Rex Buckingham

'Bama's also playing without a guy who is arguably (probably?) their best player

That being said, there is no way UNC loses to UK I would say if they feed Patterson the ball relentlessly, they might have a chance

Jones did so against an Eastern Illinois team that is 1. really, really bad and 2. very undersized If my assumptions are correct, he was probably guarded by a guy who is very similar in build to Mike Davis (UI) for a lot of the game... I have a few classes with EIU's center... he's awfully skinny

any idea if Rauch or Lyon will close?

i would assume, without reading any of the article, that Illinois' rating is largely based upon its number of tourney appearances (regardless of the results) and the success of the "Whiz Kids" in the 50s

Mayo will defend just fine if he wants to /stating the obvious

the players got tired of Skiles, and from everything i can tell, Avery is more or less the same kind of coach as Skiles...

Jones can turn out to be a solid player, but he's nowhere near as good as he thinks he is...

While Thomas is certianly not as good as Mendenhall, he's still a pretty solid back

some of the guys who you really wonder about (Roger Powell Jr. from UI a few years ago comes to mind) are guys who just do it to figure out what it is the NBA execs/coaches want them to work on

the bears essentially got Mendenhall in Forte. Forte has more mileage, but didnt cost them alot in picks as would have Mendenhall. Unfortunately, they Bears need much more then RB I don't think Forte is quite as good as Mendenhall. Forte was Tulane's only threat of any kind last year and still piled up the yards... there is something to it

Drop Fields Add Ryan Zimmerman

I'm willing to give him a pass due to having a piss-poor coach and a mediocre supporting cast. I don't think he has the kind of "All Time Great" potential you'd hope for out of a #1 overall pick, but I think his floor is that of a solid, yet unspectacular, PF. That is like the biggest myth ever. Bill Walker was the number 7 player in his class. Sutton was also a 5 star prospect. There was plenty of talent there. The coaching did suck, but come on. C'mon, dude. You and I both know: A. Bill Walker has talent, but he's also an extreme head case. He completely disappeared in as many games as he contributed. B. Dominique Sutton averaged 13.5 minutes/game, only played in 19 games, and wasn't really a factor this season. The talent around Beasley just wasn't that good. What little there is was too young to be consistent/effective. That's not to say Rose won't be a better player. He probably will. But it's silly to belittle what Beasley did on the court. I'm also curious to see how Rose will do against NBA quality PGs. He pushed around a lot of smaller guys throughout his college career. He won't be able to just physically dominate NBA guards like that. The NBA is full of teammates that are headcases. Walker has elite level talent. Maybe I put too much stock into wins, but christ they lost to Nebraska. Nebraska. I mean I know he can and will get a lot better, but I keep thinking Derrick Coleman and Billy Owens when I watch him play. Certainly not the type of guy I would ever pick before a franchise type point guard. Hell even if he becomes a great power forward I still would rather have Rose because I am sure he will be a great point guard. I didn't watch K-State more than a couple times this year, but it seemed to me that a lot of the time they struggled to get Beasley the ball... He scored a lot of his points, in the games I saw, off of offensive rebounds and jump shots... but the few times he got it down inside he was very effective with it

man, do you like anyone or anything in sports? i said i dislike john calipari, not john wooden. I'm with Truffle, Calipari's a snake

When is he healthy? 5 years ago... so let's just hop in the time machine and he'll be good again

A: A. Rodriguez B: R. Braun, M. Cabrera C: V. Guerrero, A. Ramirez, N. Swisher D: J. Fields, C. Utley, N. Markakis, J. Francouer, H. Pence WC:

it will be difficult for the Illini to score in the 50's even

UI has no chance in a close game... sigh Minnesota over Northwestern Illinois over Penn State Iowa over Michigan Wisconsin over Iowa Michigan State over Ohio State Purdue over Illinois Indiana over Minnesota Wisconsin over Michigan State Purdue over Indiana Wisconsin over Purdue in regards to the All-Big Ten teams...if Pruitt shoots 65% form the line instead of 55%, he probably averages a couple more points per game, Illinois wins 3 or 4 more games, and he ends up on at least the 2nd team

Then people outside of the SEC should feel honoured to be watching to BEST COLLEGE FOOTBALL CONFERENCE in the nation. And if anybody still thinks RB from Illinois is better then Jones, then.......I must be loopy. It wouldn't surprise me....if Jones gets taken in front of the RB from Illinois. his name is Rashard Mendenhall, but don't worry, you'll remember it soon enough

where do you get that? it's worked fine in the nfl, from eddie george to larry johnson to shaun alexander. what doesn't play well is garrett wolfe-type backs, or, rather on donw which aren't 3rd. mendenhall will be just fine. He certainly can make people miss... if you watch the highlight video posted a little ways back you will see that, especially against Penn State (I'm pretty sure it's Dan Connor he jukes out of his cleats on one play) And people also said Adrian Peterson runs upright...doesn't seem to hurt him

If we went RB in the first rd, I'd prefer Jonathon Stweart or Felix Jones. But if went Big Ten RB, I much rather WAIT till the 2nd rd. I am NOT convince that Meddenhall is 1st rd material. This is a guy who went from 845 yrds and 5 TDs combine between his Frosh/Sopho yrs, to 1681 yrds and 17 tds. So, colour me unconvinced about Meddenhall. Give me Felix Jones. In his frosh yr he had 626 yrds with 3 TDs. Soph/Junior yrs, he combine for 2330 yrds and 17 TDs. All the while in a PLATOON situation with Darren McFadden. So, IMO, Jones in a better back then Meddenhall. So, why rush for a RB with only one great yr of college, when you can get a better RB, like Stewart or Jones. Mendenhall's great improvement had more to do with the fact that there was abslutely zero in terms of other skill people or lineman to block for him on that Illinois team his 1st 2 years. Those young guys that Zook recruited and were playing when they should have been red shirted or riding the bench because they weren't strong enough got bigger and stronger and better last year and that had more to do with Illinois and Mendenhall being successful than anything (also the maturation of Juice). A good effort, but still not correct. Mendenhall's Junior year success did not happen because of an increase in talent, but rather incresased opportunity. His Freshman year he was behind Pierre Thomas (664 yds, 5.2 ypc) and EB Halsey (349, 4.2) but averaged 4.5 ypc in limited work (48 carries, 218 yds) His Sophomore year he was still behind Thomas (755 yds, 5.8 ypc), but carried 78 times for 640 yards...that's right, 8.2 ypc...and remember, Illinois wasn't winning much, so those were legitimate carries His Junior year he obviously took off and had a great year with the increased workload... a 6.4 ypc being pretty much right in the middle of his previous two years http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/teams/stats?teamId=356&year=2007 edited to add link

The progression: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/snoodmonger1/mwmem4_t600.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/snoodmonger1/mwmem8_t600.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/snoodmonger1/mwmem12.jpg and of course, the UAB fans showing off their great education, spelling Memphis incorrectly