Posts Tagged ‘Illini’
December 9, 2009
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.
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December 3, 2009
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…
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Posted in Illini, Pentagram | Tagged college basketball, Illini | 2 Comments »
November 13, 2009
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…
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November 9, 2009
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… Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Illini, Life in IL, On Tour, Soccer | Tagged Chicago Fire, costumes, Fall, Illini, MLS | 3 Comments »
October 18, 2009

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… Read the rest of this entry ?
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August 28, 2009
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.
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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. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in Illini | Tagged basketball, Illini | 1 Comment »
April 21, 2009
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…
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Posted in Illini, Pentagram | Tagged basketball, Illini | 2 Comments »