The details might be sketchy. A bunch of students some how got a group of tickets not far from the court, entered the arena wearing Hawkeye shirts and before the game they stripped them off to reveal orange crush shirts underneath.
Illinois likes to kick us when we are down, time to return the favor.
I thought you were referring to Lou Henson and his dirty recruiting tactics. We had Deon Thomas, a star from Illinois and the Illinois offered him a Chevy Blazer and some cash to come to Illinois. Bruce Pearl. Mr. Davis's assistant coach reported them and from then on for a few years the Illinois fans would throw batteries at the Hawks, C Cell, D Cell and so on. They apparently didn't like being caught cheating. Bobby Knight refused to shake Henson's hand after a game and Henson followed him to the locker room banging on the door for him to come out. He is lucky that Bobby stayed inside. He despised Hensen......
From Wikipedia:
[h=3]Pearl/Thomas incident[/h] Prior to playing basketball at Illinois, Thomas was a central figure in a recruiting scandal. Regarded as one of the top prospects in high school basketball, Thomas was recruited by, among others, Illinois and the
University of Iowa. An assistant coach at Iowa,
Bruce Pearl, recorded a phone conversation with Thomas during which Thomas allegedly admitted to have been offered a Chevy Blazer and cash from Illinois assistant coach
Jimmy Collins. Pearl later turned the recording in to the
NCAA, accompanied by a memo describing the events.
[5]
Thomas denied having received such an offer from Illinois, and no proof of an offer or of improper benefits given to Thomas was found. On the other hand, while the NCAA never formally charged Thomas with any wrongdoing, the resulting investigation uncovered a few minor NCAA violations. The NCAA charged Illinois with a major infraction on November 7, 1990. Since it was Illinois' third violation in six years, the NCAA cited Illinois with a "lack of institutional control" charge and implemented several recruiting restrictions and a one year postseason ban.
Deon Thomas has become a symbol of the intense
Big Ten Conference rivalry between the universities of Illinois and Iowa. His recruitment and the resulting NCAA investigation and punishment is naturally interpreted differently by many Illinois supporters and many Iowa supporters, and the incident remains a catalyst for the heightened rivalry between Iowa and Illinois, years after his college career has ended.
[6]
In 2006, when asked in an interview about forgiving Pearl, Thomas said "it's hard to forgive a snake".
Thomas and Henson seem to be the snakes in the affair to me....
