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.)

Cardinal Sins Of The 2009-10 Illini

In discussing the NCAA Tournament chances of various bubble teams with my advisors this morning, I came to the following conclusion:

I can really only speak to the Illini, who made two cardinal sins this season:

1. they lost to Utah and Bradley in Vegas over Thanksgiving; and
2. needing one more win over the last three weeks of the season, they were blown out three times at home to OSU, Wiscy and Minny.

They don't deserve any favors for that performance.

Oh man, the Illini need to win against Wisconsin on Friday.

Whither The Illini?

After back-to-back home losses to Ohio St. and Minnesota, a competitive road loss to Purdue, and an ugly road victory against lowly Michigan, the Illini may well find themselves in a similar position to the girl in the above photo, which is to say on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament.

So what happened in that four-game stretch the Illini played from February 14-27?

To wit,

February 14 - hosting the Buckeyes: a pure beatdown by the red-hot Buckeyes from start to finish;

February 20 - at the Boilermakers: a good, competitive game, the Illini just couldn't hit the big shots down the stretch;

February 23 - at the Wolverines: an ugly-fest in which Michigan just played worse than the Illini; and

February 27 - hosting the Golden Gophers: an inspired second-half led by Peoria Richwoods-grad Bill Cole couldn't make up for absolute ice-cold shooting and lack of defensive intensity in the first half.

And now the Illini stand at 18-11, 10-6, good for 5th place in the Big Ten. Joe Lunardi has the Illini as a #10 seed in his latest Bracketology, but most pundits believe the Illini need to win at least one more game (at Ohio St., home against Wisconsin, or a first-round Big Ten tourney game against, most likely, Wisconsin) to secure an NCAA Tournament bid.

It's time for McCamey, Cole and the boys to gather up their britches and bring a little Illini pain to Columbus tomorrow night.

Let's get this dun, Illini!

Mr. Clean

Bruce,

You sure the University doesn't have someone to do this for you?

Ahh, what the heck. A little elbow grease was just what the doctor ordered.

Illini 52, Golden Smophers 41.

Best,
Bevormo