That is the correct spelling of the proper noun "Illini" (those of the Illinois tribe, or the Fighting Illini athletic teams of the University of Illinois).
illini is some sort of Indian tribe that i guess was stationed in Illinois and so i guess that's how they got that nickname. and because illini is short for Illinois
it is the tribe that used to live in Illinois also know as the Illini
Indiana or Illinois, actually Illinois was named after the Illini tribe
The Illini Indian tribes were in southern Illinois. The French settlers named the area after the tribe that welcomed them.
The Illini tribe believed in the spirit world as a religion.
Illinois Fighting Illini football was created in 1890.
Originally the area of modern Davis County was occupied by a part of the Illinois (Illini) tribe known as the Coiracoentanon. The Illinois were subject to pressure from other tribes who were themselves being forced westwards; as a result of wars, disease and falling populations the various Illinois groups merged with other Algonquian-speaking tribes and effectively disappeared as a separate tribe by about 1850.
Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball was created in 1906.
It gets its name from a native American legend were the potawatomi chased the illini tribe to the top of (starved rock) and forced them to stay and eventually all the illini starved to death.
no they did not kill people.
The Illinois Fighting Illini are the intercollegiate athletic teams of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Simply put, they are the basketball, football, etc teams.