Brian Cook

The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California for four years, before being... moved to Houston. In the Rockets' debut season, they won only 15 games. But after drafting Elvin Hayes first overall in the 1969 NBA Draft, they made their first appearance in the playoffs in 1969. After Hayes was traded, Moses Malone was acquired to replace him. Malone won two MVPs during his time in Houston, and he led the Rockets to the conference finals in his first year with the Rockets. He also took the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, but they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics. In 1984, the Rockets drafted Hakeem Olajuwon, who led them to the 1986 Finals in his second year, where they lost again to Boston. In the next seven seasons, they lost in the first round of the playoffs five times. They did not win their first championship until 1994, when Olajuwon led them to the finals. The team repeated as champions in 1995.
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The University of Illlinois at Urbana-Champaign is a coeducational research university in the state of Illinois in the United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois System. The university comprises 18 Colleges that offer more than 150 programs of study.... Additionally, the university operates an extension that serves 2.7 million registrants per year around the state of Illinois and beyond. The campus holds over 286 buildings on 1,468 acres in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, and boasts an annual budget of nearly $1.5 billion. As of 30 June 2007, the University of Illinois Foundation—a systemwide endowment—totals at $2.197 billion.U.S. News & World Report ranked Illinois as the eighth-best public university in the United States in 2008. Enrollment in the fall of 2007 was 42,326, which included students from all 50 states and more than 123 nations. Of these, 30,895 were undergraduates and 11,431 were graduate students. Until 1998, Illinois was one of the 10 largest universities in the United States in terms of student enrollment.
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Lincoln is a city in Logan County, Illinois, United States. It is the only town in the United States that was named for Abraham Lincoln before he became president; he practiced law there from 1847 to 1859. First settled in the 1830s, Lincoln is home to three colleges and two prisons. The three... colleges are Lincoln College, Lincoln Christian University, and Heartland Community College. It is also the home of the world's largest covered wagon. The population was 14,504 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Logan County. Lincoln is located on I-55 , between Bloomington and Springfield. In addition Illinois Route 10 and Illinois Route 121 run into the city and Illinois Route 121 now ends in Lincoln; former Route 121 north of the city is now Interstate 155. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.9 square miles , none of which is covered by water. Lincoln's Amtrak train station is on the Amtrak line between St. Louis and Chicago. Lines of the Union Pacific and Canadian National railroads run through the city. Salt Creek and the Edward R. Madigan State Fish and Wildlife Area are nearby.
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