CHAMPAIGN — Doug Altenberger’s Illinois men’s basketball career served as a bridge between the start of the true turnaround under Lou Henson and the Flyin’ Illini era. He was on the 1984 Big Ten championship team as a sophomore, and his redshirt senior season coincided with the start of Kendall Gill and Stephen Bardo’s careers.
The 1980s were a high point for Illinois basketball, but success did not come quickly. Henson inherited an Illini team coming off two straight sub-.500 seasons. Illinois never finished higher than sixth in the Big Ten in Henson’s first five seasons and had a single NIT appearance in that span.