illiniguy

And there lies the big problem. Warren Carter is our best player. Going back two years ago, no way, no way I would've thought that would ever be the case. Even though he passed the ball to an open McBride, I would've loved to see him take the ball to the hole. For crying out loud, he caught the ball in the lane against two shorter guys. I guess that goes to Weber's love of the perimeter game. Then quit whiffing on Sherron Collins, Eric Gordon, Julian Wright, Patrick Beverley, Brandon Rush's of the world. Bruce has brought a lot of this on himself. i always thought that the campus and town were the reasons that weber couldn't recruit. heck, self could barely get anyone to come to champaign, but after zook snowed a bunch of 4 and 5 star guys to come to town, i'm starting to think the hog farms and lack of anything to do aren't the problem. I disagree with that. Self, Krueger and before that Henson all recruited well. The difference is Weber hasn't been able to get the top in-state kids like the previous coaches. He has also missed the next tier guys. I would love to have the pg from Marquette or Patrick Beverley, or how about Tony Freeman, or how about Justin Dentmon, or the point from Gonzaga?

well, i guarantee that guenther isn't going to let the school slip into perrenial mediocrity again. if bruce can't get the players, bruce won't be the coach. Ok tell me that again in two months when Liggins and Lewis Jackosn are committed to Iowa.

And there lies the big problem. Warren Carter is our best player. Going back two years ago, no way, no way I would've thought that would ever be the case. Even though he passed the ball to an open McBride, I would've loved to see him take the ball to the hole. For crying out loud, he caught the ball in the lane against two shorter guys. I guess that goes to Weber's love of the perimeter game. Then quit whiffing on Sherron Collins, Eric Gordon, Julian Wright, Patrick Beverley, Brandon Rush's of the world. Bruce has brought a lot of this on himself. i always thought that the campus and town were the reasons that weber couldn't recruit. heck, self could barely get anyone to come to champaign, but after zook snowed a bunch of 4 and 5 star guys to come to town, i'm starting to think the hog farms and lack of anything to do aren't the problem. Dee Brown was a McDonalds All American, Deron Williams was more thought of than DMAC. Charlie V was an EJ. Self was doing just fine recruiting here. I think that Weber big timed a lot of kids when we were doing so well and now the whole CPL thinks he is a turd.

Yes, you can rely on big men to win it down the stretch. That is, if you have big men who play like big men. Pruitt should've never had the ball in that final sequence. That's my point --- we don't have a big man who knows how to play like a big man. Marcus Arnold played pretty well today. But, I agree with what you are saying.

Well, if Sampson is a bad coach, then Davis must have been worse than Dusty-because IU played much worse than this with a more talented squad last year. That may well be. It doesn't make Sampson any better, though. I guess I don't see the huge talent on this IU squad-D.J. is a great player, Wilmont is great at times, Calloway and Bassett are good but erratic, and everybody else are really role players. The talent level certainly doesn't suggest a 17-6 record to me. Agreed. There is 1 future NBA player on IU right now, and he will never be a great NBA player. Sampson has them overachieving or achieving near their peak level this year. I don't see this huge talent advantage you guys might see. There are three talented player on the Illinois squad. Pruitt (who is good, but not an NBA prospect), Randle (who will never realize his enormous potential), and Smith (who is still not right after his ankle injury). The rest range from average to awful. carter's good, brock could be something, but frazier is absolutely awful. DMAC will be playing the point next season. it should have been ej, but oh well. i wouldn't be surpised if the starting backcourt is dmac and watkins next year. Gordon isn't a point guard. no kidding, but he would have been the best option there. anyway, the offense isn't geared towards one guy handling the ball all of the time. DMAC and EJ should have been our backcourt. We could have had so many good pgs over the last few years but we misssed on all of them.

And there lies the big problem. Warren Carter is our best player. Going back two years ago, no way, no way I would've thought that would ever be the case. Even though he passed the ball to an open McBride, I would've loved to see him take the ball to the hole. For crying out loud, he caught the ball in the lane against two shorter guys. I guess that goes to Weber's love of the perimeter game. Then quit whiffing on Sherron Collins, Eric Gordon, Julian Wright, Patrick Beverley, Brandon Rush's of the world. Bruce has brought a lot of this on himself.

Well, if Sampson is a bad coach, then Davis must have been worse than Dusty-because IU played much worse than this with a more talented squad last year. That may well be. It doesn't make Sampson any better, though. I guess I don't see the huge talent on this IU squad-D.J. is a great player, Wilmont is great at times, Calloway and Bassett are good but erratic, and everybody else are really role players. The talent level certainly doesn't suggest a 17-6 record to me. Agreed. There is 1 future NBA player on IU right now, and he will never be a great NBA player. Sampson has them overachieving or achieving near their peak level this year. I don't see this huge talent advantage you guys might see. There are three talented player on the Illinois squad. Pruitt (who is good, but not an NBA prospect), Randle (who will never realize his enormous potential), and Smith (who is still not right after his ankle injury). The rest range from average to awful. carter's good, brock could be something, but frazier is absolutely awful. DMAC will be playing the point next season. it should have been ej, but oh well. i wouldn't be surpised if the starting backcourt is dmac and watkins next year. Gordon isn't a point guard.

Since Illinois won the first game, I'd call it a push. not by a long shot, the ej thing would overshadow 8 consecutive sweeps. oh well, i should be used to my teams getting beaten without retribution by now. Will it make you feel better when Sampson has IU on probation in a couple years? Why do you have to be such a sore loser? It was an ugly game on all sides, and IU pulled out a win. UI won one, IU won one, hopefully they will meet again in the BTT. Just because IU won you have to pull out this "well you'll be on probation" garbage with no evidence of any violations at IU. Man up. Yeah guys, Coach Sampson has been nothing but a stand up guy his whole career. What a farce. I'm not getting into this again with you, because you have already proved reading is not a skill you have, so I'll just say this and you can respond if you want. I never said he didn't do anything wrong. There is no evidence that he did anything at IU. He would lose millions of dollars if he did do something at IU. So crying "cheater" when he beats you, just makes you look like a sore loser. First of all I didn't cry cheater. So when teaching about reading maybe you should practiceit before hand. We got beat because we do what we have done all year, didn't finish. Second I am glad you are happy with your coach. But when Myles Brand is running the NCAA I really doubt IU gets into any trouble. So Kelvin will be able to keep his money.

Well, if Sampson is a bad coach, then Davis must have been worse than Dusty-because IU played much worse than this with a more talented squad last year. That may well be. It doesn't make Sampson any better, though. I guess I don't see the huge talent on this IU squad-D.J. is a great player, Wilmont is great at times, Calloway and Bassett are good but erratic, and everybody else are really role players. The talent level certainly doesn't suggest a 17-6 record to me. Agreed. There is 1 future NBA player on IU right now, and he will never be a great NBA player. Sampson has them overachieving or achieving near their peak level this year. I don't see this huge talent advantage you guys might see. Well I that's one more pro than we have. Pros make a hell of a difference.

Yeah, I hate that, too. But in fairness the play was set, but McBride just missed the three. We just aren't that talented a team, particularly when Randle is only 75% healthy. Yeah but our best player is Warren Carter. At some point during the last 4 minutes he should have gotten at least one shot. Just one.

Since Illinois won the first game, I'd call it a push. not by a long shot, the ej thing would overshadow 8 consecutive sweeps. oh well, i should be used to my teams getting beaten without retribution by now. Will it make you feel better when Sampson has IU on probation in a couple years? Why do you have to be such a sore loser? It was an ugly game on all sides, and IU pulled out a win. UI won one, IU won one, hopefully they will meet again in the BTT. Just because IU won you have to pull out this "well you'll be on probation" garbage with no evidence of any violations at IU. Man up. Yeah guys, Coach Sampson has been nothing but a stand up guy his whole career. What a farce.

Weber is getting outcoached pretty much every game. 1 basket for us the final 3 minutes we probably win that game. Yet he is content to just keep punting by running the clock out and then throwing up a contested 3. That worked when Dee, Deron, and Luther were here to make those shots. But, they ain't here no more. Lets try to run some freaking sets.

Since Illinois won the first game, I'd call it a push. not by a long shot, the ej thing would overshadow 8 consecutive sweeps. oh well, i should be used to my teams getting beaten without retribution by now. Will it make you feel better when Sampson has IU on probation in a couple years? What makes you think that Myles Brand will ever let that happen?

Why would you pass the ball to Pruitt at the FT line? Why would you give him the ball in that spot ever? The only time he should touch it is when he has a man sealed on the block.

Nice play Bruce. Unreal.

We need someone to step up and get us a good look. Someone other than Rich.

Terrible release. Jesus I can't wait until he graduates.

Should have been a no call. No harm though he missed the freebie. Lets get a good look here.

Seriously Alford gets that game he has to be Big Ten Coach of the Year. He has done an amazing job.

Yeah he really is. Man D.J. White is tough. I hate that stupid finger thing he does though.

Pruitt is getting mugged.

Well, that didn't take long. I really thought Kentucky fans whined and made excuses a lot, but since this EJ thing, Illinois fans are definitely giving them a run for their money. Oh yeah Pruitt really got a fair shake in this game. Even those whinning national announcers agreed saying Illinois was getting the stick.

Just pay them already. Get rid of the rules. Level the playing field.

If anybody remembers a Majority of the Florida Gators that made up the core of the team, was RECRUITED by Ron Zook. And like Jon Gruden, Urban Meyer rode the coattails of another coaches', hard work and dedication. Ron Zook should be given a Nat'l Champ ring, and shout out, for recruiting players like Leak, etc. Why isn't this brought up more? It was brought up all the time with Bruce Weber coaching Illinois to a final four. But, yet the team that beat him was Roy Williams doing the samething with Matt Daugherty's kids. Why do some coaches and programs get a fly on this?

Alot of the so-called power elite of NCAA football are steaming over Illinois. What's their deal? A new program pulls an old, tradition-rich school out of the doldrums after many, many years of incompetence. That's the very definition of U of M, ND, Miami, FSU ---- all these schools did the very same thing. At one point or another, nearly every school was terrible Everyone criticizing Zook and the Illini are just bitter and nervous about Illinois becoming another program to compete with. Teams like Iowa and ND won't be getting nearly as many Chicago recruits from now on...great to see Lets win 6 games in a year before we start declaring ourselves the next big thing. Yesterday was a great step in the right direction, but it was only a step.