A Conversation With Attorney Mitch Gilfillan

Right now, I hate that I named the podcast We Love No Other. It speaks to my bias immediately. I'm sure that for some of you, it will be difficult to listen to what I hope is a balanced look at the Terrence Shannon Jr. case with a banner stating "We Love No Other" at the top. I feel like that precludes me from speaking to this issue.

So I'll just say that this 50-minute discussion was incredibly helpful for me. As a fan, the news today that Terrence Shannon Jr. was successful in seeking an injunction against the University (allowing him to return to the court) put my stomach in a knot. Shannon v. University of Illinois in court? What am I supposed to do with that?

When I got back from Ann Arbor, I texted Ben (the guy who writes baseball articles on the site) because he knows Mitch Gilfillan, a Peoria attorney who has been tweeting about the case over the past few weeks. I asked for him to introduce the two of us, and 30 minutes later, we were recording this podcast. A massive thank-you to Mitch for agreeing to do this on a Friday evening. And to Ben for setting it up.

All I can say is that this discussion was very helpful for me. Not only do I better understand the legal procedures followed, I think I better understand the way the legal system handles "innocent until proven guilty." I hope this podcast is just as helpful for you.

I might have more to say about all of this in the next few days or I might not. Right now, I'm internally processing everything Mitch said. He's a former D-I college basketball player, a former D-I assistant coach, and a practicing attorney, so he was the perfect person to interview here. Perhaps most importantly (for me), he's not an Illini fan. These are the opinions of an outsider. Which I feel are necessary on this site given my declared love for this University.

I'll stop rambling. Here's our discussion.You can listen on Spotify here, on Apple Podcasts here, or you can click the play button below.