Yeah, so this caused a firestorm of controversy.
The concept of rivalry in college athletics can be a headscratcher.
In college football, Michigan State fans view Michigan as their rivals. Michigan fans view Michigan State as their intramural
sparring partner because of their far greater concern with the team down south.
Meanwhile, in basketball, Ohio State doesn’t even register with the Ann Arbor faithful. On the hardwood, Tom Izzo and company definitely represent the Maize and Blue’s most hated foe. And Michigan State fans certainly return serve on the vitriol.
Illinois and Northwestern share a state but little else. Chris Collins is not nearly as antagonistic as other coaches, and Northwestern has not been a national hoops power. So, how strong is the true rival status here?
Illinois fans have significant disdain for Iowa hoops, dating back to the Bruce Pearl debacle. But without Fran’s red-faced emotional Incontinence, those games just don’t hit the same.
Illinois and Indiana fans go back and forth on social media. Indiana fans still claim blue blood status despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. They say Illinois isn’t their rival at all. They hate Purdue.
Purdue fans are far less toxic on social media, but they view the Hoosiers as their rivals despite Illinois’ quality of play.
So Illinois is arguably without a primary hoops rival. And due to Michigan State’s existence, Michigan is unlikely to ever reach that kind of hated rival. However, the last decade of college hoops has brought the two programs eye-to-eye.
The University of Michigan is easy to hate.
It’s not hard to see their idyllic Ann Arbor campus and fall in love with the school and the city. But one quick look beneath the surface, and the hatred emerges more easily than dumb lyrics in a Backstreet Boys song.
They are elite academically
Those of us who attended the University of Illinois adore The Beloved. We will tell anyone who listens that we went to a phenomenal institution and partied like rock stars for four (or in my case, more than four) years.
And every year, the University of Michigan beats U of I in the rankings. It’s maddening how wonderful the school is.
They are a de facto private school
If you work in consulting, finance, enterprise technology, or medicine, you have met Michigan grads. And they are not only competent, but they speak a version of English that was hatched in a McKinsey laboratory by people who mimic the mannerisms of William F. Buckley Jr. in the mirror every day.
The school doesn’t seem like the rest of the classic state schools in the Big Ten. Which reminds me.
The “Coastie” thing is real.
The University of Michigan is not the University of Michigan. It’s a university in Michigan.
I jokingly call it Connecticut’s Big Ten school.
Michigan State is really the University of Michigan. It’s a university for Michiganders, by Michiganders.
The University of Michigan is Phillips Exeter’s Midwest training ground for world domination.
The Fab Five broke college basketball for people from…non-urban areas
Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson revolutionized college hoops like no team in history. They were brash, confident, aggressive, and devoid of remorse for dunking on fools.
They were polite society’s worst nightmare: young, ostentatious black men who were hip-hop coded and unafraid of the disdain from the outside world. DIck Vitale harangued them for not being “clean cut, All-American” types of kids. Translation: if my daughter brought one of them home, she’d be immediately excommunicated from the family and excised from the will.
Generations of college fans saw them as “thugs” and reprobates. But to the rest of us, they represented the streetball ethos we all grew up watching and enjoying in the parks and gyms of places like the South Bronx, South Side of Chicago, and Southwest Detroit.
They were a cultural revolution. And if there were NIL in 1993, perhaps their banners never would have been removed from the rafters.
All of this to say that the University of Michigan is a legitimate generational source of hatred for opposing programs.
Michigan was very successful during the John Beilein years. Coach Beilein is second to Tom Izzo in the “crotchety, old school ball coach whom Illinois fans fawned over and wished ran the Illini program.” But his Michigan clubs accomplished a lot, including bringing the program back to heights not seen since the Fab Five dominated college hoops.
Not only did Michigan make six Sweet 16s under Beilein’s leadership, but they became the blueprint for early Brad Underwood Illinois teams. They played a borderline positionless style with lineups that featured 2-4 players between 6’5 and 6’10 who were athletic, versatile, switchable, and played both ends.
Players like Tevian Jones, Alan Griffin, RJ Melendez, Luke Goode, Coleman Hawkins, and Kipper Nichols fit that description.
When Beilein left Ann Arbor for Cleveland, Illinois found its next target.
Juwan Howard was certainly not as revered by Illini fans as his predecessor or his rival in East Lansing. He was a reviled villain. He was a member of the aforementioned Fab 5, and he came in guns blazing on the recruiting trail.
But largely, Howard ushered in a disappointing era in Ann Arbor, where landing elite talent didn’t translate to the win column with great frequency.
Oh, and Illinois began a streak of beating Michigan like they stole something on the basketball court. Seriously, think about the events of the last decade.
Ayo’s game-winner.
The Terrence Shannon Jr. recruitment.
The rumor at the time was that All-Big 12 Academic Team Terrence Shannon was not granted admission to the University of Michigan. It was in response to this failure that he instead chose Illinois and had a legendary two-year run.
Yes, Michigan fans played the Illini fan card and blamed admissions for the lack of success.
Hunter Dickinson
Speaking of superstar college players, Hunter Dickinson took more Ls in Champaign than Dan Dakich’s fragile ego. He then transferred to Kansas, where he lost a pre-season exhibition game against the Illini. Serves him right for being the most punchable non-Purdue player of his era.
The Streak
Illinois hasn’t lost to Michigan since 2019. It’s an Aaron Rodgers vs. the Chicago Bears level of ownership.
Finally, Morez
I won’t relitigate the transfer decision. I won’t even go back and ask if Illinois would be better off with Morez, because it looks like an exchange in which both sides got what they wanted and are thriving.
When Morez takes the court on Friday, he will be serenaded with a Bronx cheer that would make Philadelphia fans on Christmas Day blush. An Illinois win would be a gratifying triumph for the fans in attendance. A loss would be another excuse for consternation.
Either way, a lot of confirmation bias is going to be reinforced in Champaign.
So, what do you think?
Can/will Illinois defeat Michigan?
Will Morez Johnson’s reception rival that of Jalen Rose and Eric Gordon?
Are Illinois and Michigan actually rivals?
