NCAA Tournament XIII: High Five (+5) - Iowa

It was hard to get this High Five rolling. Of course, THERE WILL BE CLIPS, but I didn‘t want to miss the opportunity to also share my “feels” from an amazing weekend in Houston.

That said, I sat staring at a blank page and a blinking cursor for quite awhile before my fingers started to cooperate. When you bear witness to something that‘s happened only three times in your life, you want the words to match the moment.

So here goes.

As the dream started to become reality on Saturday night, I had the presence of mind to take this video of the final seconds…

(Come on, Tyler - “The Final Countdown” was RIGHT THERE!), but immediately after the final buzzer (excuse me, air horn) sounded my brain switched off completely.

For I don’t know how long I was walking around in a daze soaking up every last drop of the basketball joy flowing through the Toyota Center with a smile on my face as big as Texas. I‘ve since seen several clips of on-court interviews in which I’m just kind of hilariously wandering around in the background.

For now the second time, I’ve managed to Forrest Gump my way into a full immersion experience of an Illinois Final Four run. In 1989, I was in Minneapolis as a walk-on with the Flying Illini, swept up in a celebration that remains improbable to this day. I followed a roommate to walk-on tryouts on a lark, and five months later I was wearing a Final Four ring. Surreal.

Fast forward 37 years, and here I was on the floor following a Final Four clinching win for Illinois once again - but this time with an official media credential around my neck. Only an observer this time around, but not quite a bystander either. Close enough to feel it all the same.

Ten years ago, Robert asked me to contribute a few basketball articles to his blog and today my Final Four credential approval arrived in my email inbox. Crazy. I cannot thank him enough for the opportunity and the same goes for all the subscribers who have supported my words here as well. I am immeasurably grateful.

So when I finally found Robert (he had vacated his media seat at the under 4 media TO), we shared a low key but meaningful moment (he may not even have realized just how meaningful it was to me), and that kind of snapped me out of it. Only then was I able to shift gears into the pseudo-journalist role that allowed me this access in the first place.

I even managed to take this video. Maybe you saw it. 375,000 people did after all. If you didn’t, well, here it is again…

David Mirkovic, Illini Nation Treasure.

It’s memories like this, or of Mirk in the postgame locker room wearing the now famous cowboy hat he bought the day before while perched on top of his locker and armed with a super soaker which will last a lifetime for Illini fans everywhere.

Same with Kylan Boswell stamping the Illinois marker onto the “official” Final Four bracket with gusto.

Or of Andrej Stojakovic ”BREAKING THE NEWS!”

Of Brad Underwood sharing the best hug of his life to this point with his son Tyler after the clock hit 00:00.

Of Keaton Wagler sending an Iowa defender halfway to Sugar Land on a step back three.

Of Tomislav Ivisic smashing a guitar in Nashville, or his brother flying through the South Carolina sky.

Of Jake Davis splashing home yet another corner jumper.

Of Ben Humrichous flashing his ring finger in St. Louis.

This team secured a place for these images (and so many others) in Illinois Basketball immortality. I couldn’t be happier for this group of players, coaches, and support staff I’ve followed around the country over this season, but I also couldn’t be happier for those fans who weren’t able to share a visceral connection with the previous two Illinois Final Four teams.

For anyone over the age of 50, the Flying Illini will always hold THAT special place in our collective hearts. For the kids of the 90’s, the 2005 team will always be their one true love.

But for the most recent members of Illini Nation - those born in the new millenium? They weren’t alive in 1989 and were toddlers in 2005. This one is especially for them. Fans such as our Board Room guys and all the others who became die hard Illini fans despite being lost in the fog of irrelevance during the formative years of their fandom.

Even if Brad Underwood goes on to multiple Final Fours, this group will forever be the one they remember most fondly. They have their Illini Basketball touchstone. Welcome to the club. It’s pretty dang awesome.

OK, enough of that emotional stuff. The Illini beat Iowa just 48 hours ago to stamp their ticket to the Final Four and there is sooooo much fun stuff to talk about. Let’s get right to it in this “See You In Indianapolis!!” edition of High Five…

1 - It wasn’t the best start. Keaton Wagler had his ball stolen (as Brad Underwood likes to say) the very first time he touched the ball…

…and by the time we reached the first media time out, Illinois had turned it over twice, missed four of five shots, and were down 12-2. Quite simply, Iowa was ready to play at tip-off and Illinois was not. They got punched in the mouth.

2 - Another concerning development in the first half was Bennett Stirtz. Stirtz was in early foul trouble in Illinois‘ win in Iowa City in January and struggled most of that afternoon - finishing with just 12 points. He surpassed that total with 6 minutes left in the first half on Saturday and finished the half with 15 points - including this shot clock beater…

I included this clip because although he somehow made this shot despite a great defensive effort from Andrej Stojakovic, it was the only basket he would make on Andrej all night. Stojakovic even got a tiny piece of this shot (check his reaction). Stojakovic was extremely effective on Stirtz in the second half as well and even when Iowa went small, Illinois was able to hide Tomislav Ivisic on a weaker shooting Iowa guard to allow Stojakovic to stay matched up with Stirtz. For example, in this clip from the second half you see Stojakovic chasing Stirtz all over the court with Tomi matched against Isaia Howard (just 28% from three on the season)…

3- Iowa’s Alvaro Folgueirus was a major contributor in the Hawkeyes’ run to the Elite 8 - averaging almost 15 points per game in their three tournament wins -but he was a complete non-factor against Illinois. In fact, Iowa was objectively worse when he was on the floor. He had no points or rebounds and two turnovers - finishing an astounding -11 in just nine minutes. Here’s Iowa coach Ben McCollum trying to be nice after the game while explaining why Folgueirus played so few minutes: “Yeah, I don't know. I think it's just we felt like other guys were probably ready to go and tuned in to what we were exactly doing.”

Now here’s a clip showing what McCollum really thought about Folgueirus’ performance:

4- Iowa led at the half 32-28, but Illinois kept it close despite shooting 10-27 from the floor and turning the ball over seven times. If you’ve been following this team all season, then you probably know why - the offensive glass. The Illini grabbed a ridiculous 56% of their missed shots in the game and had 11 second chance points in the first half alone. This clip was from early in the first half, but I’m using it here now mainly because I just really enjoy watching David Mirkovic abuse Cooper Koch on this free throw miss...

5 - Illinois got the offense on track early in the second half behind Tomislav Ivisic who had two buckets in the first three minutes of the second half. Here he flips the ball screen and finds himself on the open side of the double on Kylan Boswell…

Tomi has made at least one three in all four NCAA Tournament games, and his pick and pop effectiveness is indeed a welcome sight again.

6 - And of course there was this ridiculousness from Keaton Wagler…

How it started:

How it ended:

7 - I mentioned Alvaro Folgueiras’ struggles earlier for a reason. He was the mismatch of the moment for the Illinois offense. Tomislav Ivisic had lost Folgueiras along the baseline for a bucket on the previous possession and here it’s nothing fancy but a post dump into Tomi. Iowa was selling out against the three all game and they weren’t going to bring a double. Tomi bulls right through Folgueiras again…

This may have been the biggest basket of the night for Illinois. It gave Illinois its first two possession lead of the night - and Iowa never got back to within one possession the rest of the way.

8 - When Illinois faces UConn on Saturday, they will be facing an entirely different Illini team. In the game against the Huskies back in November, Mihailo Petrovic and Brandon Lee combined for almost as many minutes as Keaton Wagler and David Mirkovic. After that game, Brad Underwood moved Wagler to the primary ball handler and started using Mirkovic as a secondary ball handler which quite literally transformed this offense. Here we see just how valuable Mirkovic is in that creator role…

At 6’9” and 255 pounds, he brings the ball over the timeline, refuses the ball screen and shows off his vision by making the read to find Zvonimir Ivisic in the dunker spot for, well, the dunk. It was RIGHT HERE that I started to get that Final Four kind of feeling.

9- Man, was Andrej Stojakovic good. He changed the entire tone of the game with defense against Bennett Stirtz and he was getting downhill all night on the offensive end…

Yet another flipped ball screen for Keaton Wagler and Tavion Banks cannot recover back to Stojakovic in control after stepping up to show against a potential Wagler drive. Banks momentum is carrying him past Stojakovic and Andrej bursts past him on the way to the rim.

10- This possession proved to be the final nail in Iowa’s coffin…

Illinois just kept flipping the angle on their ball screens and Iowa defenders just kept taking themselves out of the play by following the screener. This time Cam Manyawu takes himself to the wrong side of the screen and Keaton Wagler has the room he needs to operate. Tate Sage has to step up and Wagler floats a beautiful pass over the top to Andrej Stojakovic for the bucket. Iowa would not score again in this game and it was just 100 seconds to confetti time.

HIGH FIVE!