Shoot me an email if you're going to make it.
How about a little psych experiment? We’ll call it the college basketball version of the Rorshach test. Take a look at each of the pictures below and write down the first three words that come to mind.
1) Brian Cardinal
2) Jess Settles
3) Lucas Johnson
4) Tom Coverdale
5) Dane Fife
6) Greg Paulus
7) Chris Kramer
7) Chris Kramer
With the exception of #2, I have a feeling that each of these pictures made your blood boil. Brian Cardinal’s knee pads never lost a game to Illinois in his 4 years at Purdue; Dane Fife once bit Iowa’s Duez Henderson on national television; and Tom Coverdale was so despised that Illini student section booed him every time he touched the ball in Champaign (even during warm-ups). Each of these players would get so deep under the skin of opposing teams that they could change a game.
Earlier in the year I thought the Illini needed a defensive stopper from the past, but now I am convinced they need a little more. They need something like the guys shown above - a player that seems like he’s been in the conference forever, one who scraps during every play.
Earlier in the year I thought the Illini needed a defensive stopper from the past, but now I am convinced they need a little more. They need something like the guys shown above - a player that seems like he’s been in the conference forever, one who scraps during every play.
He’ll dive after loose balls (sometimes even when there is no chance to save it – always a fan favorite), he’ll take charges (sometimes flopping and many times getting the call), he’ll always get tangled up with the opposing teams best player (usually ending with his hands in the air proclaiming innocence), and at some point in his career he'll wear one of those plastic face masks because his nose was broken mixing it up.
Lucas Johnson once got Lute Olson so riled up that Arizona Head Coach ran out onto the court to complain to ref and pointed directly at Johnson, “He’s crazy!” Bill Self once said, “Lucas isn’t dirty; Lucas is annoying,”
I want a guy like this to come play for the Illini. This player could give the Illini some personality and be a character to rally behind when momentum seems like it's working against us.
Purdue
Purdue has one of those guys in Chris Kramer. Kramer seems like he’s been at Purdue since the late 90s. He’s a blue collar guy – a glue man that gets his nose dirty and his team riled up. Kramer is a defensive stopper who I expect to follow Dimitri McCamey all game; heck, he might even follow McCamey into the Illini huddle. After being ranked as high as 4th in the AP top 25, Purdue is now 7th in the Big10 coming off back-to-back-to-back losses.
This scares me. If we had problems with Michigan States pressure on Saturday, I am scared to think what is going to happen when the Boilermakers try to put the shackles on Illinois. Turnovers will be key. We have to hold on to the basketball – 12 or less turnovers please. We also have to crash the boards. JaJuan Johnson is an animal down low for Purdue. The second key to anIllini victory is to protect the glass. We did well on the boards for the first 15 minutes Saturday, but we fell off late in the game.
Bill Cole or Tyler Griffey, one of you has to put on your Lucas Johnson jersey if we want to win.
Lucas Johnson once got Lute Olson so riled up that Arizona Head Coach ran out onto the court to complain to ref and pointed directly at Johnson, “He’s crazy!” Bill Self once said, “Lucas isn’t dirty; Lucas is annoying,”
I want a guy like this to come play for the Illini. This player could give the Illini some personality and be a character to rally behind when momentum seems like it's working against us.
Purdue
Purdue has one of those guys in Chris Kramer. Kramer seems like he’s been at Purdue since the late 90s. He’s a blue collar guy – a glue man that gets his nose dirty and his team riled up. Kramer is a defensive stopper who I expect to follow Dimitri McCamey all game; heck, he might even follow McCamey into the Illini huddle. After being ranked as high as 4th in the AP top 25, Purdue is now 7th in the Big10 coming off back-to-back-to-back losses.
This scares me. If we had problems with Michigan States pressure on Saturday, I am scared to think what is going to happen when the Boilermakers try to put the shackles on Illinois. Turnovers will be key. We have to hold on to the basketball – 12 or less turnovers please. We also have to crash the boards. JaJuan Johnson is an animal down low for Purdue. The second key to anIllini victory is to protect the glass. We did well on the boards for the first 15 minutes Saturday, but we fell off late in the game.
Bill Cole or Tyler Griffey, one of you has to put on your Lucas Johnson jersey if we want to win.
Illinois – 72
Purdon't - 69
Sincerely,
Victor Chukwedebe Spitz
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