The Illini Versus The Buckeyes

First, great photo of Whitney "Nine Piece" Mercilus by John Dixon of the News-Gazette.

Second, the Illini have only defeated the Buckeyes 12 times in Champaign. The teams have played there 46 times since their first meeting in 1902. I'd like to have more victories at home against any team, especially a bitter Big Ten foe, but that low win total will help to make today's victory - and I'm sure it will be a victory - even more special.

Here's a quick list of the Illini victories against Ohio St. in Champaign:

October 12, 1991: Illini 10 - Buckeyes 7
October 7, 1989: Illini 24 - Buckeyes 14
October 5, 1985: Illini 31 - Buckeyes 28
October 15, 1983: Illini 17 - Buckeyes 13
October 8, 1966: Illini 10 - Buckeyes 9
November 18, 1950: Illini 14 - Buckeyes 7
November 16, 1946: Illini 16 - Buckeyes 7
October 13, 1934: Illini 14 - Buckeyes 13
November 24, 1928: Illini 8 - Buckeyes 0
November 22, 1924: Illini 7 - Buckeyes 0
November 16, 1918: Illini 13 - Buckeyes 0
October 17, 1914: Illini 37 - Buckeyes 0

My conclusion from this list: the Illini are due for a win. Against Ohio St. 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.

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.

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.

Illinois Loss To OSU Isn't A Good Thing

Yeah kid, that's how I felt after the Illini loss to Ohio St. last night.

Sconnie game this weekend is a must win.

Evan Turner Must Be Stopped, And I Know Just The Team To Do It

I don't know how he's going to do it, but Bruce Weber must find a way to stop Evan Turner tonight.

Last year, I'd say that Bruce should just dial up some Chester Frazier action and call it a night. But this year? Yikes. I don't know what to do.

D.J. Richardson is probably the team's best perimeter defender, but he's only a freshman. Demetri McCamey is Turner's peer in many ways - most notably because the two were high school teammates - but I'll be darned if he can D up Evan for 40 minutes.

What about the Richwoods beast, Billy Cole? I don't see it happening.

Maybe Weber goes all postmodern tonight and lets Evan get his points and rebounds, but has Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis and the rest of the boys lock down the Dieblers, the Bufords, the Lightys and the Lauderdales of the world. Easier said than done, no doubt, but still perhaps a more manageable task than shutting down the probable National Player of the Year.

Whatever will be, will be. The Illini need this game. Badly.

Game on tonight at 9 PM EST.

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!

Worst Home Loss For Illini Since 1976, i.e. Since Before I Was Born

I was going to lead this post with the statement that Sunday's 72-53 loss to Ohio St. was the worst Illini home loss of the Bruce Weber era. That is, until I read Mark Tupper's blog post last night and realized it was not just the worst home loss of the Weber era, but the worst Illini home loss since January 1976.

Holy Lou Henson!

That's not a good way to start the stretch run of the Big Ten schedule.

I came away with a couple competing thoughts from the game. On the one hand, after watching Ohio St.'s performance against the Illini, I'd venture that they are a national title contender. They have an extremely talented starting five and, with the possible exception of a matchup against John Wall and Kentucky, will have the best player on the court no matter who they play (that would be Evan Turner for those lucky enough not to have watched Sunday's game). If David Lighty and Jon Diebler are hitting shots and making dagger plays like they did Sunday, and it is conceivable they could go on a run of 4 or 5 or 6 games playing as well as they did Sunday, and Dallas Lauderdale continues to man up in the post and snag rebounds and putbacks, I'd put this Ohio St. squad up against anyone.

On the other hand, Illinois played Sunday's game like my Grandma's rec league team (note: my Grandma doesn't even have a rec league team). I'm pretty sure I, like Jon Diebler, would have hit 6 of 11 threes against that threadbare Illini perimeter defense. Not to mention that not one Illini could make a shot on the offensive end. Demetri, D.J. Richardson and Chris Paul made it look like Thad Matta invented the 1-3-1 defense minutes before the game. News flash: there's a reason not many teams play a 1-3-1 zone ... and that reason is it has wholesale weaknesses against strong guards who can push the ball up the court, swing it around the perimeter and either find a big man on the weak side post or hit an open shot resulting from a late-rotating defender.

But I'll give credit to Matta and the Ohio St. players. They took advantage of the freshmen Illini guards and schooled them.

My only hope is that Ohio St. used up its juice in this more or less meaningless game and now the Illini can learn from the loss and bring the fury in their next meeting.

McCamey v. Turner: Cage Match

Oh man, that was a choice win over Wisconsin last Tuesday. Bo Ryan's squad had never lost a home game to an unranked team during his tenure. Not only that, he's now only lost 6 home games to Big Ten teams in 10 years - 3 of those losses have been to the Illini.

Our boy Demetri was once again a huge part of the Illini victory. He was 11-17 from the field for 27 points, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. He added 7 assists because, at bottom, he is a generous guy.

Today will be an equally dangerous test for the Illini. McCamey will lead the Illini against his old high school cohort, and current National Player of the Year Candidate, Evan Turner.

No doubt Evan Turner is strong with the force, but McCamey has been an absolue Jedi lately.

Tip-off in Champaign in about 5 minutes.

I Have No Idea What Will Happen In the Illinois - Ohio St. Game

That's right. I have absolutely no clue about what will happen today when the Illini play Ohio St. at the Horseshoe.

First of all, it seems like forever since the Illini have played a game. They lost the opener to Mizzou, then came back a week later and won against Illinois St., a game that can't be considered a real contest. I didn't watch that game, and just read about the injury to Juice on the first play from scrimmage, the up and down play of Eddie McGee and the questionable defensive play, even against an ISU offense that is objectively terrible.

Secondly, even though the Illini are coming off a bye week, injuries raise a big question mark. Juice has the quad (or is it a hammy?) issue, and Benn has the sprained ankle he suffered against Mizzou. Martez is out for the season and a redshirt freshman, Evan Frierson, is starting in his place at middle linebacker. If Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes can't exploit that matchup, they aren't worthy of their AP #13 ranking.

All that said, the Illini have a lot of talent and have won in Columbus recently, against a better Ohio St. team no less. Here are the few keys I see for the Illini to be competitive:

1. the defense - especially Sirod, Josh Brent, Doug Pilcher and Corey Liuget on the D Line, and Evan Frierson and Ian Thomas in the linebacking unit - must contain Pryor when he leaves the pocket as he so often does;

2. Juice needs to complete a few passes downfield to Benn, Jeff Cumberland, Jarred Fayson or one of the other guys in the receiving unit, in order to open up the option run that Juice ran to perfection in 2007;

3. Juice needs to throw no more than 1 pick;

4. the DBs - I'm looking at you Donsay Hardeman - need to prevent Pryor from making a big play deep and, almost as important, avoid making foolish late hit personal foul penalties; and

5. the Illini can't give up. Against Mizzou they clearly were outclassed in terms of heart, drive and will to win. If the Buckeyes smack the Illini in the face early today, which they may very well do, the Illini need to stand right back up and throw a stiff forearm shiver right across the jaw of the Buckeyes. That's what a man would do, and that's what the Illini need to do today.

I'm looking forward to this.