Thursday, December 29, 2005

Illinois 89, Southeast Missouri State 64

Winning isn't everything.  I'm sure Bruce Weber found lots of things to complain about after last night's game.  When a team doesn't play their best, they should expect to hear about it from their coach.  But not from me, at least not today.  No analysis here.  Just a few things I enjoyed watching last night's game:

• The Crowd:  Amazing turnout.  The students are on break.  The opponent's RPI is 294.  It's drizzling rain.  And the place was full of orange.
• The Freak:  Randle got another steal for an uncontested dunk, and a very nice slam too.
• The Shot:  Just before the half, Illini took the ball out with 2.0 seconds on the clock.  Dee made a shot from just shy of the half-court line.  Spectacular!
• The Save:  Jamar had to save the ball going out of bounds, after which Dee had to save the ball from going back into the other half of the court, after which McBride drained a three-pointer.
• The Freshman:  Jamar Smith is simply unbelievable.  He shot 100% last night, including four shots from behind the arc.
• The Krush Favorite:  Warren Carter had a heckuva game.
• The Rebounding:  SEMO got out-rebounded 48-24.  Illinois had 16 offensive boards.

This game produced a lot of highlight reel material.  Fun.