When was the last time Illinois made the Final Four? It's been a minute

Illinois entered the NCAA Tournament losers of five of their last nine games, including an early exit in their Big Ten Tournament opener against Wisconsin. Two weeks later, they've made program history after outlasting Bennett Stirtz and Iowa on Saturday night to punch their ticket to the Final Four.

The party in Champaign is just getting started. But there's still unfinished business to attend to — because while the Illini boast a proud men's basketball tradition, one that includes 79 NBA Draft picks and stars like Derek Harper and Deron Williams, this program has yet to taste ultimate glory. Here's everything to know about Illinois' history at the Final Four as they head back to Indianapolis next weekend.

Illinois men's Final Four history: Still searching for a first national title

This will be Illinois' sixth-ever trip to the Final Four, pulling them into a tie for 12th on the all-time list alongside the likes of Syracuse, Michigan and Florida. But it's their first appearance in over two decades, since the 2004-05 team that featured Deron Williams, Dee Brown and Luther Head.

That 2005 team earned a special place not just in Illinois history but in the history of college basketball, going undefeated until the final day of the regular season and earning a trip to the Final Four on the back of a classic Elite Eight thriller against Arizona. But they fell just short in the national title game to North Carolina.

Beyond that, you have to go all the way back to the late 1980s, when the No. 1 seed Illini ran through the Midwest region but lost a heartbreaker to Michigan in the national semifinal. The other three Final Four appearances date back to the late 1940s and early 1950s, when the Big Dance wasn't nearly as big (in terms of hype or field size) as it is now.

You might have noticed that all five of those previous Final Four trips ended in defeat. Illinois has still yet to win a national championship in men's basketball, despite 48 tournament wins — third all-time among teams without a title, behind only Purdue and Gonzaga — and a whopping 11 Elite Eight appearances. Keaton Wagler and Co. finally have a chance to end that skid next weekend, but for as good as they've looked so far, the climb only gets harder from here.

Who will Illinois play in the Final Four?

Illinois' reward for surviving the South region? A date with the winner of the East region — which just might be the most loaded of the four. The East final is set for Sunday night, and it's a doozy: No. 1 seed Duke, led by Cameron Boozer, against No. 2 seed UConn. That means that the Illini will have to go through either the potential No. 1 pick in this summer's NBA Draft or a team that's won two of the last three national championships.

There's plenty of reason for optimism, though. For starters, Duke doesn't look nearly as forboding as they did just a few weeks ago, largely due to injuries to stars like Caleb Foster (who returned in the Sweet 16 win over St. John's). The Blue Devils survived scares from both the Johnnies and No. 16 seed Siena in the opening round, and there are real questions about the state of their offense right now; it'll be fascinating to see how they handle the length Illinois brings, especially considering how often Duke gets to the line and how little the Illini defense fouls.

If the Huskies win on Sunday night, it'll set up a rematch of a non-conference showdown from back in November, when UConn sprinted to a 74-61 win over Illinois at MSG. Dan Hurley's team held the Illini to a 41.9 percent shooting overall and a miserable 6-of-29 from 3. Then again, a lot has changed since: Wagler played just 19 minutes and took just three shots in that game, and he's since blossomed into one of the best players in the country.