Sure but uniform aesthetics and uniform identifiability are separate things. I was just looking at a list the Athletic put out like 5 years ago of the best 25 college basketball uniforms of all time. On that list is Long Beach State's jersey. Can most of you describe that jersey without looking it up? Can anyone?
To become identifiable a jersey needs to be worn consistently by a consistently successful team so it can invade the collective consciousness. There is absolutely nothing unique or defining about Kentucky's jersey. But we all know what it looks like. It's seared into our minds. Because Kentucky has been consistently successful wearing them.
All this to say that if the goal is to have a better looking jersey, yeah, we should do that. If the goal is to have a jersey that is immediately recognizable, we need to figure out what the jersey is going to be, stick to it, and win, big and often. We can do both things, but they are not the same thing.
But I think we can all agree that there might be rare examples on each extreme of this "debate." For example, Penn State's football uniforms are objectively boring, and the only reason they are "ownable" is because of their history of success and because they have worn them for so long. On the other extreme, a lot of people online were talking about TCU having one of the best football uniforms a few years ago, and it was not because they have this decades-long history of winning. The vast majority of "good uniforms," at least IMO, combine those two elements.
Either way, I think a lot of this is indeed subjective and often leads to fellow Illini fans talking past each other. However, I would allege that the following statements are damn near objective truths:
1. Our current uniforms have a "cookie cutter" or default feel to them in a way that our past uniforms did not, at least not anywhere close to this degree. If the picture posted of Clemson's uniforms didn't prove it for you, just look up images of the Nike jersey for Creighton or Vanderbilt or several other schools ... we very clearly got the default Nike template in a way that we had not for previous iterations. Even pretty unpopular uniform designs like the zig zags showed an effort to create something somewhat unique.
2. Our throwback uniforms are incredibly popular, both among our own fan base and the casual college hoops fan. Read the comments in this thread. Look at which style of jersey (i.e., Script/Flyin' Illini vs. one of the default jerseys) you see fans wearing at our games. Go look at any college hoops social media page that ranks throwback uniforms, and you will find ours near the top the majority of the time. While this last argument is more subjective, I would argue that both are VERY clearly identifiable with Illinois, both because they are both unique looks that incorporate our colors in aesthetically pleasing ways and (especially for the Flyin' Illini ones) because they evoke memories of past Illini teams. They have been an unambiguous success.
Thus, it seems entirely reasonable to me that the "burden of proof" here HAS to lie with those who do not want to simply create one or both of our throwbacks in white, navy and orange. We already HAVE great uniforms that our fans and others like, and the incremental effort would be laughably minimal. If someone wants anything other than the absolutely awesome options we have staring us in the face, he or she must articulate a better option. It really doesn't seem reasonable right now to argue WHETHER we need new uniforms after 6+ seasons with a set that most don't really like ... the question is what comes next. And the path of least resistance for literally everyone involved are the two throwbacks staring Nike and the DIA right in the face. I feel like some people assume it's this foregone conclusion that we have to come up with something new and then just have two random throwbacks in our pockets ... WHY?!?! Lol.
The other uniform ideas from that KJ rendering to the Southern Illinois examples are great ... but I can't see how either is in any way equal to the Script or Flyin' Illini options, much less superior to either one. Get your head out of your a$$, Nike, and do the move that is so damn obvious that it hurts!
Woohoo, call it a day and we all move on as winners!!
). Nothing at all about the Celtics' uniforms is overly unique. Pretty basic lettering and numbering. Two colors, white and green. But when you see that uniform, you instantly think "Boston Celtics".
