CHAMPAIGN – Mike Small coaches “the most inexact sport,’’ an athletic challenge requiring physical skill while also requiring mental strength to handle “one big mind game.’’

That’s just taking a few sound bites from meeting with Small Monday, prior to his Illini golf’s seemingly annual journey to the NCAA Finals, thanks to a second-place finish in the Stillwater Regional behind Oklahoma State.

Illini golf is back in the NCAA Finals for the 13th straight time, after COVID-19 put an end to the college season a year ago before it really could get going. With a team led by four players who struggled in their NCAA appearance in 2019, the Illini want to bounce back by climbing into the Elite Eight of match play and see if this is a national title contender.

Just don’t ask Small if this program is back to where it was less than a decade ago, when the Illini finished as the national runner-up in 2013 before three consecutive Final Four berths starting in 2015.

“Every team is different,’’ Small said. “You don’t know until you show up. They all evolve at different places. The only way to answer the question is to wait until the end of the year to reflect on it. Every year has to be its own year.’’

With high quality depth serving as alternates or waiting to fill spots left by seniors this year, amazing facilities and tradition that now helps overcome the stigma of northern golf, Small has a good feeling about where the programs stands overall.

But let Small manage the mind game, just in case these Illini take a look at that media Zoom from Monday.

“Right now, I think we’re in a good position with our recruits coming and the players on the sidelines,’’ Small said. “I want to win a national championship. We’ve averaged around top five or top 10 in the rankings in the 10 to 12 years. Some years, it’s 15 to 20. That’s not bad. We overshot expectations for northern golf by light years. We overshoot the expectation for golf in general. I don’t want to set the bar too high. I can’t set the bar too high for Illinois golf.

“I have really good players with really good families. The program is in a very, very good spot.’’

Facilities, work ethic, university support. Illini golf keeps churning out big seasons, even if Small doesn’t want to talk big picture when his team is heading into the biggest week of the season.

“The results are harder to control,’’ Small said. “Results vary from month to month. Everything else, we’re right where we need to be.’’

Small, like everyone else, quietly awaits the NCAA Finals at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., home turf to Illini star Michael Feagles but still a proving ground for this generation of Illini. This is where the grind, the mind game and mental strength of keeping the swing together come into play.

Buoyed by his team’s level of play in the regional, where the Illini straightened things out off the tee to go along with their gritty, competitive game, Illinois played from a position of power throughout the regional by staying toward the top of the leaderboard, pushing hometown favorite and national powerhouse Oklahoma State. The Illini had Small pulling ticks off himself after searching for balls in the weeds earlier this year, but Illinois hit it long and straight on the tee box in Stillwater.

“We drove it better than we’ve driven all spring,’’ Small said. “We hit more fairways. We stepped up, narrowed our focus and got ahold of our swings. They’re gritty enough and competitive. If we drive it straight, we’ll be a dangerous team.’’

If not . . .

“If we hit it crooked and begin steering it, I will be nose to nose with rattlesnakes looking for balls. I don’t want to do that.’’

Feagles is the next Illini to make the jump to pro golf. Small expects Feagles to end his amateur career early this summer, giving the Illini another talented youngster attempting the climb to the PGA Tour.

Nick Hardy is the latest Illini to make a name for himself on the Korn Ferry Tour, the step below the PGA Tour. Feagles might be the next challenger for the big time.

“To have a good college program, you need a Tour presence,’’ Small said.

Illinois and the rest of the 29 teams head into the NCAA Finals Friday with 54 holes of stroke play, before the NCAA makes a cut to the top 15 teams. Then the NCAA holds another day of 18 holes of stroke play before cutting the field to eight teams for match play, where there are 18-hole rounds in quarterfinal, semifinal and championship matches.

Illinois struggled two years ago, failing to survive the first cut and eventually finishing 27th.

“Getting there was great,’’ Small said. “Now we have something to prove to ourselves. The last time we played there, it was the worst finish since I’ve been here. We didn’t come out of the gates well. (The Illini hope to) be on point and kind of exercise that out of our memory and history. We have to make sure we don’t fall into the trap of a few years ago.’’

Perhaps the Illini have a different mental game in the golf bag. Tommy Kuhl, a Morton High School product who grew up wanting to play for the Illini, knows this is where the Illini should be, and it’s time to fix what happened two years ago.

“We need to take one step at a time,’’ said Kuhl, an Illini junior. “We know we’re playing good. You can have an end goal in mind, but you can’t be thinking about that on the course.’’

Maybe Small’s winning at the mind game.