Sitting with our cardiologist (part 1)

Wednesday of Easter Week, April 8, 2026

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Sitting with our cardiologist (part 1)

We wore our Final Four orange shirts, Margaret and I, and we got noticed. Our hearts had been pounding all season, and now in Austin, we were not even slightly alone. A couple days earlier we lost to UConn. Didn’t seem to matter. For months we had been on top of the world, and now everyone knew why. So many smiles. Dr. Liu smiled too.

After winning March Madness basketball games against Penn, VCU, Houston and Iowa, the Fighting Illini headed for their first Final Four since 2005. They were joined in Indianapolis by teams from Michigan, Arizona, and UConn.

Our son Chris and his son Jack decided at the last minute to fly to Texas for the round of Sweet Sixteen. While they flew to Austin and drove to Houston, we were in Champaign, soaking up the home-town atmosphere. Remembering not just this year, but twenty-one years ago too.

In a closet at home I found glossy books describing every game that year, and cassette tapes of all the games, along with the build-up before, during and after the Final Four. Brian Barnhart, Loren Tate and Steven Bardo at their best.

That was the year my friend Chris and I bought season tickets. The Illini were ranked #1 and undefeated until the last game of the season. Illinois won the Big Ten tournament. They were the top seed in the NCAA tournament that spring. To get to the Final Four that year in St. Louis, Illinois won against Farleigh Dickinson, Nevada, and Milwaukee. And then, when there were only eight teams left out of the 66 which began a week earlier, we played Arizona. CBS announcers Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas ended up as excited as any of us.

In one of the most thrilling NCAA basketball games ever, Illinois pulled off an improbable comeback to break the hearts of Wildcats fans everywhere. After a close first half, Arizona came out gunning in the second half, opening up a 75–60 lead with only four minutes left in the second half. Illinois then closed the half on a 20–5 run to force overtime using a stingy defense, layups, and three-pointers, the last of which by Deron Williams tied the game at 80–80 with 39 seconds in regulation. The run broke down Arizona completely, and Illinois opened up a 90–84 lead in overtime before Arizona scored five straight to cut the lead to one, but Hassan Adams missed a three at the buzzer to give Illinois the win and a berth in the Final Four.

A bunch of us watched that game together at our house in Urbana. We jumped on top of the couch. We screamed and screamed and laughed and laughed. A mile away on Green St. kids climbed all over the Alma Mater statue. Jumped off and climbed up again.

I drove to Game Day Sports before church the next morning and bought Final Four orange shirts, printed at midnight. Then we wore them everywhere. At Mom’s house we wore the shirts and ate orange and blue pringles, orange and blue beads draped around our necks. In the photograph we all look so very very happy.

Last week we waited till Monday afternoon. The Game Day Sports parking lot was packed, but the store had shirts, and we bought seven. Printed as we stood in line.

On Saturday night Margaret was at DFW between planes. She wore her shirt and listened, tried to resist efforts to get her on board her plane before the game was over. I watched the first half with Andi’s family and the second half on my phone in an empty parking lot near the Austin airport. Chris and Melissa were helping host Easter services in Springfield and refused to hear the score till they got together later with Jack and Aly to watch.

In the 71,000 seat Lucas Oil Arena Saturday night, Illinois lost to UConn 71-62.

Except for one, every tournament team’s season ends in a loss. Michigan trounced Arizona later that night, and Michigan went on to win on Monday.

After earlier victories, Illini players doused their locker room with Super Soakers. After this last game 18-year-old freshman All-American Keaton Wagler told reporters that Brad Underwood, their emotional coach who joined in the water fights, said to the team, “You didn’t win the game, but I’m certain you’ll be winners in life.”

And we’re going to wear those orange shirts all week one more time, to church on Easter, to the doctor, to the dentist, to the grocery store. We love those guys.