yeah... needed somewhere to post this:
Nnana Egwu '11 commits to Illinois over Purdue

still a lot of work to be done on '11 class, but at least the recruiting is a big step up from the '04-'06 period

Oh yeah, for those Illini fans that missed it
Illini basketball rated the #6 program in the country all-time by objective standards (Sagarin)

1-0
96-69 over SIU-Edwardsville
playing freshmen and scoring in the 90s
let's see what happens against real competition

A national title or at least more than 2 final 4's witnessed in your lifetime should be a prerequisite for you to stand by this so firmly and so proudly over Indiana, dook, or whoever the other one you want to claim Illinois to be ahead of for top 6 all-time. Just sayin

lol donkaments

wtf just happened?

Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on.

what a disaster!

Mike Davis no-show in game against Utah was horrible.

Why is Jeff Jordan playing so much? I know he works hard and such, but didn't we all learn that doesn't overcome talent with chester frazier. Leave Richardson and Paul in the game.

Turned out to be a bummer that Weber emptied the bench in the first half against Utah instead of stepping on their throats.

Illini came out with sunken shoulders against Bradley.

McCamey was awesome against Utah, not so much against Bradley.

Tisdale needs better hands.

Illini had a decent crowd advantage for 'neutral' court games.

As suspected, Bruce Weber will not let the game get up tempo. The Illini have talented scorers now. There is no reason to be playing races to 60 or 65 type games.

What happened to the press defenses and zones that the Illini were supposedly working on bringing into the fold?

Alex Legion continues to be practice All-American and in-game nothing.

B-Weber tried to stall out the game again against Bradley up 66-61 and on. The Illini were rolling then. No need to put on the breaks. Seen this one before many times. Gah! Bad no-call when Tisdale got hammered going for offensive board up 66-63, but the officiating was pretty fair for the game (some Illini breaks in the first half with Bradley getting nickel-dimer breaks to start 2nd half).

Illini definitely put to rest that they are a good team right now.

loooooooooooooooooooooooooooool mbn

well, that was exciting

The Illini are fulfilling that old prophecy about freshmen teams having inconsistency. The real key in the game was McCamey's presence. Even when the Illini got down 20 in the first half, they were +5 in that half with McCamey in the game. I felt sorry for McCamey; his fouls were some BS. On his first foul, McCamey got beat just off the top of the key 1-on-1. Brandon Paul then slapped across the Clemson players' arms. The officials incorrectly called the foul on McCamey. The second foul was a mis call on a charge/block situation. It appeared to be a clear block, especially with the way the officials called blocks/charges in the game. The 3rd foul was a nickel-dimer off a backside rebound. The 4th foul was a block called on McCamey when the offensive player put the ball into McCamey's stomach and hit the floor. This was one where the tv crew actually replayed and went through the call. Both announcers thought it was a poor call. Actually, the officiating in the game was pretty fair (very fair compared to a Big Ten conference road game). It was just bad luck that the calls seemed to get McCamey out through coincidence-- wrong guy whistled and the wrong end on 2 block/charges. As nice as Jeff Jordan has been, the team clearly falls a big notch with him in the game and McCamey out. This was in evidence against Bradley and really on display @ Clemson. The Illini need McCamey to play 35 minutes a game.

Hey, Bruce used a zone! About time! The Illini have been poor at stopping penetration 1-on-1. McCamey and others were in foul trouble. The zone really messed with Clemson. I wish the Illini had gone to it in the 2nd half v Utah rather than let those guys drive all over them.

Please, please, please play up tempo. Mike Davis was born to play in that type of game. It seemed to suit Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson much better as well. I know it means there will be possessions were the Illini throw up some ugly shots early in the clock. So be it. Overall, it makes for a much stronger attack. Did Weber see the Illini comeback? Some quick 3s by Paul and Richardson. Some quick baseline jumpers by Davis.

Oh yeah, the Illini should attack presses more. With Jordan in the game, it seemed like the Illini were content to just get the ball across mid court. Forget that! With the baseline shooting ability of Davis and Tisdale, the Illini showed be a press killer. No full court press can defend that. It's just a numbers issue. That is something a press gives up.

Some great plays by Tisdale. I was impressed by how well he got up and down the court. In the past, he has struggled when games got flowing that fast (as most 7 footers do).

I think the key is to find the balance with a loose leash and management this year for Weber. Let Paul and Richardson make their mistakes, but don't pull them instantly when they do. The Big Ten and Weber type coaching gets caught up in a possession v possession battle too much.

The Illini are definitely emotional and, hence, entertaining thus far.

This x 10000. The biggest problem offensively IMO is that there aren't a lot of people that you can just give the ball to with the shot clock at 7 and say "go get 'em, kid". Paul will be that guy, and he's pretty close now, but it's hard to put that on a freshman and to have enough confidence in him to do it. Which means that what you see is a lot of people passing up mediocre shots for about 15-20 seconds working for a good shot, which is great when it works--but when it doesn't work their best option would be, as they said on the broadcast last night, to throw the damn ball into the stands.

If you calibrate the threshold for what an acceptable shot is downward, you'll take a few more not so great shots early in the clock, but we'll be spared the disasters that follow.

On the other hand, given the relative lack of quality depth on the roster (witness the first half last night), it might be right to shorten the game as much as possible. I still think that's wrong, but that's probably what he's thinking.

woot

So much better to watch this year
controlled Vandy from the opening tip
I'm not sure the lead got below 8 the whole second half

Softest team in B11 history. Davis and Tisdale have all the skill in the world but no heart when it comes to pounding. This might be one of the most frustrating years for an Illini fan in recent history. This team has a ton of talent, but from game to game there is no consistency.

damn Weber micro-managing
leave Jeff Jordan on the bench
leave Paul and Richardson in the game

LOL... cannot even beat Mizzou
this bball season is starting to remind me of football

LOL @ Alex Legion

Ouch, Illini struggling even with home court bias refs.

did you watch the game? those were not biased refs at all

Only watched the end (after I posted). Just stating how the Big 10 refs are typically horribly biased towards the home team.

Good win for Illinois, though.

Is he really transferring again?

at least they are entertaining

Tisdale w/ the worst game of his career

Please use the zone on defense

we found out that Iowa really, really, really sucks

I learned that Indiana is pretty awful as well
the Illini continue to play emotional roller coaster games

Maybe they could have like a 20 minute scrimmage before the game starts? Something. Anything.

holy ****... the Illini actually slowed down Talor Battle for a change
DJ Richardson is good on both ends of the court
Mike Davis is MIA
McCamey continues to be the best player.