Tough one for the Illini Friday night in Las Vegas.
That was like being up about $10,000 at the blackjack table and walking away $15,000 in the hole. Ouch. Never should have happened.
Illinois led Utah 32-16 at halftime, then stood and watched Utah crash the basket throughout the second half.
Two Illini players stayed involved throughout the second half. Demetri McCamey led the team with 19 points and Mike Tisdale scored 18. But Mike Davis was very disappointing with just two points. D.J. Richardson scored three and Brandon Paul scored five.
Illinois was outrebounded 35-33 and although Illinois was charged with just 10 turnovers, it seemed like they can in a bundle during an awful stretch of the second half.
Better get ready in a hurry for Bradley, which earlier Friday lost to Oklahoma State and plays the Illini at 7 Saturday night (Central).
Any of you do the HoopTV.net thing? I did, and I found that the picture stuttered and was not very reliable. It ended up being free, so I’m not complaining. But I can’t wait for these games to return to “normal” TV, for the sake of all fans.
November 28th, 2009 at 5:54 am
Growing pains for the freshmen. They will learn that two halves make a whole.
This team is good, but clearly has a weakness in rebounding. Someone on the last blog suggested we try a two guard lineup to add size and rebounding. Maybe Cole or Griffey, both of who can score and add size. This is just a tinkering of the lineup to see how it works.
I see that this team will have to grow a little bit. There are a lot of people playing that don’t have a history of a lot of minutes. Use this game and learn
Go Illini, I’m still on the bandwagon!
November 28th, 2009 at 6:26 am
Better to lose now, make it a learning opportunity but there is no way we should have lost this game. Lets see if they can bounce back and get back on track.
*
Hooptv.com was terrible. I couldn’t watch it.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:27 am
Stand by for the DIF’s, FRG’s etc. Hey maybe we will see a re-appearance of Xavier McDaniels.
November 28th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Oh I loved hooptv! the trash talking on there was unbelievable and live! Gator got tore up by everyone on there because he acted like he knew everything once again. BENCH THE FRESHMEN. BENCH DAVIS AND FIRE WEBER! THIS SEASON IS A WRAP!
November 28th, 2009 at 7:30 am
Tough day for B10. You can not say the B10 is the best conference any longer. Scoring seems to be the problem. Duke beat an athletic team in UCon. UCon could not score. It’s going to be a bumpy ride for many teams this year. I do believe the cream will come to the top by the end of the year. Look for a lot of movement in the top 25.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Terrible, terrible loss. This one is on Weber for many reasons. Allowing a team like Utah (who has losses to powerhouses Idaho and Seattle) to come back from a 16 point halftime deficit is inexcusable for a top 25 team. That is for the IU’s and Iowas of the world.
*
McCamey had a good game, and I’m sure many will want to blame him for shooting prematurely on the final shot. He did shoot a little early, but typically that would be okay because it would leave you time to crash the boards for a rebound or tip in. However, with Mike Davis MIA last night, he should have realized we had no shot at a rebound because, frankly, without Davis we might be the worst rebounding team in D1 hoops! And Jordan should have been the safety valve over the top so that bomb downcourt should have been deflected, intercepted, or at least defended. He didn’t rotate and was completely out of position. Remind me again why our walk-on PG is in at the end of the game and playing that many minutes anyway!?!? If he is getting 20 minutes a game this year we are in trouble!
*
None of that should have mattered, because Weber should have called a TO from the bench to set something up on the last play anyway. Guess he had a little Zookitis yesterday and didn’t feel the need to use the TO’s they give him?
*
We went right back to Weber-ball 101 yesterday in the second half. U-G-L-Y!! Stopped pushing the tempo and tried running the half court through George Mikan, oops I mean Mike Tisdale. That is just dumb on so many levels I can’t believe it. First, it takes your best scoring options (the guards and Davis) out of the game, because it eliminates the primary and secondary breaks. That allows a team like Utah to hang around and limits possessions. I said it last year and I’ll say it again. This offense will not be successful when they try to run through Tisdale. But Weber loves him like he did Frazier and like Zook loves Juice, and it will cost him wins at times because of it.
*
On the gridiron, not surprised at the result at all. I’m glad Zook got his “son” out there to take all the snaps at QB. Especially since we had receivers run WIDE OPEN all day and Juice can’t hit the broad side of a barn!! Heaven forbid we put an accurate passer like Charest in there and let him move the ball down the field! Just a day for boneheaded coaching decisions I guess.
*
Terrible day to be a UI fan. The real question is, where does the hoops program go from here? Can we beat the Clemsons, Vandys, Gonzagas of the world? I guess we will find out shortly….
November 28th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Watched the Clemson-Long Beach State game. Clemson has some studs inside. They will be trouble for us. Their guard play didn’t impress me much. We have a shot to win this game. Maybe a 2-3 zone might work.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Although extremely difficult to watch on HoopTV, it appeared there was a good deal of standing around by the guards on offense in the second half. Only McCamey, and on occasion Paul, appeared to want to drive the lane and draw contact or dish. Looked like Utah’s size intimidated our bigs, particularly Davis. I wonder what’s up with Kellar. He enters the game in the first half and adds instant energy and then gets only 15 minutes for the game(shooting 3 for 5). Looks like he’s in Bruce’s doghouse, or maybe being taught a lesson about fitting in to the rotation. I trust Weber in that respect.
*
Let’s learn from this disaster and focus on the upcoming games. Bradley will be ready for us tonight. It’s a respect game for them. We don’t want to drop two in LV!!!!
November 28th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I know this isn’t the perfect start to the season everybody hoped for. I can tell you that this can be a very good thing for these freshmen and players. I’m pretty sure this loss has humbled the team. They were getting hyped up by the media and Champaign already locked thme into the final four. So lets take this loss with a grain of salt and come back with a dominating win versus Bradley. Good learning opportunity here! So bring on everybody who wants Bruce fired. We know your moves before you guy even make them.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:51 am
If you have a high speech connection, like any streaming media, Hoop-TV was satisfactory. Resolution was not as good as ESPN 360.com. Announcers were not overly impressive, nor was the team. crk
November 28th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Fortunately Hoops TV was free. I never dreamed that so many scorers would falter at once. This was a learning experience for the young guys, but Davis? Keller?
*
I know that this has been beat to death, but what can RG see in RZ other than first names? I just remembered, RZ is the best water skier among BCS coaches. Perhaps Mangino is better. Pardon my cynicism, but we wait and anticipate season after season and nothing changes. We see so many fundamental errors. We had the ball at midfield with over a minute in the half and almost couldn’t get off a field goal. Does anyone know why we never asked for a review of Fayson’s catch in the endzone. Granted we scored later but lost over a minute in the process. Our “bend but don’t break” broke three times in the first half and nothing changed. In spite of the loss basketball will at least be fun.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:06 am
This season we should get used to “up one game, down the next” because of our dependency on freshman, an inconsistent upper (Jr/Sr) class and a marginal game
coach. Per Illini HQ and the Peoria JStar, we lost to a rebuilding team, losing a 13 pt lead with 9 minutes to play. Our coach was quoted in the PJStar as saying that “Demetri went too early, but next time we call a timeout or for sure practice it”, plus ” we didnt have a safety on defense on the last play”. This is what we have to work with and it doesn’t give you a
warm fuzzy feeling when we are playing competitive teams.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I think we need to get comfortable this season to “Up one game and down the next” because we are depending on freshman, have inconsistent performance from upper (Jr/Sr) classes and have a marginal game coach. In IlliniHQ and the Peroia Journal Star, they indicate that we lost a large lead to a rebuilding team and our coach was quoted as follows; “Demetri went too early, the next time we call a timeout or for sure practice it” and he also said “we didn’t have a safety on defense during the last play”. This doesn’t give you a warm & fuzzy feeling for when we play competitive teams, but it is what we are working with.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:52 am
once again Illini showed thier short comings and added freshman experence to the list.Rebounding and lack of toughness on defense. Coach Weber two huge mistakes. Failure to call time out and give the team rest and direction last minute of game.Not going to a two one two or a two three zone to stop the Utes in the driving lanes second half of game.I really liked the Illini driving hard to the basket more. Some times out of control but not staying outside all the time is an improvement. Blocking out and rebounding a problem when your freshmen don’t play well.Also no last second shots. Go Illini beat Bradley.HoopTV terrible with bad chat room.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Why do I like the ball in McCamey’s hand any time except when the game is on the line?
*
For those of you who say I never criticize Weber. I blame this loss on Weber. Huge mistake. Call a time out. Should have set a pick and roll with Tis. He was nailing his shots. Better to lose on a missed shot then to give them a layup at the other end.
*
Why are we even in this tourney? Horrible camera work. The clock goes off with 2 seconds to go? No light? More of a high school venue if you ask me.
*
This is a young team. I see them having this bad loss and then beating Clemson by 12. All that matters is where we are in March. Way too much Jordan last night. Let DJ and Paul learn, win or lose.
*
My one Zook rant. Down 2 scores and we continue to take our time and run the ball? Then we score and we don’t go for 2 to bring the lead down to 11 points? Juice continues to miss wide open receivers and Zook leaves him in? Can he not see that the ground game is more effective when Charest is in there? Teams actually respect his arm instead of putting 8 in the box. All I want for Christmas is for both Ron’s to be gone.
*
Mikey- Don’t forget KYM.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Tup, you hit the blackjack analogy right on the button. Been there myself and I know that feeling. Very disappointing game. I’ll stay optimistic and implant it in my mind that the only reason Illinois lost is because they were exhausted from the whole Las Vegas trip thing, wasn’t focused on basketball, and only had enough gas to kick but for only one half.
I would have kept a tight leash on the players until AFTER we won the tournament. Then I would have let them loose in Vegas.
I did watch the game but it was not on the hooptv feed. They were having problems so they kicked it over to livestream.com. I found the feed horrible but do-able. I can only assume that if the game did air on the hooptv site, it would have been a much better quality.
I did have a blast on the chat and getting banned from it was priceless!
They had a moderator who was named “HoopTV”. So I chose the name H00PTV with o’s as zero’s.
I was telling everyone how “If you pay for the games and are not 100% satisfied, we will give you a double refund”. I was saying all kinds of stuff like that and the moderator was getting stressed.
He was like, “H00PTV is not HoopTv! I am HoopTv and trying to work on the feed and moderate the chat at the same time!”
LOL, I got banned from chat for 15 days. Oh well, like I will ever go back there again anyway.
November 28th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Tough loss, extremely irritated.
*
We were far and away the better team and played like complete crap. It didn’t help that Weber didn’t call that TO at the end. One thing at least–he will look at himself and fix the mistake.
*
Most disappointed in Mike Davis, then the freshman. Unfortunately, we’ll go through these things with the freshman, but MD should contribute more. Tis and McCamey almost won that game for us.
*
Bosco- I agree I never want to see Jordan that much, but I don’t really think we ran through Tisdale any more than normal. Our guards certainly weren’t doing anything (except Dmac) and Tisdale was scoring on every possession he got, or so it seemed.
*
Jack- I really don’t think zone was going to help anything. They were playing “Ole” defense. I agree that they need to show some toughness though–really disappointed in the D. Btw, you had me with the coaches til Beilein. I’d consider those coaches elite also (they all have NC).
*
We clearly had a crisis of confidence yesterday. I think we have the potential to be a very good team, so it’s up to Weber to capture it by the end of the year. Weber made some mistakes yesterday, but I’ll only start to care if they don’t get fixed (if it becomes a pattern). Let’s get this thing back on track, hopefully this gets our guys hungry. I’m just glad we get back out right away.
November 28th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
I know were starting some freshmen, and i know they will have some off games, but I put some of the blame of this game on Weber. Where was Keller in the second half? This team is weak on the inside. Some of us have been harping on the poor rebounding against the weak teams we have been playing. Some of you have been telling us we will be fine, that we were just playing down to the competition. What do you think now? Tisdale’s only strength is outside shooting. We didn’t play to it till the game was almost over. Why does Tisdale switch on defense and guard the others teams guard, why are guard is left to cover there 7-3 center under the basket? Dmac played a pretty good game, but there was too much one on one play by him for me. As much as Utah struggled with there shooting in the first half, why didn’t we start the second half in a zone and force them to shoot from the outside? Why didn’t we play to Tisdales strength early in the game, and force there bigs away from the basket more? Why didn’t Keller play more? This is why I for one am not completely sold on Weber.
*
Looks like ND is not waiting on there coach to turn it around. They see the writing on the wall. What positive thing can Gunther see in bringing Zook back for one more year? There is talent on the team that has just been wasted. There is no more proof of that fact then looking at Benn. A first round draft pick, that might get the ball thrown to him once or twice a game. A QB that routinely overthrows wide open receivers, while a MORE ACCURATE sophomore sits on the bench. A defense that plays soft, yet leaves receivers open deep. Recruiting that seems to be bad to awful this year. Now explain to me the positive side of bring Zook back next season mister Gunther?
November 28th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Matthew- Are you 12 or 13 years old? Sad to hear you were one of the idiots posting non-stop and sucking up all the bandwith. I was glad they finally shut it down.
*
Beal to announce his decision on Monday. Cross your fingers.
November 28th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Shouldn’t have lost this game. But to say, not calling a timeout lost the game is ludicrous. Hindsight. What if a TO was called and the same thing happened? What if DMac made the game winning shot? Then we all would say what a great ploy by Weber not allowing the defense to set up, yada, yada. All the top coaches differ how they would approach the same scenario.
*
Freshmen playing like, well, Freshmen. Thought team rebounding was improved. Utah threw in 4-5 garbage shots to start the 2nd half which seemed to deflate us a little. Where’s the Tis bashers?
*
Wish list. Learn how to use screens on offense. Still poor understanding of motion from BP and DJ…and others. Learn how to go over screens on D and/or flash from the bigs and trap. Back off from pressure guarding the point 40 ft from basket…haven’t learned to use angles on D to stop the driving lanes. Need to drive and dish… got some shooters..use em.
*
Watched on HoopTV. Better than nothing. Be interesting to see how we bounce back against and a Bradley team that will be very inspired to knock us off. Didn’t see the chat room. That may have been fun.
*
Peace Brothers
November 28th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Did anyone think Cincy looked like a # 5 team? Are you kidding me? Two roughing penalties and waaaaaaay out of bounds TD pass and this ridiculous game may have gone the other way. No way those three calls stand in a Big 10, Big 12 or SEC venue. Don’t get me wrong, my main interest is when RZ’s contract wears to the point it can be extinguished. 1 outta 5. Deplorable.
Next year, Dan Kelly and Pat Fitzgerald should be elsewhere. Kelly probably at Notre Dame and Fitz at Colorado maybe.
Re:basketball. Are you out there S.D.? I know you agree with me. Freshman aren’t good for much but hauling water if consistency is what you seek. Unless their name is Carmello of course. Maybe the next game will be better. It would be nice to have a senior around with a nasty attitude.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Haven’t posted here in a while; I wish I was posting after a better Illini Sports day though. Few Thoughts:
————–
1) Football: Zook is by far the worst coach in college FB, and his loyalty to Juice is nauseating. I can’t wait till they both are out of CU. Nonetheless, Cincy is NOT a top-5 team, and even though they did not really need it, the refs were so biased and homer it was disgusting (between the Fayson non-TD call, the Cincy “TD” while stepping on the line, the Benn “late” hit, and that other late hit that gave Cincy 3 more chances to score. I can’t wait to see Cincy play some team with real D; and with some really gelled O, they will be embarrassed.
——-
2) Basketball. I’m not going to pile on Weber. I thought not calling the timeout at the end was a mistake, but I can see the advantages of not calling the timeout too. Nonetheless, it should not have come down to that. giving up a 16pt lead is inexcusable. If it was Zook’s FB team that did so, everybody would trashing him. But, at the same time, this was not unexpected. We are a terrible rebounding team (yes, I’m taking a shot, again, at Tisdale… I do appreciate that he scored 18pts, but I don’t want my center 30 ft away from the rim taking jump shots). Davis is inconsistent (NBA, riiiiiiiiiiiight!!!). McCamey is the man. The Frosh played as you’d expect freshmen to play, they’re going to be inconsistent, but we will be OK in the long run. I still stick by original prediction of ~12 losses total (before the B10 tourney). This year is building year for next, when all the pieces should start coming together.
November 28th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Ill say it until im blue in the face.. same old crap last night the last 9 minutes as we have see the last 3 years from Weber.. No adjustemts ever made… EVER.. Offense is pathetic.. cannot get the ball to Davis.. he did not touch the ball the last 7 minutes of this game.. yes we have young kids but come on coach get a clue and coach ok.. Run some SET plays once in a while when u are struggeling with the motion offense. We may have the players now but we still have the same sorry coaching staff on board….. Folks the big ten is loaded this year with great players.. The illini have some very good players also. The problem is we have WEBer and alot of those other schools have very good coaches….
November 28th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Matt from Decatur- That is AWESOME! I was on there using a bunch of Nicknames. I was FishinFred, Dick McBride and I even used John Daly. While I was John Daly I informed everyone that Tiger Woods and I stayed up drinking all Thursday night!!! It was awesome! Gator was his usual self but I did see a lot of Tupp’s blog people on supporting the Illini to the collapse! Good job.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
ARCHIE,Zook not the worst but an average coach just like Weber.Give Zook some credit. The team has had plenty of reason to quit but have finished playing each game.A win with Fresno St.will have everyone singing his praises but he will still be a middle of the pack coach like Weber. It takes lots of money now days to bring top coaches so enjoy middle of the pack seasons in both FF and BB. U I LUKE, plugging up the middle must be done with zones.With flat feet 7 foot centers that can’t move well. Davis needs all the help he can get and a zone surrounds him with help on all sides.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Something to think about. If you blame BW for losing a 16 pt lead, are you you giving BW credit for getting a 16 pt lead? Calling a time out for last play of the game is not writen in stone. Some do and others don’t. Not getting back on defense is another story.
PS: I would have called a time out and you don’t want to know how I fell about lossing a 16 pt lead.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Yes Brooks, I am an idiot who acts like he is 12 or 13 years old and it is completely my fault that all my chatting sucked up all your precious bandwidth. I guess chat boxes are not for chatting after all. hmm, who knew?
November 28th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Just watched the Bradley game on HoopsTV, very poorly played and coached
by the Illini. The last 2 minutes of the game, we had no idea what to do.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Well can you believe an Illinois team losing to Bradley. What a major disappointment. The officiating didn’t seem to be much better than Illinois played. Davis chokes on a one and one. It looks like Legion is going to be about as good as last year. Cole is hustling and needs to shoot more. I would use him before Legion. I can’t believe how many easy shots were missed by Illinois. I guess Richardson and Paul are finding out how different college ball is. I think Jordon and Cole were pleasant surprises.Illinois could have as many as 5 losses by the time the Big Ten starts. The Freshmen have got to learn quick or it may be a long season.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Are you kidding me.Someone forgot wakeup call for the Illini.Illini slumberous for thirty minutes defence and offence.Illini played like they were on BRADLEY’S home floor.This was a neutral court for crying out loud.ILLINI FANS adversity ahead the teams only get lots better from here. Coach WEBER last two minutes of game keep the flow going its was flowing in your favor with a five point lead.You let the air out of the ball by slowing it down. GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY NOT BRADLEY!!!!!!!!!
November 28th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
I saw the end of the game only for the last two nights on hooptv. This is depressing. I said we would struggle early, but Utah and Bradley? There is an awful lot of work to do. A lot of B10 teams lost yesterday. DM and Tis looked pretty good from what I saw, other than that I did not see enough to comment. For some reason I could not get the radio feed which I tried first.
GO ILLINI!
November 28th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Wow, another epic fail tonight, this time to Bradley. Guess the basketball team is trying to out do the football team? It’s going to be a long season boys and girls.
*
I get so sick of the Weber “stall ball” when we have a slight lead at the end of a game. Keep attacking! How many games have we squandered and lost in Weber’s tenure playing not to lose instead of going for a win?
*
I said it last night and I’ll say it again, this team ain’t gonna win many games with Jordan getting 20+ minutes a game. He is our new Chester Frazier, and we are back to playing 4 on 5 on offense. I personally don’t think he is a better defender than DJ and he is light years behind him offensively. Just another example of Weber giving minutes to lesser players because they are upper-classsmen. Remind me why Beal should want to come here again?
*
As far as the juniors go, McCamey did some good things and some really bad things. That is pretty much what you get with him. They decided tonight to get Davis the ball and he had a pretty decent game. I thought he played good defense too. Tisdale…gotta get this guy some spray stick for his hands. How many rebounds can a guy bobble and lose? His ole defense on the high ball screen gave Bradley a lot of layups too. Not good.
*
I’d be surprised if this team makes the tourney. If we don’t win a tourney game this year, that will be 4 years we have been shut out. That is unacceptable at Illinois. I really thought Bruce had things going the right direction, but now I’m starting to wonder….
November 28th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
please please put us out of the BW misery. OMG he could not beat utah or bradley. i never want to hear another defender. he is the worst thing that has ever happened to the program. the ULTIMATE loser and anyone that defends him loves losing. there are so many good coaches can we please get one? WEBER IS THE WORST. BRUCE PLEASE STEP DOWN. HAVE SOME PRIDE AND COMPASSION YOU ARE WAY OVER YOUR HEAD.
November 28th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Mikeydamouth YOU ARE AN IDIOT. THERE ARE NO GOOD LOSSES. DRINK SOME MORE WEBER JUICE. IDIOT
November 29th, 2009 at 6:06 am
The Illini lead Bradley 66-61 with the ball and turned it over at the 2:34 mark still up 66-61. From that point they finished the game giving up an 11-2 run to lose. This team gave up 28 points the first half and 44 the second. Same story the night before. Second half defense and not finishing the game, I guess something a young team will have to learn how to do.
What does anyone think our chances are with Beal? I hope he comes! We need some good news.
November 29th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Please Fire Him: Thank you for your kind words Dawg. May you find a lump of coal in your shorts christmas morning.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:13 am
The B10 needs to show something this week in the ACC games, not sure if it will happen. Also, I see that Paul only got 15 minutes in the Bradley game. Makes no sense at all particularly with us losing anyway. BW continues on his standard pattern of limiting playing time on freshman and playing less talented players (Frazier last year & now Jordan) more. He may be getting some recruits, but has not won anything
worthwile yet, so I see nothing to get excited about until some winning takes place.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:19 am
PLEASE FIRE HIM- oooo big words from a first time poster DAWG! I would rather drink Weber’s juice then the juice you are drinking. Little salty huh? Your an idiot!
November 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am
PLEASE FIRE HIM- I think this is the real Fishin Fred!!!
November 29th, 2009 at 9:44 am
This might take some of the cockiness out of the 2 freshmen. Now maybe they will play more of a team game. I think it was to easy with the early cream puffs that they thought the college game isn’t any harder than high school. Knocking Tisdale is one of the stupidest comments this year. Without him they would have lost by more points. There were a lot of questionable calls in this game. I don’t know where these referees came from, but it had to be mid major or lower. The winning basket was Jordan’s fault he should of been back on defense, he was the outside guard and he got caught watching the play. If Davis makes his free throws its a different game. Davis seems to disappear in the last minutes of the game. Tisdale and McCamey is the only players that have done anything in the final minutes. Legion seems to be the same player he was last year. The three players that hurt Illinois the most in the tournament were Richardson, Paul and Legion. I thought Cole, Keller and Semarau played well. I would rather see Cole than Legion on the Floor I don’t think Jordan is the answerer either, to many mental errors and little offensive scoring. I thought the dumbest thing Weber did was start Legion. The announcers were bragging on Cole all night and he didn’t see the floor in the last 6 minutes. If Richardson and Paul don’t get it together, it ccould be a long year.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:09 am
I don’t want to overreact to the loss to Bradley, and I am trying to keep in mind that the team is going through a makeover this year, but I’d have to say we’re behind schedule on where I thought we’d be at this point. Now we’re staring at a third loss in a row with the upcoming game at Clemson. No reason to think we can get it together in a true road game in a hostile environment if we went to pieces on a neutral court (not really, with all our fans there) the first time away from home. I never thought we’d be in the position of having to worry about how non-conference losses may play into a tourney berth later in the year.
As far as the upcoming Beal announcement, I have to say- when was the last time we went down to the wire on a high profile recruit against traditional powers and won? It’s been a while, I’ll tell you that. I can’t even remember when that would have been. Maybe someone can help me.
Although we seemed to have turned the corner on recruiting, all our other recent gets have been early commits where the announcements had little fanfare and we were the presumed front runner. I’d love to win this one and maybe my sense of foreboding is brought about by the horrible weekend of Illinois sports we’ve just had. I hope so.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Didn’t see either hoops game so nothing to comment on strategy wise. I will say that this is the JUNIORS TEAM!!! If Dee, and Deron, and Augie, and Luther, and Preacher made it to the Final game with only two years under Weber, then these Juniors and Semrau should be ready to challenge for a title and need to lead and let the Frogs learn or earn the time. I would think if Tisdale is a “sure” pro/Nowitzki clone he should be producing more.
*
This team will be fine and certainly make the dance. The real question is: Is Weber going to make the Juniors lead for the next two years or make them role players and develop the freshman. I really don’t think you can do a little of both!
*
How can Juice put up those numbers and yet look so bad???? He just makes you crazy in so many ways!
*
Our safeties are just horrible!!! Hitting safeties we go to the Rose Bowl. Clueless safeties we suck!
*
While I thought the announcers were way overstating Shultz’s play calling it was fairly balanced and seemed to have a plan. Our defense whether the coordinators or Zooks oppresive hand is pathetic.
November 29th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Bosco is correct…Jordan played 25 minutes & Cole played 15 minutes while Paul played 15 minutes & Legion played 8 minutes. The Illini are doomed if Weber thinks Jordan & Cole should play more minutes than Paul & Legion. Beal is not going to Illinois. Does KU stand for Kansas University?
November 29th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
whippersnapper and archie, What would it have taken to convince you, 77-84 points from Cincy?
They probably could have scored every possession had they wanted to. The main agenda was to make sure Pike didn’t get reinjured in a laugher. One instance in particular that I can recall is when they had the ball on the Illinois’ 30, 4th and one or two, Pike probably was instructed not to run so he threw a little 5 yarder that the receiver dropped. He could have crawled for at least 5 yards through the hole the line opened for him. I’d have to check further, but offhand, I don’t think any “powerhouse” Big 10 team scored 49 points against that “lacy” Illini D. But oops, my bad! I almost forgot it was the Refs fault for blowing all those calls. How else could Illinois have lost to an “overrated” 5th rank team, especially when you can’t even beat Indiana. Look on the bright side! How often have they finished anead of Michigan?
Since you brought uo rankings, how about round ball? I can think of a top 25 ranked team that just lost to Utah and Bradley on at a neutral site. Not quite as good as when playing Mickey Mouse teams at the Assembly Hall, huh? Have you ever wondered why they won’t schedule any “true” away games other that the must ones: Conference and ACC Challenge every other year. All “road games are always on at a neutral site. Betcha they have won about 90% ,atleast, of games played against non-conference teams since the Assembly Hall opened.
PS: Oh yeah, the “late hit”. Seems like Illinois had a patent on that kind of stuff all season!
November 29th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Bearcatfever - Enjoy your one year in football! Kenyon Martin, slick Nicks team. Oh yeah! Bearcat hoops is truly clutch!!! Your gonna get drilled in your bowl game!
*
Jimmy Dee - I can’t remember it coming down to the wire and working out for us either. Not sure why. Question is would we have the minutes for Beal?
November 29th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Hey Kentuck, guess you forgot the old adage: ” THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE!”
November 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Same Weber. He likes to play the guys that won’t shoot. It will take some time but the freshmen need to learn if they want to play, just stand on offense and don’t shoot. Paul might of missed a couple open shots, but he drove the ball and got to the free-throw line. You have to attack the basket. Jordon is good to give Dmac a rest, but he can’t play 20 minutes a game. Cole played well, but he won’t play much. Weber is in love with this 3 guard idea and he don’t care how many games we have to lose to get it right. He is gonna take all the aggressive play away from the freshmen. There gonna be scared to touch the ball. Look at legion.
November 29th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I’M BAAAAACK!!!
*
Good to see I didn’t miss much. Homers still defending Tisdale, a NEW Chester frazier (Jordan) getting WAY more minutes than he deserves AND of course BAM going right back to his old exciting ways.
*
I am glad that BAM finally got the recruiting thing on the right track as now the blog will be more about what he does (or doesn’t do) as a coach. I for one know where how THAT story is going to end.
*
So does the running count of BAM’s losses vs. teams he’s favored against tally 2 so far this year???
November 29th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Not for getting rid of Zook or Weber but its time for both coaches to revamp thier staff. Weber needs to
to let all of his join the ranks unemployment. You can’t get thoroughbreds in the stable and have trainors that can’t take them any further.You should be able to see progress somewhere instead of regression.Each game keeps showing the same old problems and the coach who is just average at calling a game.
November 29th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Xavier- Watch the games. Tis wasn’t the reason we lost these last 2 games.
*
Some of you are absolutely ridiculous. We are starting 2 freshman guards. You rip Weber for not playing freshman and now you want him fired when the freshman struggle. Give me a break. You can’t have it both ways. This team is going to have alot of ups and downs over the next few months. But the upside is tremendous. Lets see where we are in March. That’s all that matters.
*
Jack- Calling Weber an average coach just shows you how little you know.
November 29th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Bearcat - Kelly is gone and your cute little football program will soon follow. If you want to see real champions, come out of the bars in the “queen city” and drive down to Lexington. They got basketball banners in the closet their not using. Maybe you can take a few back to the “queen city” and pretend you have a hoops program!
*
Xavier - Your wrong! Those two losses were against teams that we had everything to gain by playing and nothing to lose!! (You morons didn’t think I was going to let that stupid argument go did you????)
*
I told you guys Weber was giddy that Jordan came back. He just can’t help himself. X. Are you thinking Purdue West still???? I know I am.
*
Beal is headed to Kansas. I just don’t think any sane player who wants to play one year and go pro could possibly see the guards in this class and the next and not to mention McCamy, Legion, and Jordan returning and see any signifigant playing time. Better to get a really good small forward, a real center, and a guard project.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I am clearly disappointed with the two losses. The team is young and struggling at crunch time. We are clearly missing the seniors from last year, for now, and hopefully only for now. I am confident that BW will mold this team into some thing tourney worthy by the end of the season. I figured we would struggle early, but I hoped for better results.
==
I don’t think Tis will play in the NBA, but I think he will be a pro somewhere. He is clearly not typical of a player his size. He is a good college player and I am glad we have him. He shoots well, even in the clutch. He will never be a stud underneath and I wish he would fight harder for rebounds. I wish we had a walk on that was only a beast rebounder so that they could get some practice against musclemen. Davis is a good rebounder, but because of his hops, not his strength.
==
TV for the rest of the year, thankfully.
GO ILLINI!
November 29th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
Gator - Davis missed one FT in the Bradley game, it was a key FT, but he shot 75% from the line. I don’t think you can pin the loss on his single missed FT.
*
We will have to agree to disagree on Tisdale. He got abused on the high ball screen time and time again because he is too slow to rotate back. He also bobbled and lost many rebounds, a lot of them to smaller guards. His post defense was also subpar. He needs to gain a lot of strength, and that isn’t going to happen with his frame. He is a plus shooter, but he is also a center. A centers primary duties should be post defense and rebounding. When you have a center that can’t do either of those things, his shooting becomes a novelty. He is really a guard trapped in a centers body.
*
I thought a big part of the problem this weekend came about because we stopped pushing the tempo. We had early season success because we got out and ran. After the first half of the Utah game we took the air out of the ball. Some of this is because we gave up so many made baskets, but we had still been pushing it off of makes early in the year. This team isn’t very good in the half court, why not play to the strengths we have?
November 29th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
X Daniels, glad to see you’re back with you negative attitude. Where in the hell did you get that stupid name, not from the original I home. He would be embarassed by your basketball knowledge. Tisdale was one of the few bright spots Illinois had. Richardson, paul and Keller never look inside to the big men. If you look at Jordans assist he gets the ball inside to Tisdale and Davis. Tisdale shot over 70% and was second to McCamey in scoring. Tisdale and McCamey were the most consistant players on the court. McDaniels, did you even see the games, I doubt it.
November 30th, 2009 at 6:03 am
Coaches get too much blame when teams lose and too much credit when teams win. It’s VERY obvious to me that many of you who make the strongest negitive comments have either not coached or you just don’t understand the game. It takes time for team chemistry to develope and for a coach to determine how best to use his personel. A coach can not determine this in EASY games. However, those easy game are still important in giving all players some playing time. It is FAR too early to attempt to determine how many games this team will win this season. Some seem to think that Weber is a poor coach. Other coaches, former Illini players and Weber’s former players disagree. I know this DOES NOT mean much to you blog experts, however, I respect their opinions more. The biggest need that I see for this team is a LACK of team leadership. Say what you want about Chester, but he did provide strong team leadership although he had limited skill. THIS TEAM DOES NOT HAVE A LEADER. Coaches CAN NOT assign leadership. A player has to be willing to assume that role and many players don’t what that responsibility. If no one on this team steps up, we will see more of these close losses during this season. The lack of leadership is why Weber earlier made the comment to the freshmen that they should step up if the upper classmen don’t provide leadership.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Is Mark Tupper okay? Anyone know anything?
Jack: Not for getting rid of Zook or Weber but time… to revamp their staff. One point I want to make clear. The head coach is responsible for recruiting, how the team plays the game and his staff. I do not see how we can blame the assistants for much of anything.
Please fire him: You got some balls to call BW an “ultimate loser” and then call others idiots.
I’m sure we have way too many bloggers that are just trying to pull our chain. It’s a shame to see this blog go that way.
November 30th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Please fire Ron Guenther
November 30th, 2009 at 9:23 am
DLM and Youkon Chuck, good commits, Jack really don’t know what he’s talking about. He just like’s to rile people up with his dumb comments. The Juniors need to take charge of this team, but it might not come until they’re seniors. McCamey is the one who should be the leader, but I don’t know if he has the personality for it. I think Weber wanted to find his best lineup, that will play together. This may have hurt Illinois in this tournament, but might have shown him that some combinations don’t work well together. I do believe he gave Jordon to much playing time. I thought the best lineup included Richardson, Keller,Tisdale, McCamey and Davis. With Paul and Cole coming off the bench first. Legion doesn’t show much more than last year. I think McCamey needs to be on the court more at point than Jordan.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Beal picked Florida. Too bad. Hopefully we get Randle now. Just the topping on a really bad sports weekend.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:27 am
The defense will get better. We have to get the ball inside to Tis and Davis. Stop settling for three pointers. Drive or get the ball inside. Losing both games sucked. No doubt about it. It’s way too early to write this team off. Paul and DJ have a ton of talent. Keep playing them and let them learn. It will pay off in March.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Bad news on the court the last few days, but great news on the recruiting front. Brad Beal is going to look great in orange and blue in a few years!!! Weber is really starting to get this recruiting thing down-and we beat Bill Self to boot!!!
November 30th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Brooks, your bipolar perspective on the Illini coaches (Weber and Zook) is nauseating. I cannot fathom how you can, in straight face (I’m assuming) defend Weber after these two losses. I’m not calling for Weber’s head; but these losses, to these two teams, are inexcusable. I’m also sick of Weber’s comments and his seemingly biased piling on certain players (calling out McCamey when was the most consistent player so far).
P.S., you commented “Xavier- Watch the games. Tis wasn’t the reason we lost these last 2 games” Get a clue, Tisdale is a MAJOR reason we lost those games (and that would lose more). He may have score some/many baskets, but I don’t want my center 30 ft away from the basket taking jumpshots. We are getting killed on the boards, and he is typically nowhere near where he needs to be to compete for the boards; he gets pushed around like a straw; or when he somehow gets his hands on the ball, 50% of the time he ends up losing the ball out of his butter-soaked hands. Tis is as worthless a post player as I ever seen. Not as bad as Nick Smith, but not much better. We are going to get killed when playing teams with any kind of post rotation. We are again shooting team that is not going to do much when our jump shots are not falling. PATHETIC!!
November 30th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I don’t have a fix, but I know the problem. Two straight losses in the last minute are due to lousy guard play. During game adjustments with Tis, Davis and Keller wouldn’t have made any difference.
November 30th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Sure this team does not have a leader, but the leading candidate is DJ Richardson who is on the short leash because he is a freshman. Weber’s substitution patterns have made no sense, and he hasn’t given Richardson, Paul, or Griffey enough minutes. He is going right back to that sacrificing offense for defense mentality. He needs to let the frosh play through some of their mistakes instead of giving them the quick hook.
*
Brooks straight out of the gate with the excuses, some things never change!!
November 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Looks like Beal picked FL. No surprise, but another disappointment for the hoops team. Hope we can get Chasson Randle….
November 30th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Whew, glad to see everyone act pretty much as normal here on the blog. If it was different, I’d be worried.
*
I will say that I am disappointed in the two losses and I will also say it is far from Tisdale’s fault (glad to see you come out of the woodwork X.) I actually think Tisdale plays decent post defense, but I can’t stand when he goes and guards the PG out above the key. If I continue to see this, I’ll be irritated, because he’s simply not fast enough to switch. Sometimes, our guards have to fight through the screen.
*
Jack-Weber is above average. Not elite, but above average. You should probably take a look at his career record, and record at Illinois if you think otherwise.
*
Bosco- I don’t think anyone intentionally took the air out of the ball until the last 2 minutes. Our guards simply did a bad job driving, and the freshman seemed nervous to do so. I hope it gets fixed. Also, if MD doesn’t get called for that moving screen in the last 2 minutes, we’re having a different discussion on here. I’m pretty disappointed with him so far.
*
Everyone has pretty much said everything there is to say so far, all I’ll say is this: give this team some time. It’s not going to come right away this season, but the upside is huge. I agree we need to get JJ out so much, and the freshman in more, but they were a bit out of control in Vegas. We’ll have bumps along the way, but I think the finished product will be nice. Dmac needs to be the leader of this team. Let’s take Clemson.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Didn’t see the games, so I won’t comment much. Brooks, you said pretty much what I would have said. Some of the negative posters are WAY over the top & not very rational & some are just plain immature. Seems like everyone forgets about the growing pains we said we would have.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am
I’m glad it was Florida and not KU.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Btw, comparing Weber to anything close to Zook right now is silly. I’ve stated it’s dumb to compare them in the first place, but these 2 losses are not equivalent to half the crap Zook has done. If I had a smiley banging its head against a wall, I’d use it.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Archie, great post. Not sure why some of these others don’t get it. Maybe if they are ex-coaches, there is a reason they aren’t coaching any more!
November 30th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Some good observations. Boscoe is right on about Tisdale. The only thing i would add is, we lost the Bradley game because there guys drove the lane in the second half and got allot of close baskets and free throws. Are 7-1 center needs to be more of presence in side, but the defensive scheme that has him switching out front away from the basket, takes him way to far from the basket. You want to stop the drives, keep him closer to the basket. You want to play a three guard line-up, your guards need to be active on defense.
*
Games we have become accustomed to seeing. Webers teams slap around the weak teams fairly well, but teams that are equal or slightly better in competition, he rarely wins. He likes to manage the game, instead of taking the game to the opponent, and forcing the action. Weber keeps saying were only as good as are juniors. You just seen how good they are. Tisdale played like we thought he could. Dmac played like we thought and davis didn’t play well but didn’t cost us. Jordon played as well as we thought. So whats the difference? I said it before, the freshmen and not the juniors are the key to this team and what did Paul learn sitting on the bench most of the time? These 2 freshmen are the most talented players on the team. They will make mistakes. On the other hand, they will win you some games and will only get better with playing time. More playing time is not gonna make these juniors that much better. You just seen that the juniors can’t beat Bradley or Utah. I just wish the coach could see it.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
ILLINIGATOR–BROOKSTAYLOR,hard to tell who’s comment is who or are they the same?WEBER is just an average coach whos bio comes mainly from the leadership of GENE KEADY. Illini might have let the real coach get away to PURDUE. If WEBER wants to be a great coach he has to surround himself with assistants that can teach fundementals like rebounding and other short comings. BOSCO–ARCHIE– DLM good blog glad to see that you didn’t swallow all that pre-season hype that everyone seems to. It wasn’t that wonderful playing creampuffs and cupcakes.Looks like ACC wins again with BIG TEN only four wins this time.Could it be the coaching and assistants???? go ILLINI !!!
November 30th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
So it only takes the Illini time to gain chemistry? Apparently Dayton has it already? Or did we get beat by teams that still don’t have chemistry?
*
How is it possible that the Illini have had a “young team” for four years!!!!
*
Losses don’t concern me as much as falling back into old habits. WEBER!!!! you have a pass to play the freshman!!!!!!!! We have NOOOOOOOOO INTEREST IN SEEING JEFFREY JORDAN!!!! If Tisdale and Davis want to play pretty ball and not be gritty leaders MAKE THEM ROLE PLAYERS!!!!
*
Bosco - You must not be paying attention. Brooks is being very critical of Weber!
*
Archie - Great post!
*
Take away all our made free throws and I wonder how badly we lose these last two games. I mean you can’t teach free throws so those points really shouldn’t count!
November 30th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
BBJ- You said, “Webers teams slap around the weak teams fairly well, but teams that are equal or slightly better in competition, he rarely wins”. Substantiate that with something. It’s complete bunk.
*
This team is only kinda young KYM, but I think it has more to do with maturity. As DLM said (good post) we need a leader–Dmac and Davis both need to improve in this category. I have a huge problem with the criticism of Weber on here, because a lot of it is unfounded. People want Brooks and Gator to approach Weber rationally, but fail to do the same themselves; just at another end of the spectrum.
*
The motion is not the problem, and neither are the assistants (??!!), the problem is the lack of maturity. Blame BAM for that. Bosco-you have a point with the freshman PT as well.
*
Seriously Jack, Painter? You can’t criticize Weber and then bring up Painter to support your argument. Clearly, you’re trying to convince me you’re a Purdue fan.
*
Tis was not a MAJOR reason we lost. I don’t know how anyone could say that. It was the guards (ironic how they don’t do what their position is) and Davis. Check out the numbers. The Illini aren’t playing anywhere near the level they are capable of yet.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Archie- I blasted Weber for not calilng a TO at the end of the Utah game. With how inconsistent we were, we needed to run a set play. McCamey is still very inconsistent. His quality of shots are very poor even though he makes some of them. Tis and Davis were non-factors because they weren’t getting the ball. Tis hit 2/3 shots at the end of the Bradley game.
*
DJ and Paul both got into early foul trouble. You had to play Jordan. We start 2 freshman guards. How about giving them a chance? You guys rip Weber for not playing freshman and then rip him for playing them and losing. They have to gain experience and consistancy. Wanting to fire Weber or even comparing him to Zook is unbelievable.
*
Jack- Who is swallowing preseason hype? Everyone knew that they would struggle early on. I said we finish with a worse record than last year, but we advance to the Sweet 16. You are starting 2 freshman guard’s. What do you expect? It’s easy to talk on a blog when you have no accountability and then suddenly disappear when proven wrong. Or in your case, just change your screen name.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
One more week to go and the torture that is Illini football will be over. I’m trying hard to come to grips with my ambivalence towards Juice and maybe he doesn’t fully deserve it I know. He puts up 10,000 plus yards of offense but I can’t wait to see him go. Juice may be taking to much heat on a team that as a whole stinks,(stink doesn’t even begin to describe our secondary, unbelievable) but he is no better a QB than he was 2 or 3 seasons ago and the offense reflects it. To Juice’s defense though 36 points and 450 plus yards of offense should win most football games. I see recruiting is taking a big hit and that is just the decommits, who knows who else is thinking ” Illinois you’ve got to be kidding”.. It’s time Mr. Guenther to make the call for the future of this ailing program. Let’s make this the bottom of the current coaching regime cycle and not drag it on for another season. Who can possibly look forward to next season in any positive way knowing that Zook and Co. will be back. He’s had 5 years and look at the splendid results. We’ve got some young talent (I think?) especially at QB and what I like to think is ample potential at others,( that’s what many keep saying that we have the talent but sometimes I wonder?), let’s bring in a new staff to have it’s shot at developing it. So come on RG make the call right after the Fresno St. game win or loose and get the inevitable over with.
November 30th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
U I LUKE,how much do you think BILL SELF contributed to the wins of the early wins of WEBER? Like I said before WEBER has smart BB sense but still average. He can up his game with better assistants.Weber can’t be everwhere all the time he needs more eyes now that his recruits are coming into the system.Hopefully its just two years away.By that time Illini will have beefy post players and guard players that can think and follow instruction.Who is the take charge player or team captain what ever you want to call him?? Just see followers so far.I think DJ will be in the future.
November 30th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Last weekend is gone, so let’s discuss the upcoming B10/ACC games. I see the
B10 winning 5 (NW, Purdue, MSU, Mich, OSU). Take your shots!
November 30th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Jack didn’t Weber take two of three from Painter last year even though Purdue was considered the better team?
November 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Here we are what already 7 games into the b-ball season and I’ve seen one game on tv. I haven’t messed with the live streaming mumbo jumbo( I’m an old dog) but maybe I’d better get with it because that may be the future I don’t know, I hope not. I was in Vegas last week( love that town) but came home on Wednesday. Would have loved to go to the Orleans arena( it’s off strip a ways) and seen them but then again 3 nights in Vegas is enough let me tell yah, that town or I should say strip wears me out. Oh and the Findlay Prep team flew back to Peoria, thay all sat a few rows in front of the wife and I in those cramped no leg room seats. Sounds to me like we got the freshman guard blues. I’d be willing to bet that if Frazier, Meachum and Brock were here we’d be 7 and 0, or undefeated, whatever, better than our current record is. And probably still in the top 25. That’s a hell of a note isn’t it? How long do you think it will take before Richardson and Paul can play defense at the same level and intensity of those three? Don’t get me wrong I’m not crying for the good ole days they’re ahead of us. We couldn’t wait till these freshman got here now we need to have a little patience.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Archie - You say we are getting killed on the boards, What!? Utah out rebounded us by 5 and we out rebounded Bradley by 14. Rebounding was not the reason we lost. We lost because our guard play fell to the bottom. These guys got intimidated going to the basket. they are finding out that you get bumped hard at this level and you have to fight your way to the basket. They will learn. The early patsy games left them feeling too good for their youth. My disappointments were from Davis and Legion. Davis is like a roller coaster and Legion even when he hits a couple of shots contributes little else. I am not a bit discouraged with basketball. Football on the other hand is beyond hope. I really wish we had Notre Dames athletic director.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
U I LUKE, I’m just looking at the results of PAINTERS teams compared to WEBERS. In my opinion PAINTER has gotten more out of thier team with less talent. Just my opinion and still bleed orange.I don’t watch all thier games but they are fundmentally BB sound. BROOKSTAYLOR,I don’t think my opinions match other bloggers. I try not to repeat any. I don’t see Illini going to sweetsixteen unless Legion and freshmen get more out of thier game, also they are getting very poor post play which I feel will really start to show up in conference play.Hope thier play proves your oipinion right.go Illini!!!
November 30th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Another tidbit Red, this would be a good year to be hiring a new FB coach. Not that much competition. Notre Dame, of course. Colorado is standing pat. Maybe FSU.
November 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Bosco, I’m still coching, my team just got knocked out of the playoffs this weekend. I’m coaching girls varsity basketball now, becuase nobody wanted the job. The girls have won 1 game in 2 years and it doesn’t look much better this year. The Volleyball team is in the State finals and the volleyball coach doesn’t want the volleyball players playing basketball. One more year and I can retire, mostly because you can’t make everyone happy. One group is saying you did a great job and the other is telling people you suck. 2/3 of the kids think you are great and 1/3 are saying the opposite. I love coaching, but hate the rest of it.
I’m sure DLM retired from coaching, teaching and wasn’t fired. He seems ver knowledigble about sports, coaching and understands what a coach has to go through every year.