Pentagram: Vandy @ Illinois

Coach Weber once again got the drop on a former fellow Boilermaker with a 79-68 win over Kevin Stallings and Vanderbilt in  Champaign.  The Illini continue to look impressive on offense – especially against teams without overly physical guards.  When you shoot 60% from the field you’re going to win.  Of course the coaching staff remains concerned about what happens when you don’t shoot all that well and you can’t man up defensively(see Utah second half, Bradley, Clemson first half).  Still, give me a team that can score and needs to improve their defense…

Five points in the pentagram.

Pentagram: All-time Comeback

Some otherwise loyal Illini fans were kicking their dog, throwing the remote, and/or flipping on the PlayStation or movie or whatever after that first half.  I know this because I got the texts from some of them.  And I was very, very close myself, but I wanted to see if anyone would respond in the second half as well as whether McCamey would continue to get the shaft from the officials.  What I and the rest of the truly loyal saw was the all-time comeback victory for Illinois basketball, 76-74 over #18 Clemson.  At Clemson.  With terrible officiating (at least in the first half).

Many are familiar with the old cliche, ‘attitude adjustment’ – and this is precisely what happened after the half.  The Illini “looked like whipped dogs”, as color radio-man Jerry Hester put it, but that all changed when Demetri McCamey settled the team down against the Clemson pressure and guys started to hit some shots.  Of course Clemson also put it in cruise control and played poorly during that stretch, but the last five minutes were back-and-forth and the Illini found a way to make plays.  The win, along with the Badgers’ upset of Duke propelled the Big 10 to victory in the incessantly annoying ACC/Big 10.  Take that, east-coast biased hoops media.

Five points to your all-time comeback pentagram…

Troublesome Illini Weekend

Illini fans had a rough holiday weekend.  First we had the football team’s loss to Cincinnati, a game in which our quarterback missed open receivers left-and-right, the defense looked completely at a loss, which allowed Illinois to prove how not good they are against a top ten team on national television.  The Bearcats, by the way, play the spread offense the correct way – the way Illinois should – but to run it that way you need an accurate passer and willingness to throw.

Then it was the basketball team’s turn to disappoint.  Bruce Weber’s boys got the chance to play a pair of non-cupcakes away from home in Las Vegas and promptly lost both games.  First they let a 32-16 halftime lead slip away against Utah, a game I didn’t watch due to the internet-only TV coverage, but from all reports sounded like the Illini went passive in the second half, trying to work the clock and maintain the lead, which allowed the Utes to adjust, come back, and win on a last second shot in which Illinois forgot to send anyone back on defense.

Against in-state school Bradley, Illinois was simply outworked and outfought.   This was game the team from Peoria seemed to want more (hence storming the floor like it was an NCAA tourney game at the end).  The Braves built an 8-point lead, which Illinois chipped away at in the second half to move ahead by five with about three minutes to go.  After that, Bradley scored nine of the next 11 points, the Orange & Blue, managed a pair of free throws, and that’s how you choke away a second loss in two games.

Pentagram: Illini Basketball Preview

The Fighting Illini 09-10 Basketball season tips off tonight against SIU-Edwardsville.  Coach Weber has four freshman to incorporate, three of which have already proven they will play (and Joseph Bertrand might be in that mix too if not for a knee injury), and his top three returning scorers in McCamey, Davis, and Tisdale.  Illinois has three more talented players coming in next year, and Weber deserves a lot of credit for his recent recruiting success.

But if the football team has taught us anything, it’s to be wary of the local hype surrounding the Illini.  Don’t get carried away with lofty prognostications.  That said, we’re optimistic about this year’s hoops team.  They will be fun to watch with young athletic players and depth on the bench.  The days of low-scoring milk-the-shotclock-and-hope offense should be behind us, and we won’t see many more games in the 40s and 50s (let alone that nightmare Penn State game in the 30s).

Last year’s team overachieved its way to a 24-10 record behind the grit of Chester Frazier and the scoring of the now-junior class.  So what do we see for this year?  Five points in the pentagram…

Some Leaves and Stuff

A beautiful fall weekend, the likes of which we rarely see in November, meant a lot of time outside for the kids and a lot of leaves being bagged by the grown-ups.  There was also time for football, soccer, partying, and even some basketball.  But mostly it was the leaves.  With three big old trees in the yard, you just take it in stride…

53 Bags

Illinois’ offense looked competent and borderline good for the second straight week, scoring 35 points against the Gophers.  We’ve said all along the O&B would need 30+ points a game to win; too bad they waited until the season was halfway over to wake up.  Of course the competition has been less stringent after that brutal September, but how much do we attribute to more manageable foes, how much to the Offensive Coordinator finally getting it together, and how much to having a quarterback who can actually pick up blitzers and hit open receivers?  And we note that Minnesota made adjustments at halftime (and the Zooker did not) and nearly caught up after that terrible blocked punt, but Charest hit McGee on a crucial third down and Illinois got that final touchdown.  To their credit, the Illini never gave up on the season and still have the Illinois rivarly with Northwestern and a winnable home game against Fresno State.  Win those two and we’ll forgive some of the earlier crap…

Hoops Season Pending

Mike D in the House

A quick look at the official website schedule tells us we only have 12 days until the first televised Fighting Illini Basketball exhibition game.  Two weeks after that we have the season opener against SIU-Edwardsville.  For Illini fans, hoops can’t get here soon enough.  We can officially turn our attention to the four heralded freshmen and the talented junior trio of Mike, Mike, and D-Mac.

The Illini are a top 20 kind of team but may not start the season in the polls as it has become fashionable to stock a lot of mid-majors there (a trend Beemsville wholly endorses BTW).  But win against the cupcakes and come into December with one or fewer losses, and the Orange & Blue will get some attention.  If the freshmen can produce and no major injuries befall us, the Illini should contend for the Big 10 – and the conference will be as tough as it’s been in many years.  For a detailed scrimmage report from earlier this year, check out the Rube’s analysis.  More preseason coverage of Coach Weber’s team will be forthcoming.  Turning briefly to…

Illini Fever!

Catch it!  What’s that?  A stable of offensive weapons the likes of which have not been seen in Champaign in many-a-moon?  What?  A new offensive coordinator known for scoring points and rolling up yardage?  Who?   A pair of dark-horse Heisman candidates – wait, HAHAHAHAHAHA.  HA-HA.

We caught the Illini fever.  The boy had about 100 degrees at gametime, a holdover from the little girl’s earlier illness, but like any right-thinking alumni parents, we went to the game anyway, expecting a cure for what ailed us.  We coughed up too much dough in hopes of finally seeing the Orange & Blue beat the Tiggers at the dome.  Instead we bore witness to one of the illest Illinois performances in recent memory. 

To quote the Zooker (and in keeping with the theme): “I feel sick for these guys.  I feel sick for them. I feel sick for the Illini Nation. It’s up to us to make sure we get that fixed.“

We’re all feeling the sickness today.  It’s a good thing beloved President Obama is going to fix healthcare and provide free cures for everyone!  But seriously, did Juice throw the ball down the field even once?  No?  And just what was that strange-looking permutation of the spread?  You run the spread to score points, not play ball control (as the coaches claimed was our objective).  You want to play ball control, line up like Wisconsin or Iowa and run between the tackles.  Otherwise, well …  Nevermind.  It’s not even worth it.

Suffice to say you will not see anymore Illini football blogging on Beemsville until there’s something worth commenting upon.  Because we’re sick of it already.

Illini Football Season Preview

The Zooker

‘Round these parts, we’re ready for some college football.  That means Illini.  That means dubiously-informed opinions on the how, what, and wherefore said Illini might succeed, entertain, and/or disappoint this year.  We’re hoping for more of the former and less of the latter.  We’ll do this in a semi-analytical fashion, so let’s begin with some facts and move on.

2007= 9-4 and the Rose Bowl.  2008 = 5-7 and gnashing of teeth.  There are all kinds of neat statistics about the last two seasons, like how Illinois generated vastly more offense than their opponents last year, how the 08 defense allowed fewer yards than the 07 defense, like how many yards and touchdowns Juice Williams accumulated.  There’s also stats like Number of times Illini fans swore like sailors at the offensive play-calling, ability to miss key tackles, and number of screw ups on special teams.  We know Juice, Benn, et al could break some records this year.  We also know  the margins are slim.  So here’s a fun internal conversation that constitutes our official Beemsville preview.

How do we set the parameters for success? 8-5 and a top bowl game.  Anything less will be disappointing.  10-3, at least a share of the Big 10 Conference, and another BCS appearance should be the goal.

But the non-conference schedule is so hard! Yes, it is.  Top 10 in a difficulty.  And it’s wacky, too with those two December games.  But if you score more points than the other guy…

Early Illini Hoops Report

College football is nearly upon us so naturally we bring you a lengthy first-hand report about Illini basketball…

This courtesy of my brother (sometimes known as the Rube; why? click here…).  Enjoy.

—————-

So the Poster Formerly Known as the Rube was at his post as a member of the Board of Directors for the Illini Rebounders Association last night.  His post was within the newer, but still hallowed walls of The Ubben!  As I walked into the facility a full 15 minutes before the huddled masses I was met with the usual looks of “hey that guy must be important” that I usually get when I arrive.  Coach Harrington walked up and gave me the usual ribbing about Mrs. Rube being a better basketball player than me (she was the star at the Women’s Luncheon last year as she was the only one who could make layups off the inbounds plays.  Of course they were the same inbounds plays the team runs and they were able to teach a group of women who have never played the intricacies of the plays in 15 minutes….what does that say about our inbounds plays?!?!?!?!)  But I digress, Sean wasn’t allowed to be in the gym as the players came out so he hightailed it back into the offices.

Pentagram: Illini Hoops Off-Season

At last week’s Illini Basketball Postseason Banquet, Chester Frazier took home most of the awards, including team MVP.  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it one last time:  Bruce Weber deserves a lot of credit for milking 24 wins and a second-place Big 10 finish out of this team.  The Illini had some glaring holes and were built around Frazier and jump-shooting.  Not bagging on Chester here; I love the way he ran the team this year, but he’s essentially a role-player.  And as far as the jump-shooting, if the last two weekends of the tournament reemphasized anything it’s that you must have driving threats to compliment your jump shooters if you want to reach the highest levels.

Sounds like Chester will be around next year as a graduate assistant.  This is good news as everyone could use a little of what he has.  Will some of it rub off?  Illinois fans will recall what happens when your hardest working toughest player is also one of your best athletes.  See Battle, Kenny and Powell, Roger…  Yeah, there was a lot of talent on both those teams as well, but also some truly tough-minded guys, led by Flight #33 and the Rev.

The most important off-season development has already ocurred:  Jerrance Howard is staying put.  After overtures from both Kentucky and Memphis, Jerrance will meet with AD Ronnie the G about a raise.  Open up the checkbook Guenther; J-Ho is on the rise.

And now, your Illini Hoops Off-Season Pentagram…