Brad Underwood on IHSA Boys’ Basketball State Tourney in Champaign: “It belongs here”

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- There’s a lot of reasons as to why the State Farm Center and the city of Champaign winning back the bid for the IHSA state boys’ basketball tournament could’ve been seen as irrelevant to Illinois head coach Brad Underwood.

The tournament in 2021 is scheduled to be played the same week in March that Underwood’s Illini are slated to start the Big Ten Conference Tournament. It’s not a sure thing that the high school programs of the state’s top players will make it all the way to the state finals. So, the fourth-year Illini coach may not be able to scout the games or see his targeted recruits so it might be considered acceptable if he didn’t care about the event.

Except Underwood very much did care. And he was a leading figure, along with city officials and Illinois Director of Athletics Josh Whitman, in getting the state tournament games back in Champaign for the first time since 1995.

The IHSA Board of Directors voted earlier this week to return the tournament to the basketball arena on the University of Illinois campus, where it had resided for 76 years from 1919-95.

Underwood made his feelings well known once again during an interview segment on a local ESPN radio show ‘The Drive with Lon Tay & Derek Piper’.

“You know, it started in 1919 and went to 1995 (in Champaign). To me, there’s tremendous value. We’re the flagship institution of this state. It belongs here,” Underwood said. “And that’s not a knock on Peoria (because) Peoria created an incredible atmosphere and environment but I just think there’s a tremendous family atmosphere (in Champaign).”

“I just think it is back home where it belongs. Man, I’m excited for the university, everybody involved in getting to host it.” - Illinois men's basketball head coach Brad Underwood

Underwood’s impression about the importance of bringing back the state tournament back to the State Farm Center was reinforced when he spoke to the Illini’s all-time leading scorer, Deon Thomas.

Thomas, who still owns the school’s scoring record of 2,129 points and is the only Illinois basketball player to top the 2,000-point plateau in their college career, told Underwood that his experience of playing in the 1988 IHSA state quarterfinal game at Assembly Hall as a junior at Chicago’s Simeon Academy made a major impact on his decision to sign with Illini one year later.

“It’s exciting because I think with the State Farm Center and the renovations will be something people will get a chance to experience,” Underwood said. “They’ll say ‘you know, this is a place where (2020 Illini four-star signee and Illinois Mr. Basketball selection) Adam Miller dresses and this is locker. There’s something special about that. And then, you drive down that tunnel (to State Farm Center) and get dropped off and that’s a different feeling.”

During a 15-year period between 1981 to 1995 (the final year the IHSA tournament was in Champaign), the Illini program had eight eventual signees selected to an all-tournament team. That list doesn’t include former Illinois star guard Kiwanee Garris and Illini recruiting target Ben Wilson, who also starred in the state tournament on the Assembly Hall floor.

“Will this benefit (Illinois) men’s basketball? Absolutely,” said Underwood. “I’m so excited that kids get to have the dream of playing in this basketball tournament (in Champaign) realized.”

Throughout the entire process, Underwood remained one of the biggest cheerleaders to get the event back in Champaign after a 25-year period that saw it played at the Peoria Civic Center.

“I’m tremendously excited for the (high school) players,” Underwood said. “They see us on TV all the time. They see all those Big Ten games and then get an opportunity to go play on that court. Those are incredible memories.” Selfishly, we get a chance to host the best players, best coaches and they get to come in to see our facility to be a part of it and feel that energy,” Underwood said. “I just think it is back home where it belongs. Man, I’m excited for the university, everybody involved in getting to host it.”