The stretch of basketball the Illini played from 2000-01 through the 2005-06 campaign was something incredible. I believe the Orange and Blue had the most wins, or up there with the most wins, of any team in the country during that time. It was pretty magical.
Toward the end of the 2000s, things started to drop off a bit, but there were some great players and some great runs throughout that decade. The hard part is trying to figure out the top three teams from this era.
There have been legendary players through this era too.