The Illini Don't Get The Win They Needed

Horrible, horrible game.

The Illini Need Another Win

Hey Bill Cole,

How about leading the Illini to a win over Wisconsin today?

You know, Peoria Richwoods style.

Best,
Bevormo

Latos, LeBlanc, Gallagher, Poreda & Italiano LLP

Mat Latos led a bevy of the Padres young pitchers in a solid set of outings this afternoon, paving the way for a 9-3 Drino beatdown of the M's.

I know Chase, Kyle and Aaron Cunningham all had good days with the bat, but what really caught my eye - or ear, in this case, because I was listening to Ted Leitner and Jerry Coleman on the radio broadcast - was the solid pitching of Latos, Wade LeBlanc, Sean Gallagher, Aaron Poreda and Craig Italiano.

Latos had some good stuff early on, a walk to Griffey his only real mistake over 2 full innings. Wade had a little trouble in his two innings, though that was partly the fault of a Chase Headley error at third base. According to Leitner, Wade's stuff looked good.

The last three guys though really sounded impressive. The combined line for Gallagher, Poreda and Craigers Italiano this afternoon was 6 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks and 3 Ks. Aaron Poreda was particularly impressive in that he had all 3 Ks.

All three of those guys are key swing prospects for the Padres. If all three swing to side of good - meaning become beast pitchers - then the Drinos will have a sick amount of depth on their pitching staff.

Today was a good sign.

Big Jamal ... Such A Monster (and Sproles is likely back!)

The Chargers released Jamal Williams today, ending more than a decade of pure beastliness by the big guy on the Bolts defensive line.

Jamal joined the Bolts for the 1998 season. To put that in perspective, that was before the Padres last trip to the World Series.

I mean Jamal joined the Chargers at the same time as Ryan Leaf. Not to mention before LT and Drew Brees, and way before Philip Rivers and Shawne Merriman.

Looking over at Pro-Football Reference.com at some players who had careers of similar quality and shape to Jamal, a few beastly names jump out at me. Names like Gary Johnson, Marcus Stroud, Rulon Jones, Gary Larsen, Dwight White and Louie Kelcher.

Talk about a group of guys you'd like to have on your side in a vicious cockfight.

Man, I'm really going to miss Jamal.

But on the brighter side of life, it looks like Sproles will be back for another year.

Get r dun, A.J.!

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!