Illinois Fighting Illini tickets - Harper, the Man of the Honors
Monday, February 16, 2009
Harper and his team mates of the memorable team of 84 will be honored at the Assembly Hall. Harper will be the man of honors, his jersey will be hung above the Illinois Basketball court.
Over 25 years back, Derek Harper, a second-team All-America guard preferred the NBA draft over his senior year at Illinois, but he left behind a team which won a share of the Big Ten Conference title in 1984 and reached the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight.
It will be homecoming for Harper and his 25 year old Illini team when Illinois plays host to Indiana. Illinois which is leading the season at 13-2 overall and is 1-1 in the Big Ten will play Indiana, which doesn't have a boastful record of 5-9 overall and 0-2 in the Big Ten.
Ever since Lou Henson has retired, Harper and Efrem Winters, the star forward on the 1984 team, haven't visited the campus. Lou Henson retired as the Illini coach in 1996. Lou, too will be attending the ceremony at the Assembly hall.
The team of '84 turned the Assembly Hall an electrifying place, with its game. Before Harper, Winters and other luminaries of the memorable team, the Illini had advanced to the NCAAs twice in 40 years, but after the arrival of Harper, Winters and other players, things turned around and Illinois has appeared in the tournament 21 times, since then.
Harper who was picked by the Dallas Mavericks, will be honored, his jersey will be hung above the Illinois court, the same place where the team is reuniting after 25-years. Illini had a fabulous record of 26-5 overall and 13-3 in the Big Ten, in 1984. They lost to host Kentucky in the NCAA regional final after tying Purdue for the Big Ten title.
Harper was very athletic and equally talented. The Illini team had everything that a coach could dream of, they were talented, they were physically formidable and had the ability to score.
Doug Altenberger, Tony Wysinger, Bruce Douglas and Anthony Welch will be accompanying their former team mates Harper and Winters at the function along with their assistant coach Dick Nagy.
The Illini team which reached the Final Four in 1949 will be represented by Van Anderson, Ted Beach and Dick Foley.
With such luminaries attending the match, the pressure will be on the current team to perform. The current team leads on assists percentage, with 72.5 percent. They also rank second in assists per game in the NCAA with 20.1 trailing North Carolina 20.2. It also ranks sixth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio of plus-1.5.
Illinois leads the Big Ten in field goal percentage, shooting 48.1 percent, and ranks 25th nationally. The Illini also are second in the conference in scoring margin at plus-13.1 points per game.
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Posted bySpurs at 6:55 AM
Labels: Illinois Fighting Illini, NCAA College Basketball
