Illinois vs. PSU

Illinois vs. Penn State
Tonight @ 8 p.m.

Chalk Talk

On Saturday, I was watching the Illinois-Purdue game w/a few friends (all named Bud), and I was less than impressed w/our defense. The announcers kept babbling about field goal percentage, but when Purdue scored on dunk after lay-up after dunk - they should have called out our defense.

Both tOSU and Purdon't exposed an Illini weakness, the way we defend picks. If a guard picks a guard, then our players switch. But if a big man picks for a guard, then our bigs hedge and trap. Lets use an example (I wanted to borrow John Madden's telestrator for this, but the fat bastard says its for football only), if Augustine's man picks Dee, then Augie will slide up to cut off the ball handler (called hedging) and Dee will double the ball. tOSU and Purdon't employed two different strategies to combat our 'hedge and double'. The tOSU guards did a great job of going inside our hedge and splitting the double team before it could set up. In Saturday's game, after the Purdon't big men set their picks, they rolled straight to the basket. Purdon't's guards passed around the double team (creating a 4-on-3) and the ball was skipped to the paint before we could rotate over. Good coaching. Fortunately, we have a Grand Master on our team, and during both games there was a noticeable difference in execution from the first half to the second half. Weber's ability to change what is working and what is not working will win us several games over the long haul.

Penn State

Penn State should really be kicked out of the Big10. The only thing I like about this team is the name of their head coach - Ed DeChellis. Doesn't that just role of your tongue? Ed DeChellis. Say it with me, "Ed DeChellis". You shouldn't call him 'Ed' or 'DeChellis'. It has to come together...almost like one word Ed-DeChellis. Penn State's floor leader is Junior Forward Aaron Johnson (6'9" 240 lbs.) who averages 15 points and 10.3 boards a game. The man is huge. Not like BD, Dimitry, or James Dolan during their "fat years", but big enough so that he probably has to walk sideways down an airplane's center aisle.

Penn State's guards would probably have a hard time winning on the 1 court at IMPE, so I expect lots of steals and a bunch of points in transition. Let's show Nick Smith some love tonight folks. I know that many of you cringe when touches the ball, but Nick was crucial in wins over Purdue and Indiana last year. We will need him down the road, so let's get the boy on track. I expect to see a mix of mid range set shots and a few post moves for "The Chainsaw". He's my gamer for tonight.


Illinois - 85
Penn State - 62


Sincerely,

"Ed DeChellis"
"Ed DeChellis"
"Ed DeChellis"
"Ed DeChellis"
"Ed DeChellis"
"Ed DeChellis"