Wayne McClain Gets A Promotion

Wayne McClain, Illinois assistant basketball coach and the one with the gray hair in the above photo, was promoted to Associate Head Coach (or is Associate to the Head Coach?) today by Bruce Weber. Though his duties will remain more or less the same, McClain will likely now pocket a bit more caysh to spend in and around exotic Champaign-Urbana.

I remember watching Coach McClain's Peoria Manual teams of the 1990s and rooting as they won four straight IHSA AA titles, three while Wayne was the head coach. Those teams were probably the best in all of high school basketball around the country at the time, led by Frank Williams, Sergio McClain, Marcus Griffin and other beasts (Griffin and Williams were both McDonald's All Americans).

Incidentally, check out this sweet article making the very obvious point that Peoria, not Chicago, has the best high school hoops in the State of Illinois. It's really an incidental point, however, given that Illinois itself has the best high school hoops in the United States.

But I digress.

The bottom line is that Wayne deserves this promotion and I'm excited to know he is getting his due with the Illini. As long as he is around I know the Illini practices will be disciplined, fast paced and, for lack of a more universally known description, P-town style. But I'm sure you get what I mean.

Congrats, Wayne.

They Call Him Mr. Meacham

I can't begin to describe how impressed I was by the Illini's comeback last night. So many great things happened in the last six minutes of the game - Wayne McClain drawing up that trapping press with 5:00 to play comes to mind - that I hesitate to single out one guy for honors.

That said, Trent Meacham really was a monster beast in those last minutes.

If you haven't seen the finish of the Illini's stirring 60-59 victory at Northwestern, please check this out. It's the best way I can imagine to spend 8:21 of your day.

If you can't spare the full 8 plus minutes, allow me to point you to Trent's artistry (these are times on the YouTube video, not the game clock):

1:06: the Illini come out of a time out in Coach McClain's trapping press and Trent steals a pass at the top of the key and lays it in to pull the Illini to 57-47 with 4:53 to play;

2:40: Demetri McCamey flies down the court on a fast break, puts the ball behind his back and then finds Meacham on the perimeter for a long two ... 57-50 with 3:38 to play;

4:25: Northwestern has just hit a bucket (their last of the game) to go up 59-50 with 2:15 to go ... Meacham takes the ball at the top of the key and splits two players to lay it in (after a suspensful bounce on the back of the rim) and pick up a foul ... he sinks the free throw to make the game 59-53 with 2:09 to play;

6:04: the Illini get the ball back on the possession arrow and McCamey dribbles up, spots Trent in the corner, and Meacham catches-and-releases in a split second, firing up a moon ball that drops through the hoop ... Illini down 59-56 with a minute to play;

(Incidentally, Stephen Bardo was calling the game for ESPN and as McCamey passes the ball to Meacham at this point, Bardo starts to say, "This finish for Northwestern has an eerie feeling ... [now Meacham's shot drops through the hoop and Bardo finishes raising his voice] ... like the Purdue game!" Classic.)

6:37: the Illini force another turnover and have the ball down three points ... Tisdale thinks about a three pointer but then gives it up and sets a monster pick for Meacham, who takes the ball at the perimeter and cuts through the defense for a leaning one-hand layup ... Illini down 59-58 with 42.6 seconds to play;

7:11: Meacham guards Northwestern's Michael Thompson as Thompson dribbles around the perimeter ... Thompson finally decides to drive to the basket and Meacham reaches out for a block just as Thompson starts to elevate for a layup ... the ball bounces out of bounds to the Illini;

and finally ...

7:30: with under ten seconds to play, McCamey passes the ball to Meacham who, seeing McCamey curve around him, dishes the ball back to McCamey for the game winning assist and bucket.

Just an incredible job down the stretch.