Orange-and-blue fever sweeps central Illinois
Apr. 3—Mylas Copeland, in-venue host and hypeman for the Fighting Illini, remembers saying at the beginning of the year that the men's basketball program had "everything in place to be a championship team. " Now, with the program headed to its first Final Four in 21 years, he thinks the team is capable of doing even more than what fans have seen up to this point.
"They still haven't played to their full potential," Copeland said. "They still haven't put together a full 40 minutes. If they do, they're one of the toughest teams I've ever seen.
So if they play like they can play, I think we beat UConn and then whoever's sitting on the other side ... we've got the talent to beat them. " Among those cheering on the team is the Springfield Illini Club.
Despite the fact that Copeland only launched the group a few weeks ago, the club has nearly 1,000 members, and about 500 people attended the Illinois vs. Iowa watch party this past weekend. Copeland will host the club's watch party Saturday night at Route 66 Motorheads Bar & Grill, and he expects it to be their biggest event yet.
"I've tried to kind of replicate what we do inside the State Farm Center," Copeland said. "... I've done free-throw contests like we do over at the center, had a golf challenge like we've done.
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