I actually wasn't trolling, I was thinking it might be a good atmosphere. I always think the "neutral court" atmosphere when the Illini play at WRA makes for a really intense atmosphere when it's a good game. That 2009 comeback of ours was insanely loud there.
Anyway, Champaign was (as I suspect most fans here are remembering) a rather unimpressive university town until circa 2012 when downtown and Campustown kind of transformed themselves. There is a reason it never ranked highly as a college town in the past but now almost always cracks the top 20 on any list put together. However, one "con" of that is that a lot of the old "classic" places (with the exception of Kams) that you seem to be looking for have gone away. Campustown has a lot of fun bars, and all of them will have Illini stuff on the walls, but no classic place.
![Frown :( :(](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
I would maybe suggest Legends on Green Street:
It's the one on the right with the orange and blue aunings next to the new Marriott.
If it were an early season game, I would definitely suggest going to the new, first-come-first-serve tailgating area called Grange Grove:
However, given that we are terrible, the students are gone and the weather will be "meh," it will probably be unimpressive. Personally, I would make sure you get to downtown Champaign, which has gone from a ghost town to a really fun area to go out in since about 2010:
If you do, Nando Milano is a great Italian place (originally from Wicker Park), Black Dog has great BBQ, DESTIL brews some great beer and I think the Blind Pig Brewery is an absolute must for anyone visiting, but that's just me:
Might be a tad cold for that beer garden, but it's still my favorite place.
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Hope you have fun!!