The athlete’s first struggle is almost always with the self. To be sure, there are sports prodigies who benefit from not thinking, from their utter lack of self-doubt; but for some reason they don’t often find themselves playing for Chicago teams and they aren’t highly prized by the fans on the rare occasions that they do. Chicago fans are more intrigued by the thinkers, the head cases, even the chokers, those paralyzed by their immense abilities. They are the sort of athlete that dominates the city’s sports history and mythology.
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This year’s Fighting Illini men’s basketball team inspired memories of the 1990-’91 Bulls in the way a cohesive roster brought back from the previous season ran roughshod over the competition early on. That first Bulls championship team had to learn how to beat down its own doubts before it could beat the Detroit Pistons. Only after claiming their first championship could the Bulls use their own confidence to force the opposition to confront its own self-doubt (as when they leaked their scouting report the following year stating that the Portland Trail Blazers were chokers). Once the Illini rose to number one in the college rankings this season and held the top spot by remaining undefeated–18-0 going into this week–they had the look of a team trying to conquer its doubts the better to deal with the competition.
Illini alumni peppered the crowd of 8,117, but the NU fans were primed for an upset. When the Illini chanted “I-L-L, I-N-I,” Northwestern fans responded with “Oh you, NU,” which probably dates back to “Oh you kid” and “Boola boola.” Yet, when some erudite Northwestern students threw in more contemporary insults, they only riled the Illini. Head, the Manley grad who seems to enjoy returning to Chicago–he had 23 in a December win over Oregon at the United Center–scored the first 8 Illinois points, on a pair of threes and a drive for a lovely reverse layup. He would contribute only one more point in the first half, and he opened the second by picking up a stupid foul that put him on the bench with three, but after that he was the difference in the game. For two years it seemed as if Head, with his meek expression and facial hair, would be another in a series of Public League flameouts at Illinois, going back to Efrem Winters and beyond. After he was picked up in a campus burglary, his career seemed all but done. Yet he returned last season to establish himself as the team’s designated X factor–making wins easy when he played well and tough going when he played poorly–and as a senior this year he’s looked like the finished product, shooting threes with confidence, driving dashingly to the hoop in the Illini’s orange-spats sneakers, playing stern defense, even making his free throws.
