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Washington 67, Illinois 64

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 18:00:00 CST

Illinois dug themselves into a big hole.
Then crawled out and gained a double-digit lead.
And then that lead vanished.
A lot has been said about the officiating in this game. No, I don't think the game was called fair, but there isn't anything anybody can do about it.
This is a sad way for Dee and James to end their spectacular careers at Illinois.
And what a sad performance for the Big Ten as a whole! The highest-rated conference in the RPI, with 6 teams in the tournament, has zero teams in the Sweet Sixteen. Ugly.
But it dulls the pain a little to have Kansas lose in the first round. Again. :-)
That's it for this season.

March Madness Memo, 17 March 2006

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 23:05:50 CST

What a day! I love the NCAA tournament.

I'm so disappointed in the Big Ten. Six teams from our conference were in the tournament. Three of them were upset today in the first round. This is just embarrassing for the Big Ten conference:

Wisconsin got crushed by Arizona.
Iowa lost in a huge upset to Northwestern State.
Michigan State lost to George Mason.

I was sad to see Southern Illinois lose to West Virginia.
I really thought Albany had a chance to become the first 16-seed to ever win a game. In the end, UConn prevailed.
It looked like Murray State had a chance at UNC, but in the end, the Tarheels prevailed.
But Bradley redeemed the day by evicting Kansas from the tournament. For the second time in a row, Kansas loses in the first round. I find this immensely satisfying.
My bracket is now in shambles. I still love this tournament.

March Madness Memo, 16 March 2006

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:36:03 CST

I would have been so happy to see Bruce Pearl lose to Winthrop.
OK, so GW's 8-seed might not have been so absurd.
I wish I had picked UWM over Oklahoma. I did at first, but I think I changed it back. The Big 12 just isn't very good this year.
Boston College is weaker than I thought.
The T on Illinois near the end of the game was the most ridiculous technical I have ever seen.
Note to Robert Vaden: Nice shot.
Gonzaga is darn lucky to still be in this tournament.
Syracuse was darn lucky to be invited at all.
I just can't describe how happy I would have been to see Winthrop beat Bruce Pearl.

Air Force 69, Jamar Smith 20

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:32:16 CST

Don't be too hard on the kid -- he's only a freshman. In a few more years, he should be able to beat a team like Air Force by himself. In the meantime, let's be thankful that 6 other Illinois players scored some points as well.

:-)

Let the Madness Begin!

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:51:03 CST

The NCAA tournament is my favorite sporting event of the year. Nothing else even comes close.
The committee's choices for seeding are always a bit controversial, but their decisions this year were probably the weirdest I have ever seen.

Illinois as a 4-seed is a shock. I figured we fell from a 2 to a 3 with the loss to MSU on Thursday. A 4 just doesn't make sense.
OTOH, Illinois got a rather favorable matchup in the first round. I just hope they take Air Force seriously. The way to lose in the first couple of rounds is to believe that your opponent has no chance.
I hope Bruce Pearl's check cleared before the seeds were announced. Sometimes it's tough to do serious banking on a Sunday.
Cincinnati deserved to be in, but I can't think of a school I would rather see treated unfairly by the committee.
GW as an 8 seed is probably the most absurd thing I have ever seen.

The games begin just over an hour from now. This is going to be fun. :-)

Michigan State 61, Illinois 56

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 18:00:00 CST

Kudos to MSU who came out and gave perhaps their best defensive effort of the season.
2 of 10 shooting from Dee Brown.
0 for 3 from Shawn Pruitt
57% from the free throw line.
This was just ugly.
A disappointing loss. I think I'll just try to forget about this one and focus on the NCAA tournament.

Illinois 75, Michigan State 68

Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:00:00 CST

What a great win! This team seems to have gotten it together at just the right time.
And what the heck is wrong with MSU? They returned 4 starters from a Final Four team and they go 8-8 in the Big Ten? I don't get it.
With this win, I think Illinois fans can hope for a 2-seed in the NCAA tournament.
I don't like the idea of playing State again on Friday.
In fact, I don't think I like the idea of the Big Ten tournament at all. The NCAA tournament is the important thing here. This event feels like a distraction.
Get your affairs in order. Pruitt made 4 free throws in a row on Saturday. That's a clear sign that the end of the world is near.
Dee was magnificent. His two best scoring games this year came against the Spartans.
Shannon Brown's 1-on-3 dunk was simply amazing.
I don't like the way the refs handled the call on that shot just before the half. They called it good on the floor. Upon review, they confirmed that the shot was good. Then they reviewed it again? How many reviews do they get? I admit that the call eventually ended up being the right one, but I the process just didn't feel right.
Suddenly the Penn State loss stings even more. People like to say the way you win the Big Ten is to win all your home games and split your road games, ending up with a 12-4 record. At 11-5, we didn't quite make it, but we fell short in a way I never expected. We split our road games 4-4, but we were 7-1 at home.
Kudos to Chester and Jamar. They stepped up and played very well in some important minutes.
Excellent game.

Illinois 71, Minnesota 65

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:36:31 CST

What a great game! This was an important road win.
King James was outstanding, with the obvious exception of his 4-of-8 free throw shooting. Still, 16 points and 10 rebounds. Plus 7 assists! Where did those come from?
Another fine game for Pruitt. I like the way this player is developing. His 2 turnovers probably wouldn't have seemed so bad if they hadn't happened on back-to-back plays.
Randle didn't have his best game, largely because the refs wouldn't let him play most of the first half. Still, his stat line doesn't show the outstanding job he did defending Grier in the second half.
Dee: No real complaints here, but I'd much prefer him shooting 2-of-5 from the arc instead of 2-of-9.
McBride: Solid game. 2 steals -- cool.
Frazier: Darn it! Every time he shoots a 3 I complain about it, and then he goes and makes one!
Jamar: In 21 minutes he got 7 points, 6 assists and no turnovers. Can't complain about that, but it's a stat line that looks like a PG, not a SG.
Marcus Arnold made fine use of his 11 minutes with 2-of-3 shooting and 2-of-2 from the foul line.
In the final few minutes of the game, for a time I was tempted to feel sympathy for the Minnesota seniors. Luckily, this temptation only lasted 0.68 seconds.
Up next, Michigan State on the road. Very tough game, that will be.
I'm guessing at this point that Illinois is a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament. If we beat State this weekend and do well in the Big Ten tournament, perhaps we get upgraded to a 2. But I think we're mostly out of danger of getting a 4. That's good. A 3 is so much better than a 4.

Illinois 71, Iowa 59

Sat, 25 Feb 2006 18:00:00 CST

Nice win. Always nice to beat Iowa.
The Hall was obviously packed with a lot of emotion for our two senior players, James Augustine and Dee Brown. It will be sad to see them go. I've enjoyed watching these two guys play for a long time.
Every person got a headband with the numbers 11 and 40 on it. A great keepsake for the end of a great era in Illinois basketball.
Nice to see Dee and Augie connect on a fast break early in the game.
Boo to the refs for making Augie miss 16 minutes of the first half.
OK, let's admit that Brunner was pretty good.
Big props to Brian Randle for hitting 7 of 8 from the line.
And to Rich McBride for hitting 4 of 5 from the arc.
Nice job taking care of the ball -- only 8 turnovers for the whole game.
This is at least the second time this year that I've found riff raff from the opposing team in the seats next to ours.
Next up: On the road at Minnesota. Tough game, and an important one.

Michigan 72, Illinois 64

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 18:00:00 CST

Michigan. I just don't care much for Michigan.
Despite the loss, I don't think Illinois played that bad. Horton was amazing. He won the game for the Wolverines, much like Dee won the game for us against Michigan State a few weeks ago.
Blogging about road games isn't fun, since I wasn't there.
Blogging about games we lost is not fun.
So I'll stop for now.

Illinois 70, Indiana 58

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 07:49:19 CST

Nice win. The guys didn't really let up once they had the lead. That's an important step for this team.
If you had told me before the game that Illinois would quickly get a lead and Indiana would never get it into single digits and we would have 18 turnovers and shoot 3 of 17 from the arc, I would have said you were crazy.
Randle's dunk over Killingsworth was the dunk of the year. Awesome.
Terrible officiating. Just awful.
What was wrong with the scoreboard? It usually shows player stats, but it was blank for the whole game.
And why did they do the national anthem so early? Weird.
Another player suspension: Jamar didn't play today. Weber runs a very tight ship when it comes to discipline.
Nice to see the team on CBS.
If Chester doesn't attempt another 3-pointer all year, I'll be okay with that.
Next up: One the road at Michigan. That'll be tough.

Illinois 63, Northwestern 47

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:00:00 CST

A win is a win. Still, this wasn't pretty. When the score was tied at 29, I was nervous. On its own court, playing against Northwestern with its best player on the bench, Illinois oughta be able to win rather handily.
A Randle drive-and-dunk is a wonderful way to start a game.
Still, this win was very important. After losing two in a row, it would have been unspeakably painful to lose this one. Count it, and move on.

Ohio State 69, Illinois 53

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 18:00:00 CST

I sort of expected to lose this game. Ohio State is pretty good. It's a road game. I wasn't counting on a win.
But I didn't expect to lose it the way we did. The team just didn't look like they had a sense of urgency until it was too late.
OSU shoots the 3 really, really, really well.
Next up: Northwestern at home. This will be a very important game to win.

Penn State 66, Illinois 65

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 17:50:55 CST

I am in shock.
This hurts.
That is all.

Illinois 66, Wisconsin 51

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:16:52 CST

What a great win! Wisconsin is no slouch. This was very satisfying watching the Illini beat them quite handily on their own floor.
Amazing defense won the game again. I suspect we can beat an awful lot of teams when we hold them to 51 points. Jamar was the only bench player to score. It's interesting to note that even without his 12 points, we would have won by 3.
Still, you gotta love Jamar. He was 4/4 from the field, 2/2 from three point range, 2/2 from the free throw line, 1 assist, 2 steals, and no turnovers. This guy is a future star for the Illini.
Kudos to McBride for another strong scoring performance. 16 points, 2/2 from the foul line.
Lots of foul trouble for our team. I guess that is to be expected on the road in the Big Ten.
The stat line shows Augustine had a bad game, but when watching, he came up with plays at critical times.
At 56%, free throw percentage is once again a big concern.
As usual, Bo Ryan should have been called for at least one technical that didn't get called. This guy needs an anger management class in the worst way.
Bottom line: All road wins in the Big Ten are special, but this is Wisconsin. This is very special, and it's going to be a key win in the Big Ten race.

Illinois 76, Purdue 58

Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:00:00 CST

Rich McBride! Now that's what I'm talking about. Driving to the hoop and getting to the foul line. 19 points, 4/4 from the foul line. Keep this up and questions about his starting position will fade away very quickly.
Three more treys from Jamar Smith. Very nice.
The Dee Brown Show in the second half was a lot of fun to watch. There was a sequence of six plays or so where Dee just took over the game at both ends of the floor. He was slicing to the hoop, making rebounds, stealing the ball and making assists to McBride and Randle. Outstanding!
Very nice win, but Purdue is not a good basketball team. The next game will be much tougher. It would be huge to pull out a win at Wisconsin Tuesday night. Huge.

Illinois 77, Minnesota 53

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 09:05:18 CST

Very nice win, even considering that Minnesota is just not very good.
Isn't it amazing how much better our defense is with Randle on the floor?
Randle had a very nice game on the offensive end as well. That dunk was play-of-the-year material for highlight reels.
James completed a game with no fouls. Excellent! (13 points and 10 rebounds are nice too)
The crowd seemed a little bit sleepy last night.
Once again, our free throw shooting percentage is a big problem at 61%.
Most encouraging last night was the strong performance by Jamar Smith. 16 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 3 rebounds.

Illinois 58, Northwestern 47

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 18:00:00 CST

A road win in the Big Ten is always a good thing.
Obviously, the team didn't finish this game strong. They almost let Northwestern back in after building up a very nice lead.
Still, at no point did I believe Illinois was in danger of losing.
Jeers to the officials for failing to stop the game while Randle was laying on the court bleeding from a wound which would later require five stitches.
Kudos to McBride for coming up with a 12-point performance at just the right time, when so many people are talking about whether he should still be a starter.
Another very fine defensive performance. Vukusic, previously the leading scorer in the Big Ten, was held to just 1 field goal, and it happened with less than two minutes remaining in the game.

Indiana 62, Illinois 60

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 10:58:36 CST

Tupper said it best: "It's not a bad loss. But it could have been a great win."
Nice to see Pruitt and Randle each having a very strong performance in this game.
I'm tired of our guys being in foul trouble.
You can't blame Dee for this game. 11 assists and 2 turnovers. He had only 5 points, but scoring is not his primary role.
In the backcourt, scoring is McBride's job. 2 of 7 shooting is not getting it done.
Still, I'm glad the defense was solid again.
And the team shouldn't feel too bad losing by only 2 points to a very good Indiana team on the road. I expected to lose this game, and we did. It hurts a little to lose when we had a legitimate shot at winning.
Killingsworth is a thug. If he's going to deliberately hit Pruitt in the face, I wish he had just used his fist so he would get ejected for it. I don't know how the voting for Big Ten Player of the Year works, but I hope last night's game destroyed his chances of winning. That sort of behavior is an embarrassment for college basketball. On the bright side for him, he should fit in quite nicely at the NBA level.

Illinois 79, Michigan 74

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 18:00:00 CST

I saw this game as a source of hope, for lots of different people:

If you are a Brian Randle fan, there is hope: He made another three-pointer.
If you are blind, there is hope: You can probably get a job as a Big Ten basketball ref.
If you are James Augustine fan, there is hope: He looked great in this game.
If you are a player elsewhere, competing with Jamar Smith for the best 3-point shooting percentage, there is hope: Jamar shot 50% from the arc in this game. That brings his overall average down. :-)
If you are another team competing for the Big Ten title this year, there is hope: The Illinois defense isn't always working very well.
If you have been worried about the Illini's free throw shooting, there is hope: They shot 83% in this game, over 90% in the first half.
If you have been worried about the Illini offense, there is hope: 79 points, only 9 turnovers.
If you are simply an Illini fan, there is hope: With the students still in break, Illinois packed the Hall with orange shirts and lots of noise.
If you are a Michigan fan, there is hope: Most people think Amaker doesn't know how to coach, but this game showed clear evidence to the contrary. Michigan's players clearly know how to foul without getting caught, and I don't think that kind of knowledge comes without very specific teaching from their coach.
If you are concerned about the overall state of the Illini basketball program, there is hope: This team is in a slump. For the last three games, they haven't really had their game together. And yet, there is a remarkable statement here about where our program is: We play poorly for three games in a row and win two of them.
If you are hoping for Illinois to win the Big Ten title again, there is hope: We won this one. Take them one game at a time.