Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Dee Brown talks Illini & Bears won't get draft pick compensation (Hour 2)
03 Apr 2026
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
For our next guest, he joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago and our hotline. It is the former Illini Guard Big Ten Player of the Year in 2005. First time, first team, all Big Ten in 2005 and 2006. Consensus, first team, All-American, two-time Mr. Basketball in the state of Illinois in 2002. Dee Brown, thank you for joining us today.
All right, thanks for having me. So excited.
We're excited, too, to have the Illini back in the Final Four for the first time since you were there in 2005. 21 years. I know you've spoken a lot about this. Now the head coach over at Roosevelt University. But what has this been like for you, just absorbing this and the memories that have come back during this time?
It's been so exciting, you know, walking around and seeing all the orange and seeing people just happy. You know, I think Illinois basketball is a special place. You know, people love it here in the state of Illinois and around the country. But being here in Chicago, walking around, seeing the joy, seeing the gear, hearing the chants I-L-L, just... It's an unbelievable feeling.
I'm just going to enjoy this moment because I know how hard it is to get here. We have a really good team, a championship roster, so I'm just enjoying it and having a really good time talking about it and everybody bringing up the memories and what Illinois basketball means to them. So it's a great time to be at Atlanta.
Dee, I love that you are a coach and that you have stayed in this game for as long as you have. And I'm just so curious. We have so many more technological advances than we did when you were recruited. Do you have any explanation as to how Keaton Wagler has gone from being so under-recruited to where he is now, given what we have as far as recruiting these days?
I mean, Brad and his staff have done an unbelievable job of identifying talent and guys that can come and play at Illinois and be very successful. I mean, he's an unbelievable talent. I mean, he's a Darren Williams-type point guard that has size and definitely was unrecruited. I mean, not unrecruited, but he wasn't recruited to the highest level that he's supposed to.
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Chapter 2: What does Dee Brown think about Illinois basketball's return to the Final Four?
So he plays with a chip on his shoulder, but... We're able to get really good players at University of Illinois because now we have the money to do it. And we have one of the best fan bases in the country. And when you come there and play there, there's expectation to make it to the Final Four, win Big Ten championships. So there's expectation.
So to get really good players, you know, to come in and do what they do, it's been very exciting to watch.
Steve Brown, it's an absolute blast to have you here on 104.3 The Score. I had the absolute pleasure of covering your run to the Final Four and subsequently to the championship game against North Carolina. And one of the beautiful parts about that run, that postseason, that entire NCAA tournament, was the geography of it. I think the farthest place you guys went was St.
Louis, maybe, because of Indianapolis and Allstate Arena. Right, right, D? I mean, the geography was beautiful, so you can speak on that. I'm already thinking about Indianapolis, though, and how the Orange is just going to take over as it did with you guys in those first couple of games. I remember being overwhelmed with all the Illini fans that were on those trips with you guys.
Yeah, no doubt. We was in Indy, then went to Chicago, then went to St. Louis. But that was my thing. You know, it was such a heartbreaker. And you got to relive that over and over when people say, you know, we're the best second place team ever because, you know, we lost to the Natty.
But for them to be in Indy and, you know, our practice when I was when I was in school, our practice, you know, had 30,000 fans show up to watch us shoot. I watched their practice yesterday and it was the same. It was all orange. It was people love it. You know, I know it's from Leafs.
A thousand of my buddies that's going to the game, they're just going to hang out and experience the moment and be around the love and enjoy the moment. I just think it's ā we travel. Illinois fans are some of the best in the country. They ain't even close. I always say that. I'm going to say we are the best because there's some crazy fans out there. But we are up there.
We love Illinois basketball. We travel well. And for it to be just two and a half hours away from Chicago ā And the Champaign and Central Illinois area is just going to be flooded with orange. And it's going to be beautiful to watch and to see. And people ask me, what do I miss about the game? I don't miss, you know, all the things you got to put your body through.
But I miss the noise, the sound, the smell of popcorn and people just, you know, the chants and the deep threes. I miss the loud excitement people have when they watch us play basketball. So, Indy is going to be filled with orange and blue. It's going to be amazing. I can't wait to feel the energy and be a part of it.
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Chapter 3: How has technology changed the recruiting process in basketball?
I'm happy to see it. I think that Brad has it right where it needs to be. I think he's a lifer. I think he does a great job. When you talk about a guy, that's his dream job. He's done a great job. It takes a lot to get to Final Four. It takes a lot to win a national championship. But the success he's had, the players he brought in, I'm just happy with the program is and it's exciting to watch.
And we love orange and blue. So there's no denying that we are a basketball school. Shout out the football team. Brandon, I'm doing an unbelievable job. We, you know, golf. I mean, we, Josh Whitman has done a great job with all our programs. We, you know, championship level programs, great hires, but men's basketball, Illinois basketball is, it's special.
And to see where it is today is, it's just amazing to be a fan. It's amazing to be an alum. And I'm just so happy with the program is today. I really am.
Dee Brown, he is the Roosevelt University head basketball coach here in Chicago, and he's also, of course, a former Illinois guard. Big Ten Player of the Year in 2005, and he joins us here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody ahead of the Final Four, which takes place tomorrow. Dee, I'm going to ask you to put your analyst hat on because I know you've been following this team all year.
What is your biggest concern about this team heading into the Final Four, and what are you most confident in about this team?
We got to get timely stops. Our defense got to be locked in. If we're not making shots, our defense got to be where it was against Houston. We got to be dominant on the defensive side, no matter if the shots are going in or not. I think our biggest strength is our rebounding. You know, Brad does a great job of controlling glass.
You know, we attack the offensive glass at times with something like that. That's our primary offense is getting off the glass after shooting long shots. But I think our shooting and our size, you know, we skilled at every position with that size. So we got skilled players. We can shoot the basketball. I just hope our defense is locked in.
If our defense is locked in and once we start making shots, we are tough out each and every night.
With all due respect to the guys on your team, there were not you and Darren Williams. James Augustine and Roger Powell and all those guys were great, but I always knew that it was either going to be you or Darren Williams that was going to hit the big shot in those games. when they needed them. It seems like this version of an Illinois Final Four team has many guys that can show up.
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Chapter 4: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the current Illini team?
The NFL wants it both ways and they get it both ways because nobody's over them. And to be so inconsistent in how they apply this, it's a choice. And for those of you who are mad, stay mad because it doesn't make any sense. And a lot of the league decisions don't make sense.
773 on the text line. The Bears got ripped off. A lot of people do care. The Bears are a very diverse club. They walk the walk. The NFL leadership are hypocrites. That's my second favorite text. My favorite text is this, though, from 217. I'm way more interested in these comp picks as compared to the stupid stadium talk. I get it. I get where you're coming from.
But unfortunately, while the comp pick talk may end today, that stadium talk, I ain't overcoming on the third lap of a mile yet. It ends July 27th.
I just want to see, yeah, I want to see July 27th when Marshall Harris' date of shovels, and really it's become a progress check. That's what it really is. We all put our respective dates in our calendar to see what's happening by then. It's all a problem. It is all a problem, John Fox, but this remains one unnecessarily.
Coming up next here on Rahimi Harrison-Grody, keep in mind we are broadcasting live from Wings and Rings on Halstead before the Southside home opener. The crowd is filling in. It is a beautiful day. There's free parking in the back. There are shuttles to and from the game, and if you show proof of Sox game day tickets, you get a free side. Come by, say hi. We're here until 2 o'clock.
And in the meantime, it is halftime next, and I think I found an island for Mark Grody. It is halftime on this Friday edition of Rahimi Harris and Grody coming to you live from Wings and Rings on the South Side. Come out and say hi. We're here until 2. We started with the discussion of who is pitching for each team today.
A guy you may know by the name of Dylan Cease is on the mound for the Toronto Blue Jays. He is facing Grant Taylor who is currently I think the most compelling, exciting, intriguing pitcher who is on the current version of the White Sox roster and team. We talked to Jake Peavy.
It was a great conversation at 1025 and the discussion of what Munataka Murakami's nickname should be or at least the broadcast version. Dee Brown joined us for a fantastic conversation at 11 and the NFL has made its final ruling on the compensatory picks for the Bears. They're not getting them.
It's nap time.
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Chapter 5: How does Dee Brown compare the current Illini team to his 2005 squad?
Does Dave play well with other cats?
I don't know.
I was like, I don't know if you want to go there to find that out.
I am very interested in that. I know this, that... Dave the cat. I live in a high-rise. There is another cat two doors down from me that he's never encountered, but he knows there's a cat there, so he likes to hang out outside that door.
He's nosy?
So he's being a little nosy, and it's encouraging.
because you know dave's a little anti-social except for me wait wait dave has free run of like the hallway and stuff well i have to keep an eye on him and he knows like any any hint of somebody getting off the elevator or coming out of their place he darts back in so i prop the door open just slightly so he can go out there and hang out and when i go in the hallway to check on him he just looks at me and me i was like leave me alone bro leave me alone did you ever think that maybe he just doesn't like humans but he likes other cats
It's possible. I think that that is something I am interested in knowing. He's getting closer and closer to liking some of my neighbors. Like he'll hang out a little bit longer. So it's a whole trial we have going on right now with Dave the Cat.
Yeah, because technically you're just his caretaker or a.k.a. his servants.
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