Mark Grote

And then I did, and then I was rewarded with chaos football.

And the Illini run has had its twists and turns in this tournament.

Look, I do have an emotional attachment to the team as people –

probably know if you've listened to me through the years I'm not the biggest college basketball fan anymore but Illinois is a team after DePaul that I've always rooted for had many friends my brother went to to U of I I covered every inch of the postseason run like like as was on the road

for the 2005 Illini team, which went to St.

Louis and ended up losing to North Carolina, Sean May, and that group.

So I already do have a natural attachment to it.

But guess what, guys?

Where my emotion really goes up, and when it's winning time,

For a team that, yes, is based in central Illinois and Champaign, but which most of its students are from here, from Chicago, from the suburbs.

Yes, I am into it.

It is winning time.

It is championship time.

And guess what?

As watching it through that lens, as just pure fan and not analytically, not because I had to take notes for work, but because I was watching it with my heart, it was a painful game to watch.

It was so painful to watch Illinois miss every three that they were taking, miss every easy shot that they were attempting in the first half.

One guy on Iowa was sustaining them throughout this game.

They had one guy to stop, and that was Bennett Sturtz.

And they couldn't stop him until they eventually stopped him towards the end of the game.

But watching it from this standpoint, and I'm not like...