Kaplan and Howard Griffith think that the '89 Flyin' Illini would beat the '05 team by at least 15. Finfer thinks the '89 team would probably win but thinks it would be very close.

I think I'm siding with Kaplan and Griffith.

89 was a way better team.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

'05 had a perennial NBA all star on its roster. It also had Luther Head who was an excellent college player. '05 would keep it close but they'd most likely lose.

The biggest weakness the '05 team had was size. Sean May of all people had his way with Illinois because of their lack of size.

Nick Anderson was no slouch in the NBA and he was surrounded with better talent than Williams.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

He was a very good NBA player but I think the guards on the '05 team would find a way to keep them in the game. Even with the combination of Gill and Anderson I don't think the '89 team has so much firepower where it would be a blowout.

gill, anderson, liberty, battle, bardo, hamilton...oh my.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Nick Smith was such a dickhole


I loved following that 05 team. Great run

Yowzers that would be an interesting game to watch. I believe '89 had better starters but the '05
team was slightly deeper coming off the bench. I was living in Champaign during the late 80s and
met Kenny Battle at an event at Assembly Hall. As for the 2005 team I am pretty sure I watched
almost every one of the games that season.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Illini Nation doesnt even realize how dangerousley close they are to DePaul status.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
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I don't think anyone's close to DePaul status, and Illinois certainly isn't. They'll always recruit just well enough, and they'll always have a captive audience downstate to protect from dropping to 1,500 people at a game. Worst-case scenario, they resign themselves to Andy MacF-A-I-L's old line about "hoping to be competitive within the division," but they'll never see the school annihilate the program like DePaul.

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That's ridiculous. Illinois' fan base is far greater than DePaul. It would never end up where DePaul is.

The '89 team was also weak in the middle but not so much as the '05 team. That would be the difference. Battle and Hamilton would win it for '89 by about 5.

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Augustine was a stronger big guy than anyone on the '89 team. But that wouldn't matter. The '89ers didn't need anyone in the middle. They just ran you out of the gym. They would crush the '05 team.

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Don't take it personally.

Yeah, after I typed that I was thinking about Augustine. I don't think anybody on that '89 team was over 6'8", anybody significant anyway. I don't think the '89 team shot from the outside as well either but they could get to the bucket and get shots. I'd still take the '89 team. I think Bardo could have stayed with Williams enough to disrupt their O.

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You know me like that.

If Randle hadn't punched a wall at the beginning of that season, that team may not have lost a game all year.

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You know me like that.

That isn't a very strong defense of our beloved Alma Mater in the face of attacks from the likes of a Tall Midget.

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Don't take it personally.

About as close as moving the team's games to an arena adjacent to O'Hare.

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