illiniguy

i don't mean to overstate things, just saying that Penn State is pretty decent this year and losing to them isn't as bad as losing to Michigan or Northwestern might be. have they passed Illinois as a program? no way. but i love how all you illini guys do is bitch and moan about your own program, but god forbid someone says something about it. Ok so which is it, has Penn State passed the Illini's program or not? I have no problem with somebody saying something about the Illini's program, when what is being said is true. But in this case your original comment was ridiculous. Penn State isnt a good team, and either are the Illini. Is this the worse loss the Illini have had? No way we just lost last week to Tenn St., but its definatley not a loss to be proud of right now, and it wont be a loss to be proud of at the end of the year. Penn State will be in the bottom 5 with Illinois, Northwestern, Michigan, and Iowa when the season is done. which is it? I think i clearly retracted my first statement. i'm not going to predict where Penn State will finish in the conference, but even if they finish "bottom five", that could mean seventh, which is higher than most predicted going in. Yes, their SOS is bad, but as they saying goes, you play the teams on your schedule. They won their ACC/Big 10 Shootout game, are undefeated at home, and 2-0 (both on the road) in conference so far. Penn State has a long way to go, but don't hold such a high and mighty attitude about your precious Illini. Yes, your program is better, but it's certainly trending downwards right now. your recruiting power should allow you to rebound quickly, while Penn State has to prove it can be at all consistent (which it has failed to do year to year). Should be interesting ETA: Nice of you to mention PSU's 119 RPI while leaving out the fact that Illinois is 128 (with a SOS of 54) In the next two years we have top 10 classes coming in. You don't. Although you are better than us this year, I doubt that remains the same. I guess you would argue when we beat you in football this year it was two programs heading in the other direction?

Nah McCamey is better than Freeman. I would still like to have the two of them playing together though. I also thought Freeman choose Iowa because of his dad being close with Alford. Forgot about McCamey. He's a better talent, but Freeman would be in his 3rd year in the system and 2nd year starting. The ties to Alford and the fact that Alford targeted him early is how we got him over Marquette and a few others. But he made it known that he loved Illinois. Looking back at his profile they didn't show any interest until late summer before his senior year. They were bringing him in for a visit in September but didn't have an offer on the table so he committed to Iowa the week before. I didn't know that. I wish we would have gotten him. He would be a good ombo guard with McCamey. Althugh Bruce has to let his boyfriend, Chester Frazier, play pretty much every minute. With Freeman in the mix that would be very hard to do.

Ellington has been great tonight.

Weber is now going to start McCamey. But not for Frazier. Unreal. Bruce can't sit his Neifi.

Nah McCamey is better than Freeman. I would still like to have the two of them playing together though. I also thought Freeman choose Iowa because of his dad being close with Alford.

I agree with your above recruits. However, you have to give the full story. We lost guys to Kansas, Duke and Memphis and not to some schools like Colorado, Seton Hall, Florida State, etc. And remember, Deron Williams only chose Illinois after Kansas gave their scholarship to Aaron Miles and Indiana gave theirs to Deron's high school teammate. Gordon, Rose and Scheyer were not long shots when Illinois was their second choice. Deron Williams was more of a long shot than any of those other three. Again, we are missing four players who we thought would be major contributors to this year's team. I just disagree with Weber's use of Meachem and Frazier. Not even close on Williams. Georgia Tech chose Jarret Jack and UNC never offered. But your point remains. But Self identified Williams as a top talent. Weber did the same with Frazier. There is the problem Self still got a top 50 guy. Oh and Beverley went to Arkansas. Not exactly a team that has been better than us recently. Beverly would be, bar none our best player.

I don't place a big blame on Bruce. He's running the same style offense and defense as he did when we made it to the national championship game. It's not his fault that Randle sucks, even though athletically he's one of the best players night in night out. Had Indiana not fired Mike Davis we'd have Gordon and if Smith hadn't been stupid, that would've been a nice backcourt this year, plus Carwell on the inside. As I said before, I think McCamey should start and Alexander, but I'm not sure you'd see a big difference in terms of record with that lineup. We just don't have talent. Despite what some think, I don't think it was even in the plans to have Meachem starting. You say you dont place a big blame on Bruce but then say the bolded? Yes the Gordon situation set us back, but there is still no reason for the Illini to lack the talent like they do, and thats a direct reflection of the coach. Bruce fell asleep, and finally woke up. You responded as if Gordon is just an average player. How do you recover when a recruit like that rescinds his commitment? Again, you may have chosen to disregard a large part of my post regarding Smith and Carwell also missing. Did you really think that Randle would also suck the way he does? All of these reasons have little to do with Weber. I thought Randle would be a 17 pt/ 8 rebound a night guy. Too bad he is only able to spend about 17 minutes on the floor and can't shoot from the field nor the free throw line. I know Gordon isnt just an average player, but we should not have had all our eggs in one recruits basket. Do you think losing Gordon the way we did would have hurt the elite programs in the country the way it did us? Just what 3 years ago we were in the National Championship game, and Bruce hasnt used that to help us out at all. Smiths situation sucked you are right I dont fault Bruce for that. Continuing to count on Randle to produce is basically like the Cubs continuing to count on Wood and Prior to produce. Again, there is no reason for the cupboard to be so bare, when just 3 years ago we were playing in the National Championship. What top guard could Illinois had gotten once Gordon changed his mind so late in the game? I don't know how long you've been following college basketball but this "down" year happens. Where is Maryland? Syracuse? UConn? It happens. At least it seems we are getting top recruits coming in 2009 and 2010. Top guards we should have had the last three years. Sherron Collins-the guy wore an orange headband and had cornrows, he wanted to be Dee Brown. Partick Beverly-he basically begged through the papers to play for Illinois, but that would have blocked Neifi, I mean Chester, from starting. Matt Roth-supposedly the best high school shooter in the country, but he isn't good enough to play for us. Yet, I have to watch a team that can't throw a ball into the ocean again this year. These are just a few of the guards we should have got. This doesn't include the guys who were long shots. The Gordons, Roses, and Scheyers of the world. Bill Self lands most of those guys and we are still very good. Bruce Weber shows up with his mouth open and then cries foul play when they end up somewhere else. He reminds me so much of Dusty Baker. None of this is his fault, he just needs his horses.

If we don't win at home against Michigan I think we have a chance to not win until we play Northwestern. Awesome.

Why wait until he gets to Champaign? We see them in a week. Since we'll likely lose by thirty anyway, might as well make the game a three-hour game by fouling. The home fans deserve to see it. But yeah we can do it at both places.

Frazier off the bench for defense? DId you see his "defense" against Ohio State? The same guy who burnt him for 30+ went scoreless for Ohio State in their next game lol. I am not one, like others, who clamor over this perceived defense. However, I do think he'd be better defensively with less playing time. Plus, Butler scored on any Illini that was defending him. Frazier is not a great defender but he's decent, especially if off the bench. I still would like to know if the FT discrepancy was justified. I didn't watch, but I am sure it is. We have no one athletic enough to create their own shot and draw fouls.

At this point I want only one thing from this season. Someone needs to foul the crap out of Eric Gordon when he comes into Champaign. Put the little punk on his ass. Don't hurt him, but foul him good and hard.

By 10. Nah, we'll win this one. You have alot more confidence in this team than I do probably has more to do with the fact that penn state sucks Not nearly as much as we do right now.

Another one from vster. Dickie V weighs in on the Huggins/fan incident. Hey hoops fans, Dickie V here with some thoughts on a tremendous showing of sportsmanship and class that just hasn’t received enough recognition. I’m talking about West Virginia Head Coach Bob Huggins jumping to action to have a fan tossed from a game for courtside conduct that has to be an absolute no-no in college arenas. For those who missed it, it happened during the West Virginia – Oklahoma game in Charleston. After two players went down to the floor fighting for a loose ball, some knucklehead threw a piece of trash at the OU player. Coach Huggins then went to midcourt, grabbed the public address mic, and asked the fans to point out the culprit. It worked like a charm, as the low-class fan was shown the door. I just can’t say enough about this tremendous showing of sportsmanship. Keep in mind, this was a home game for the Mountaineers, and it was undoubtedly a West Virginia fan. But Coach Huggins said, “No way, baby!” He made sure to send a message that opposing teams are to be treated with dignity and respect. He also said loud and clear that he flat-out would not tolerate any action that could cause injury to an opposing player. The whole episode took me back to last season when the game’s classiest coach, one Michael Krzyzewski of Duke, responded to an unfortunate incident that occurred at the end of the Duke-North Carolina game. Duke guard Gerald Henderson jumped from behind Tyler Hansbrough and mistakenly drove his elbow into Hansbrough’s face, breaking his nose and igniting a geyser of blood. Then, after the game ended, Coach K, like Coach Huggins, attacked the source of the problem head-on. How? By looking straight into those television cameras and telling the world how it was all UNC Coach Roy Williams’ fault for having Hansbrough in the game in the first place. Just think how courageous that was. Coach K could have taken the easy way out by blaming Gerald Henderson for approaching a totally defenseless and unsuspecting player, from his back side, while in the act of shooting, and burying his elbow into his nose. He could have simply called out his own player for what seemed a flagrant, combative act – you know, like the game referees did. But, no, Coach K, genius that he is, looked beyond that point and chose to take on the root of the problem by accusing the coach that just beat him of asking for it all! What a statement! It was awesome, with a Capital A! Yes, my friends, when it comes to raising the bar for sportsmanship, there is none greater than the Great One himself. Not that this should surprise anyone. After all, he hales from the classiest school of them all, Duke University. Just think of the history there, baby! Like when the Cameron Crazies threw trash on Virginia Tech Coach Seth Greenberg as he left the court a few seasons back. All of those students waited until he made his way through the tunnel before tossing the first piece of garbage on him. And when the student body threw condoms at Herman Veal, and pizza boxes at Lorenzo Charles, and snack cakes at Dennis Scott, they did all of these things well before the opening jump ball. No way would they even think of pelting an opposing coach or players with objects during live play. That, you see, is the difference between the classy Cameron Crazies and that classless West Virginia fan! The bottom line here is there is no classier coach or program than Coach Krzyzewski and Duke University!

By 10.

Meanwhile in Cinncy Dusty Baker just broke something in his office. No one better beat him to his neifi.

I'm not really surprised by that. ASU's talent level improved drastically from last year, and they have a far superior coach than Oregon. Oregon was destined to descend, a la 2002 to 2003. They were clearly overrated in the preseason polls, as you said. I wouldn't have ranked them at all, same with K-State. I agree with all you have said, though I didn't think Oregon would be as bad as they seem like they will be (not with Hairston, Porter and Taylor). ASU could be a bubble team this year, imo. I thought Oregon would be better, too, making the NCAA tournament at least. Sendek is an excellent game coach, and has been very successful when he has talent. I still think the PAC-10 is very strong, I just never liked Oregon or USC as much as most seemed to. I do, however, like Stanford more than most seem to. Stanford is underrated it appears. I came away really impressed yesterday...I think they'll be 3rd in the Pac-10 this year. Honestly, I am always very impressed with Stanford. They always seem to do better than they should.

Does Frazier have some kind of blackmail material on Weber? That guy is atrocious. Chester Frazier is Illinois' version of Neifi Perez. Oh and tell me how good he is defensively. The guard from Hawaii, Nash, scored at will on him. Butler just got over 30 on him. The guard from Tennesse State scored at will against him. He couldn't guard Greg Paulus. He brings nothing to the table. He kinda looks like a cracked out Dee Brown I guess, but even then he forgot the headband.

Your coach and guard really did a number on us.

Coach K is doing the best he can with the great lack of talent he has. He is really rallying the troops. Something along those lines.

i know you can say this about a lot of games, but there were a few plays up to this point that went usc's way that were extremely lucky and would have changed the complexion of the game. Yeah, probably would have made it 49 - 23. Didn't MU barely squeeze by Illinois earlier this year? In a game where our starting quarterback played two series before he got hurt? Yeah you guys would have killed USC. Beat OU just once this year and you would have been playing for the title.

Purdue lost to Wofford. This loss sucks. It really sucks. But we'll probably win 20 games still. Tourney's done for though which is really sad. Just work on developing DMac, Tisdale, and Davis. If you win 20 games that will mean you're 12-6 in the Big Ten and probably finish 3rd or at least 4th. I definitely don't see you going 12-6 in the Big Ten, but if you think you'll still win 20 then the tournament isn't done. I bet we struggle to get 15 wins.

The Bruce Weber era cannot end soon enough. The guy is in over his head. The other team beat us with a zone. Bruce has no idea how to attack one. It doesnt help that the talent on the floor for the Illini is about on par with a damn mid major. Wait who was in charge of recruiting the talent?

The Bruce Weber era cannot end soon enough. The guy is in over his head. The other team beat us with a zone. Bruce has no idea how to attack one.

Way to go Shaun Pruitt, you piece of garbage.

Remember when we went like 4 years with one loss at home? Now we get blown out by mid majors. Good times.