dalgreen

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.

We Illini fans are no longer in any position to say we WILL win this game or that game. We barely beat Hawaii and have losses at home to Miami(OH) and Tennessee St. I didn't see today's game, but when I found out we lost I assumed Mr. Randle spent most of the time on the bench due to fouls and I was right. My question is I noticed a large difference in the number of FT attempts. Was it justified or was Penn State getting calls? At this point, I hope Weber lets McCamey start and I would even start Alexander instead of Randle or let them both play forward and have your backcourt as Brock and McCamey. Meachem and Frazier have no clue as to what it takes to play the guard position from an offensive standpoint. Frazier would be fine coming off the bench providing defense and rebounding but that's about all the contribution he should be allowed to make. Hello 0-4 in the Big Ten. Hell, maybe this will be like the late 90s team that finished last in the Big Ten and made it to the conference championship game. Yeah, right.

You know it's a sad time for Illinois basketball when I'm hoping we split the season series with Penn State. Looking at the schedule before the season, I had us losing in Happy Valley. I think we'll win tomorrow. We better or we're going to start the Big Ten season 0-4, with games at Wisconsin and Indiana following. I didn't think it could be possible but we might not make one shot from the field against Wisconsin. By the way I think Chester Frazier is point shaving. :x Can a starting point guard play any worse than what he's playing?

(Sarcasm ahead) Great complaint. Perhaps you would've preferred a USC/Arizona St. matchup? Give us a break. The Rose Bowl got the two teams that were eligible and who could bring fans. You need to blame W.Virginia and Missouri for losing. Had one or both of them won, then Ohio St. would've been in Pasadena. The Rose Bowl will, if able to, always try to match up the Big Ten vs. the Pac-10. Just as the Sugar Bowl, when able, will try to get the SEC champ and the Orange Bowl will, when able, get the Big 12 champ. Again, congrats to Missouri for playing in a January bowl game. Hopefully,it won't be another forty years. Maybe next time when you're ranked #1 you won't lose by 21 on a true neutral field.

Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous. Illinois really never had a good chance to win this game, but the play calling hasn't helped at all. Having said that, the game was at least a bit more competitive than the score indicates. The play calling and those fumbles are the reason for the size of the deficit. And am I the only Illini fan who would like to see more of Eddie McGee next year? Juice is only a sophomore and he finally played against a team that is as quick as he is. I don't think he was calling audibles, so he was calling the plays called in from the sidelines. He was 21-35 today. Again, he's just a sophomore and I think he did much, much better this year than last year, so I'm guessing he's going to improve next year. Or at least I hope.

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. Purdue also beat a ranked Louisville team. When your starting five most games consists of four freshman and a sophomore(although they've changed up the starting five recently), you're going to struggle at times. They have quite a bit of talent, but they are going to have their ups and downs this season. The loss to Wofford was bad though, no question about that. Wasn't trying to insinuate that Purdue would be a walk because of that. Just saying that Purdue had its bad loss too. I think the game in West Lafayette is a toss up and that we should win at home. But you hit it on the head, that it pretty much depends on what Purude team shows up. They're going to be really good in a couple years. Winning 20 games (I had 11-5 +1 in the tourney, Pomeroy has us at 10-8) with how awful the Big 10 is this year is pretty much a lock to miss the tourney. You have more confidence in the Illini than I do. Traditionally, we don't play well in Mackey Arena and I see no heart nor killer instinct with the team. Any late, close games on the road coupled with piss-poor FT shooting spells a loss. I think we lose in W. Lafayette and Columbus and Ann Arbor and......

I must be watching a different game than the Illinois coaches. The game I'm watching is showing the burgundy team's defense being as quick or quicker as Illinois' offense. The option doesn't work when that happens. But it must just be my tv.

I hope Hawaii wins then there will be talk about why Hawaii shouldn't be voted as #1. What argument can you make for a 13-0 team who also beat the #5 team? Yeah, they play in a lesser conference, but some of the teams they beat are just as good as Pitt, Colorado, Stanford, etc. who other top teams did lose to.

he will probably be drafted, given the sad state of NFL Qbs. He will have a very quick stay in the NFL though, maybe he can work construction with Marcus Vick? The uniform Booty wears will be the only reason why he gets drafted. Somebody will use their USC connections and he'll be a 6th or 7th round pick ---- maybe. Even if he doesn't get drafted, he'll get a free-agent look.

Bummed a bit about this game. At least back in the '84 Rose Bowl you could've turned the game off after the first quarter. We've given up more than 90 points combined in the last two Rose Bowls we've been in. No one, and I mean no one, thought we'd lose the game strictly due to turnovers. Yeah, SC has more athletes than us, but they forced some turnovers and we made some piss-poor decisions, too. For those who want to talk crap, go ahead. Just remember, who cares? I mean it's not as if USC or Missouri or anybody else not named Ohio State or LSU will have a chance this year at the national championship. I like our future a lot better now than what I did five to seven years ago. To the Mizzou fans, welcome to playing in a January bowl game.

I gave Illinois an A for the first five minutes of the game; I thought they played with heart and intensity. They turned back into the real Illinois team after that. Trent Meachem is not our best player, but I agree with your point. If Meachem had hit his second free-throw toward the end of the game, we likely win instead of going into OT. But why does the whole team shoot poorly? We have no one who I can honestly say I think can hit two straight free-throws. I'm sure they practice them. I just think this team, like last year's, has no heart. At least Brian Randle had flashes today of being aggressive and not being afraid of contact. By the way, where was Alexander today?

I thought the Illini would be a better team this year strictly because we wouldn't have Richard McBride on the team. Our guards, except Brock, make poor decisions and turn the ball over too much. And don't get me started on the free throw shooting. I still see no heart from this team. We have a couple of players with it, but most play like they expect to lose.

The more posts I read the more I realize there are a bunch of people who don't follow the Big Ten but pretend they do. Michigan was an 8-win team because Henne and Hart, two Heisman likely candidates at the beginning of the season, were hurt. You saw what happened to OU when Bradford was hurt. If you get past the hate, if Ron Zook stays at least throughout his contract, Illinois will have a bunch of 7+ win seasons, meaning there should be some 9+win and 10+win seasons, as well.

It's amazing to me that in a season where there were a ton of upsets, people on this site are still saying what WILL happen. What is with the hate for Illinois? The Rose Bowl winner will not win the national championship, but each team will share $17 million with their conference. I could see if Illinois was preventing another team from winning the national championship, but under the rules they are eligible to play in a BCS game. The only other school who could've gotten a Rose Bowl berth is Arizona State and that would be stupid to make the Rose Bowl another conference game.

Great points. And one of the many things that pisses me off are the thousands of Mizzou fans who are ticked off yet many are the same people wanting Pinkel gone last year and the year before. Wonder why these people have been so quiet this year, huh? Good luck in Dallas.

That guy! I love that Illinois is basically in a no-lose situation. Everyone expects them to get blown out, so they can only impress. People who think Illinois is going to get blown out either just hate Illinois or they don't follow Illinois or both. We were being blown out just once this season and it was the first game of the season. And we ended up losing by just 4. USC is playing well right now, but did anybody watch the USC/UCLA game? USC didn't look all that dominating to me. They looked much better against Arizona St. to me.

Missouri definitely got screwed. But if there's one team who I don't mind getting screwed over is Missouri. I lived in St. Louis for ten years and all the Tiger fans I knew then you'd swear that Missouri won every Big 8/Big 12 football and basketball championship. My guess is the Orange Bowl came down to politics. If Alden is still the AD, maybe Tiger fans need to ask what kind of relationship does he have or not have with the Orange Bowl? Maybe the Orange Bowl got scared off by the #1 team losing by 21 points on a neutral site. Bottom line is all Big 12 schools will share in the $17 million payout whether it is Missouri or KU playing.

I think some of you are upset at the wrong teams. First, be mad at WVU and Mizzou for losing last night. Second, be mad at the BCS ranking because Mizzou was never, ever the best team in the country yet they were ranked #1. Third, be angry that OSU fell to just #7 after losing to Illinois. Fourth, I think had Mizzou been competitive at all in the second half, maybe the Orange Bowl would've chosen them instead of KU. Losing by 21 as a #1 team on a neutral field and you should be punished. Anybody who knows anything about the Rose Bowl knows that they have always preferred the Big Ten/Pac-10 matchup due to tradition. Those who pick USC to blow out Illinois are probably just hating --- considering that most of these people also thought OSU would blow out Illinois. Considering that USC is a 6 point favorite and playing in their backyard should tell you that the odds makers think highly of Illinois. Now it just remains to be seen what the betting public thinks.

The sad part is that we could get away with the poor shooting if Pruitt would remember that he's 6'10" 245 and not 5'10 165. He's got to be one of the softest big men in the country.

Brian Randle waits 19 minutes and thirty seconds to make a strong move.... and then he misses the free throw.

Wow, I see my Illini picked up right where they left off last year -- can't shoot, Pruitt and Randle are playing as soft as toilet tissue, can't make free throws and no inside play whatsoever. At least we are rebounding and playing some defense. I think Randle will end up making my all-Illini underachiever list with the likes of Richard Keene and Bryant Notree.

I guess my question would be how do you know when a player "cares"? You have to write a blog to care? Does ARam not care even though he hit a walk off homer against the Brewers to help ignite the Cubs to the division title? Does Jacque Jones not care because he didn't write a blog or publicly apologize even though no matter how the crowd booed him he still kept crashing into the ivy? How does one judge when a player cares? Can anyone right now name one Cub who doesn't care and how would you prove it?

Why? did Soriano and Ramirez tell him when they signed their massive contracts that they only planned on trying through September, and then theyd half ass their way through the next 3 games? He put together a playoff team. Nothing he did caused this collapse. He's a failure. Even with the playoff appearance the Cubs haven't even gotten back to the level they were in 2003, let alone making progress beyond that. All this year accomplished was making up SOME of the ground they lost since 2003. Four years with no progress is inexcusable.Do you realize that the Cubs offense and pitching were both better this year than in 2003? Statistically that might be the case but I want you to find anybody who would rather have Z, Lilly, and Hill over Prior, Wood, and Clement, and Zambrano. The #5 spot in the rotation in 2003 really hurts their stats overall. The bullpen and offense were better this year than 03, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find anybody wanting to take this years rotation, over 03. 2003 happened and was supposed to be the start of something good. Instead, we have 2004 where we have a better record than 2003, but choke down the stretch. Then the problems really start happening, and Hendry puts this organization back big time in 05 and 06. People like to point at the fact Hendry's teams have been to the playoffs twice in 5 years, big deal. The resources given to Jim Hendry during his time here have been so much greater than any GM in Cubs history, and the only 2 years his teams have made it to the playoffs, were in years when the entire division is a joke. I'd absolutely rather have the '03 rotation, but I'd also absolutely rather have this year's offense. But that's neither here nor there. I was just responding to the part of NCC's post that said that the Cubs haven't gotten back to the level they were at in 2003, because it's simply not true. They've gone beyond the level of the 2003 team. I believe "the level" that he's referring to means getting to within five outs of the NL pennant or better. You know just as the Cardinals went from making it to the NLCS to winning the pennant to winning the World Series and how Houston went from winning the NLDS to winning the pennant.

Agreed on all counts. And peddle Jones and Blanco if at all possible. I wouldn't mind seeing Blanco in a backup and mentor role for Soto. I don't see any GM taking Jones prior to the '08 season unless the Cubs pick up a significant portion of his salary. As I stated in another thread in Hendry's typical fashion of not knowing the true market value of players, I fully expect Hendry to offer Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter a 15 year/ $1 billion contract.

Yep, Hendry is bad for not understanding stats IMO. We have had two postseason teams in five years, but not because of his cunning ability to recognize talent. In 2003 we didn't win the division Houston lost it. I don't give Hendry any credit for that. I also don't give him much props considering the payroll he has only been able to have three above.500 teams in the past five seasons,with none getting 90 wins.