At Least Brian Carlwell Is On A Winner

Nothing went right for Brian Carlwell when he was at Illinois. In February 2007, halfway through his freshman year, he was the passenger in a car driven by Jamar Smith that careened out of control and crashed. Both Smith and Carlwell were drunk. Smith thought Carlwell was dead and left him in the car while he tried to figure out what to do. Jamar never played for the Illini again.

A season later, still feeling the effects of the accident, Carlwell tore a knee ligament, all but ending his sophomore season. He decided to transfer and ended up playing for Steve Fisher at San Diego St. In Carlwell's first season of eligibility, the Aztecs made the NCAA Tournament while his former Illini teammates settled for the NIT. This season the Aztecs have only one loss and are fighting for a #1 overall seed in the tournament. Meanwhile the Illini are again riding the bubble.

I'll be rooting for Carlwell and the Aztecs in the NCAA Tournament. And on a geographical note, hopefully Brian is enjoying the Diago and dominating beach volleyball games in his spare time.

They don't have beaches in Champaign.

Must Win Tonight At Ohio State?

I wish Bruce would just say F everybody and wear this tux on the sidelines tonight when the Illini visit Ohio State.

I really don't know what other changes he could make to get a win tonight. The odds are seriously stacked against him and the Illini. The cummerbund could be our only hope.

The Day Spring Training Begins

Today is the day all the Padres players report to Spring Training. The pitchers and catchers reported last week, and most of the position players already checked in, but today's the day they all have to be there. The team gives them physicals today, and then tomorrow they start workouts.

I once told my boss that I hoped to be in a position one day where I could just take off the entire month of March, go to Arizona, and watch Spring Training games. He sighed and said, me too. I appreciated that response because he just as easily could have said, "You want March off? Fine, take it. And take the rest of the year off too, without pay."

Here are the storylines I'll be following in Peoria:

1. Will Cameron Maybin offend every member of the Padres front office with his tweets?

2. Will the Red Sox prospects - Rizzo, Kelly - look noticeably better than all the Padres prospects?

3. Will any pitcher stake a clear claim to the #5 spot in the rotation?

4. Will Kyle Blanks demonstrate that he has any semblance of a hitting stroke back?

5. Will Aaran Harang look like he can be a dependable innings eater throughout the season?

I'm sure more stories will develop but this is what I'll be looking at in the first week or so.

What a glorious time of year.

Illini Squeak Out Home Win Against Lowly Michigan

I can't wait until these two guys graduate.

Seriously. This senior crew - McCamey is the ringleader, and Bill Cole gets lumped in too - have brought me nothing but frustration, anxiety, and shame. Worse, they have brought me far too few wins. They simply don't know how to win, a point driven home last night where they eeked out a 54-52 home win over Michigan only because Michigan was ice cold from the field, including two missed chances at a game-winning three as time expired and the Illini defenders looked on helplessly.

For example, look at Tisdale in the above photo (by Chris Sweda of the Chicago Tribune). He has that look of, "Oh man, Mikey D. We survived and pulled out a tough victory. I'm satisfied. I mean, we weathered that storm and pulled out a tough victory. We should go celebrate."

Whereas what Tisdale should be doing is jogging off the court with his head down, thinking about what time tomorrow morning he'll be back in the gym working on post moves and finding his long-lost jump shot.

The Illini go at Michigan St. and at Ohio St. in the next 6 days. Are the seniors going to grab an edge and play with some ferocity? Or will they lollygag and do just enough not to get blown out?

I have literally no idea.

McCamey Benched, Leads Illini To Victory Over Minnesota

Last night's win wasn't always pretty - the Gophers seemed to have a lot of shots rim in and out - but one takes what one can get in the wild and woolly world of college hoop.

The win moves the Illini to fourth place in the Big Ten ahead of Sunday's showdown with the second-place Purdue Boilermakers.

Until then I'll leave you with the following quote from Chris Hine's article in today's Chicago Tribune:

"The last couple of weeks, I let my play on offense affect my defense, my energy and being a vocal leader for this team," McCamey said. "My teammates called me out and told me I had to be better than that. I stepped up tonight to show them I'm still here, I'm not going anywhere."

McCamey. Finally getting it.

(At least for today.)

Another Illini Loss ... To Northwestern

Yesterday's game wasn't televised in New York. That's just as well because it sounds like it was an absolutely frustrating loss, characterized by an up-and-down performance by Demetri McCamey, another disappearing act by D.J. Richardson, and a melt down at the end of the first half that resulted in 6 unanswered points for Northwestern.

I don't have any solutions for the way Illinois loses these games. How do you train players to have the mental toughness to avoid meltdowns, hold second-half leads, and play hard on every play? Is that just about recruiting the right type of mentally tough player? Or can that mental toughness be coached up? I have no idea. And what scares me is that Bruce Weber has no idea either.

J Leman Is A Bolt!

I was just perusing the Chargers list of recent transactions and noticed that on January 12 they signed former Illini monster, J Leman, to a Reserve/Future contract. So choice.

What really blew my mind though is that this is J's third stint with the Bolts. I somehow missed that the Bolts signed J to the practice squad twice before, first in November 2009, and then again at the end of November 2010 for the duration of the season.

You know I love crossovers between and among the Padres, Chargers, and Illini, and J is the perfect ambassador between the teams. As the #6 all-time tackler in Illini history, and a captain on the 2007 Rose Bowl team, no doubt J has regaled his Bolts teammates with tales of Champaign and the Zooker's antics.

Well done, AJ. Well done.

S-S-S-Siiiigning Day!

Quite a day.

A few late additions - Darrius Caldwell from Atlanta and Jon Davis from Louisville - to an already strong nucleus of quality players, including the above-pictured Reilly O'Toole, give Ron Zook a promising 2011 recruiting class.

The consensus among the recruiting sites, mainstream media, and bloggers is that Zook's class, while not one of the top rated in the country, fills a lot of the Illini needs and adds depth at every position.

The Illini have a great opportunity to win in 2011 with 8 home games, including their first five games of the season. They no longer play Mizzou and could be 5-0 before their first real challenge. Hopefully some of these freshmen will contribute to the cause.

Everything's Coming Up Zooker!

Or at least I hope it is.

Tomorrow is signing day in the world of college football. Based on the list of players who have committed to play for the Illini, the Zooker's class ranks in the middle-to-lower half of the Big Ten. About 30th to 40th nationally depending on what recruiting site put together the rankings.

But why would anyone, let alone the Zooker, care about rankings? What's more important is getting coachable atheletes into the program that Petrino and Koenning and the boys can mold into stellar beasts.

A few recruits I'll be excited about when they send in their LOI's tomorrow include:

- Tony Durkin, a 6'3" 270 pound C from Tinley Park Andrew outside Chicago;

- Ralph Cooper, a mean-looking middle linebacker prospect from the great state of South Carolina;

- Reilly O'Toole, the QB who led Wheaton Warrenville South to two state championships; and

- Donovonn Young, an underrated running back prospect out of Katy, Texas.

I'm also real excited for Jordan Frysinger, an unheralded prospect out of Corning, New York who spent most of his high school career playing lacrosse and was not many (any?) recruiters' radar. I like him because I think Corning Incorporated, based in Corning, New York, is a solid company worth your investing dollars. But I also like him because you know who else was an unheralded prospect from upstate New York?

Jimmer Fredette.

I'm just saying.