Fans in orange and blue streamed through the streets of Indianapolis hours before Illinois’ national semifinal against Connecticut on Saturday and showed up early to Lucas Oil Stadium, an hour or so before tipoff.

How many Final Fours does Illinois basketball have? A look at the March Madness history for the Fighting Illini:

Watch parties are underway in Chicago, the suburbs, and Indianapolis with Illini fans hoping the team punches their ticket in the Championships.

The Illinois Fighting Illini meet the UConn Huskies Saturday in a Men's National Semifinal in Indianapolis, Indiana.Tip-off is set for 6:09 p.m. ET.

Illini fans were hard to miss at Saturday night's Final Four game against UConn. Illini fans in the final minutes of Saturday's Final Four game against UConn. Illini fans in the final minutes of Saturday's Final Four game against UConn.

Illini Nation is painting Indianapolis orange and blue as we inch closer and closer to the team’s first Final Four matchup in 21 years. On Friday, about 17,000 fans poured into Indy’s Lucas Oil Stadium for Illinois’ free,

Illinois’ Brad Underwood coached for 26 years before landing his first Division I head coaching job. Now in Year 39, the well-traveled 62-year-old is finally heading to the Final Four, where the Fighting Illini meet UConn on Saturday.

Kruger said what he most remembers about living in Champaign the first time was the love around town for Illini basketball and athletics. At Florida, he said, basketball “was just gaining momentum.” He thought it might be likewise in Champaign. It was not.