Le Journal

You can be sure of this: Illinois men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood isn’t wasting any time these days lamenting past losses.Why would the man think like that when his team is right on the cusp of the top 10 in the national polls and aiming for the school’s first Final Four in over two decades?“I don’t live in those moments too much,” he said Thursday.On the other hand, when a nudnik reporter corners Underwood on the phone and asks what’s the one thing he wishes he could have back — the one thing that still sticks in his craw — a negative thought is bound to come to mind.“If I had one game I would want to have over, it would probably be the Loyola game,” he said. “Our first NCAA game. We didn’t know how [not] to lose, the urgency of losing.”Just a killer for an Illini fan. They were a No. 1 tournament seed in 2021 when they ran into the eighth-seeded Ramblers in Indianapolis. Ayo Dosunmu, Kofi Cockburn, Trent Frazier — how did that 71-58 second-round upset go so wrong?“I should’ve done a much better job with that team because that team was maybe one of the two best teams in the country that year,” Underwood said. “That was maybe my biggest disappointment, that I couldn’t grow that team better.” Related Loyola upsets No. 1 seed Illinois 71-58 in second round of NCAA Tournament Ah, well, things seem to be as bright as ever at Illinois, at least measured against the rest of Underwood’s outstanding nine-season run at the school.After blowing out Maryland 89-70 Wednesday in Champaign, the Illini (16-3) are on an eight-game winning streak for the first time since the aforementioned Loyola game. At 7-1 in a Big Ten that’s in rare form, with Michigan, Purdue, Michigan State and unbeaten Nebraska also soaring, the deep Illini — the tallest team in the country — are among the biggest boppers. And they have been for years, underscored by the fact no one has won more Big Ten games — 88 — since the start of the 2019-20 season. Purdue and Illinois share that impressive number, 88. Saturday in West Lafayette, Indiana, either the fourth-ranked Boilermakers (17-1) or the 11th-ranked Illini are going to make it 89.And if Underwood’s team wins, he’ll have his 100th Big Ten win — all at Illinois — joining Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Wisconsin’s Greg Gard in the triple-digit club among current coaches.That’s got to be reason enough to do a little reflecting, right?“I’m so simple, it’s always kind of the next-game mentality,” Underwood said. “But, you know, I do reflect a little more now than maybe I used to. I don’t know the true significance of 100 wins, but I’m fortunate.”How fortunate?“I’m in basketball heaven,” he said.Underwood, 62, makes well above $4 million a year and has a lengthy contract that, if certain performance benchmarks are met, could keep him on the Illini sideline through 2035. Is he certain he’d like to do this that long?“No, but I know what I want,” he said. “I want good health and I want the enjoyment that I still feel on the first day of practice. It’s so exhilarating for me, the first day of practice. …“I’ve got a great contract that allows me to keep moving forward and progressing. We’re on a pretty good upswing. I don’t know who’d want to step away.”At his introductory press conference in 2017, he delivered at least a couple of memorable lines.“Losing’s not an option,” was one.“I dream big and I dream bigger,” was another.Has it all lived up to his dreams so far?“Not yet,” he said. “We haven’t won a national championship, haven’t made a Final Four. I’ve always said this job is that. It should be that. The day that anybody expects us and this program to not do that, they can look for a new ball coach.”That’s keeping it 100, as the youngsters say.At Illinois, only two of Underwood’s predecessors made it to triple digits in the Big Ten. Harry Combes was 174-104 (.626) in conference games from 1947 to 1967. Lou Henson was 214-164 (.566) from 1975 to 1996. Underwood sits at 99-67 (.596) with a…

One of this season's annual Polar Plunge events, where brave swimmers take a dip in the freezing waters of Lake Michigan to benefit needy families, has been canceled due to the extreme cold in the Chicago area.A separate, a much larger Polar Plunge event, which occurs every March and raises money for Special Children’s Charities and Special Olympics Illinois, is not affected.This year's plunge, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled due to "extreme weather and beach conditions," according to a statement from the Chicago Polar Bear Club, a local nonprofit that holds the event each January to raise money to support families who need help with, among other things, covering medical expenses, finding safe homes and caring for extended family.Saturday's forecast calls for temperatures to reach a high of about 12 degrees, with a low of about 9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. It will be cloudy, with wind gusts of up to 10 mph and a 50% chance of snow, the NWS said.It's not the first time the club has had to cancel. "In our 25 years, we have had to cancel a few times in the past, sometimes due to cold, sometimes due to the lake being frozen, sometimes due to a large ice shelf on the shore that would make it unsafe to enter and exit the water," a club spokesperson said in an email. "Overall, we have been able to plunge the vast majority of the years, with only a few exceptions as described above!"In an earlier statement posted to the club's website, the club said the decision was a "very difficult" one. "This was not a decision we made lightly. We know how much time, energy, and heart you have all put into preparing and fundraising. However, the safety of our Polar Bears has to be our highest priority, and with the conditions expected, it would not be responsible to go ahead," the statement said. "While we are disappointed that we cannot plunge together, our after party at HQ Beercade is still going ahead, and we would love everyone to join us to commiserate, connect, and celebrate everything we have achieved together," the statement said. The "Afterparty Event" is scheduled for 1 to 4 p.m. at HQ Beercade in River North,  213 W. Institute Place.