going to think fondly of them. The memories will be there, but they will think who the hell came up with those garbage uniforms.
I think you all are wildly underselling the power of the nostalgia factor. Remember how so many NBA teams had the absolute worst logos and jerseys in the 90s? You can find tons of throwback apparel to that era on NBA Store. The Houston Astros jersey that has to be the ugliest thing ever worn on a baseball field? Wildly popular.
I used to own one of these as a kid, and even though it's absolutely hideous, I am very close to buying one now as a grown man 25 years later.
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
But we ONLY wore those uniforms during the years you mentioned. Until this past season, we’d worn won of our throwbacks for all five NCAAT games we’ve played since 2020-21, and we won all three championships in the Script uniforms. Throw in other epic memories that ALL took place in one of the two throwbacks like the 2021 beatdown at Michigan, our wins vs. #2 Texas and #11 FAU at Madison Square Garden, three separate Braggin’ Rights wins, this year’s historic win at #9 Oregon, etc., and I think our current default uniforms will evoke MUCH less specific attachment to this era than has been the case with past eras, as decidedly more than half of our big games over the last five years haven’t even taken place in the current defaults.
Maybe. But think about it this way. If/when we abandon the 1LL1NO1S, it's probably gone for a while. We don't see it for 20+ years. We keep seeing the script and the FIGHTING ILLINI. Those 2 are timeless and 1LL1NO1S is of a specific era. When people who grew up in a specific era want the dopamine hit that nostaliga provides, what are they going to turn to? And the weird 1LL1NO1S is odd enough that it will immediately be identifiable as a throwback to another era and thus ironically cool.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
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AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
I don't think nostalgia is the main reason people like those jerseys. I love a lot of those out-of-the-box jerseys and I wasn't even alive in the 90s. I would say people like them because of the originality and how they were the complete opposite of most jerseys today: basic and boring. The 1LL1NO1S jerseys are not only ugly but also basic and boring. I think it's most likely that they become forgotten after a decade cause they're not very memorable.
Naw, it's 100% nostalgia/coolness of something from 20-30 years ago. I was alive at the time, and a big NBA fan, and people hated them. There was a reason most of these jerseys and logos lasted for about 5 years, and then were gone, and there's a reason nobody kept that style or brought it back as a primary jersey. There's a reason no major college program rebrand has done anything like that. The closest thing we have to those 90s NBA Jerseys today are the City Edition jerseys, and those get tons of hate!
AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
That's fair. I guess it would be different if those types of jerseys were the "modern" look from the perspective of a person during that time as opposed to something that is thought of as a classic thing today, if that makes sense.
Yeah exactly. In 30 years the lens people are going to look at these through is going to be completely different than the way we look at them.
AyoDos11
- Southern Illinois
You're right, but I hope the 1LL1NO1S jerseys don't ever become a classic jersey that everyone loves lol.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
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skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Watching Kankakee in the regional and noticed the unis: clean uncluttered, traditional.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
To me, this is everything.
In previous eras, you had one jersey style in a few colors that you wore for every game and that one jersey got attached to every memory.
Today, with the throwbacks, my favorite memories over the past 5-6 years have almost all been in the white script jersey or the orange Fighting Illini jersey.
The team even purposefully wears the current set for less meaningful games. When I think of the Ayo/Kofi/Trent/TSJ era, I think of the throwbacks.
I own two jerseys from this era, both are throwbacks. So I don’t see myself having an attachment to our current jerseys in 20-30 years.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
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RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Think anyone will fondly remember the Padres’ orange and blue era?*The San Diego Padres enter the chat
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