Ohio St. 74, Illini 58

Whoa. I'm back.

A lot has happened during my month and a half vacation (the Rose Bowl, the Peavy contract extension, the Bolts make the playoffs) and I'll get to all of that in upcoming posts.

But first I have to turn to last night's hoops debacle.

I watched the game from one of the best bars on the Upper West Side of Manhattan - P.D. O'Hurley's - because the cable was out at my apartment. My night of sitting on the sofa and flipping between the Illini, the Orange Bowl and the Iowa Caucuses swiftly turned into a frigid block and a half walk to P.D.'s, a couple draft Heinekens, and watching some bombed dude get into a screaming match with two attractive girls in woolen caps he relentlessly hit on. Good times, as always, at P.D.'s

The only downside was that P.D.'s, as per usual, was playing music, and not game sound, so I missed the sparkling analysis of Brent Musburger, Steve Lavin and Erin Andrews (I'm not even joking; they're my favorite hoops announcing team by far).

Anyway, all I have to say about the game is two things. One, Jamar Butler was in a zone. His 15-point rampage in the second half was ridiculous but even after he cooled down and the Illini started to shrink the deficit his eyes revealed that he was not going to let Ohio St. lose the game.

And two, at the 6:12 mark with the Illini back to within 8, Chester Frazier made a magnificent steal in the frontcourt, dove for the ball, retrieved it ... and flung it wildly ahead behind Mike Davis and out of bounds. That sums up the Illini hoops season to this point. Along with Randle's foul trouble and the team's inability to knock down threes and free throws, Frazier going wild and tossing the ball away at critical points in the game is now a steady refrain.

If this Illini team is going to improve they must get better guard play.