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.)

I Temporarily Recant My Negative Words About The Illini

Heading into last night's game against Michigan St., I was very down on the Illini. They have talent but they are inconsistent in applying it. They seem to lack focus and effort at times. They drop their shoulders when faced with adversity, and can't close out when they have big leads.

Last night against Michigan St., particularly in performances by Brandon Paul and Jereme Richmond, the Illini set aside those issues and pulled out a clutch home win. They now sit in second place in the conference heading into Saturday afternoon's showdown with Ohio St.

True, had the Spartans shot better I might be in a very different mood this morning. But the Illini defense played at least a part in forcing the Spartans to settle for so many jump shots. And strong rebounding in the second half prevented at least a few Spartan put backs.

Bring on Sullinger, Lighty, Diebler and the rest.

Illinois Just Might Be Not Very Good

What is the deal with the Illini basketball program?

Here's a quick list of things that annoy me about the team:

- the three seniors - Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis, and Mike Tisdale - are inconsistent and don't appear to have a winner's mentality;

- Tisdale can't stay on the court because of foul trouble;

- Davis, despite having innate rebounding talent, manages to have games where he only gets 1 rebound;

- Tyler Griffey doesn't get much playing time and then whines about it;

- Meyers Leonard looks like a goofy doofus, is often out of position, and looks like he's focused on dunking every play rather than improving his post presence on the offensive and defensive ends;

- D.J. Richardson hasn't made a basket in two games;

- Brandon Paul always seems to be knicked up or fighting a cold and isn't all that good on defense;

- Bill Cole should play for a mid-major;

- Jereme Richmond mysteriously missed practice last week and was benched for the Wisconsin game;

- the team in general relies too much on the three-point shot; and

- Bruce Weber yells all the time, calls out his players all the time in the press, and generally seems like a guy the players don't have a ton of respect for.

I say Bruce has two months to get this together. If Illinois isn't in the Sweet Sixteen in March I say we hand the program over to Jerrance Howard or Wayne McClain and start anew.

Let's Take The Bulldogs To The Woodshed

The Illini tip-off against Georgia in about 10 minutes. I don't know much about this Georgia squad, but I fully expect the Illini to roll. In particular, I expect freshman guards D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul to have big games.

The game is at Georgia so, much like the Clemson game, the freshman guards will get some good experience playing a quality team in a hostile environment.

Illini basketball on the tube. I can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday evening.

Your All Signsed Up, Your All Signsed Up

D.J. Richardson, formerly of Peoria Central, currently of Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, was one of four recruits today to sign their letters of intent to play for the Illini. He joins Tyler Griffey, Joseph Bertrand and Brandon Paul as the newest group to commit to Illinois.

On behalf of this fine, if widely unknown blog, D.J., I welcome you to the Illini. Here's to hoping you join your three fellow 2009 recruits and lead the Illini to a new era of dominance.

I can't wait.

Now then, query Chris Colvin. What's he going to do?