CHAMPAIGN — Michael Finke grew up an Illinois fan.
“Everyone in the YMCA leagues around here wanted to wear high socks and the headband just to be like Dee Brown,” Finke told The News-Gazete in 2014. “When I was little, I didn’t think there would be any other place I could go besides Illinois. Once I started getting recruited, it expanded my thoughts, but I have all these memories about Illinois.”
Those memories included spending the last three seasons playing for his hometown Illini.
But the Champaign native and Centennial graduate announced on Monday afternoon via a note posted on his Twitter account that he is leaving the Illinois program, a program he committed to in December 2012 when John Groce coached the Illini and a program he played his last game for under Brad Underwood on Feb.