Illinois vs. Lophers

Illini Game Preview
Illinois vs. Mini
Tomorrow @ 3pm

Let's look at a few of Bruce Weber's motivational tactics from this up and down season:

1. Benched his best player. (Demetri McCamey did not start vs. Iowa or Indiana in early January)
2. Banned players from interviews. (after loss to NU)
3. Had the players revote their captains. (elected McCamey and Junior Bill Cole)
4. Reworked pre-game shootaround. (to counter slow starts against Gonzaga and IU)
5. Benched his 2nd best player. (Mike Davis)
(List compiled from Paul Klee's Twitter Feed - PKlee. Check it out. Lot's of great Illini info.)

The man has worked hard this year. He pulled out a career's worth of ploys in only a few months, and anyone of them could have backfired in a big way. I was extremely skeptical when Coach put McCamey on the bench because I thought he was the only Illini playing with any heart. Coach knew what #32 was capable of and McCamey has responded so unbelievably well that he might have even played himself into this year's NBA draft. Without Turner, McCamey is this year's Player of the Year.

Mike Davis is another situation that could have ended badly. It was clear that the Junior forward wasn't playing with any confidence, and being sent to the bench could have further eroded his psyche. But the splinters in his ass caught fire, and he has been on a 'pogo stick' since playing Wisky.

We've had an extremely tough back half of the season. Coach Weber was recently quoted as saying, "I think we're playing some of our best basketball. But the whole year, consistency has been a question." I agree. Now it's time to finish strong.

Madness

This season has flown by. During Tuesday's game against Fichigan, both Brent Musberger and Steve Lavin put the Illini firmly into the field of 64. One more regular season or Big Ten Tournament win locks the bid up. Each successive win just helps with seeding. After tomorrow's game, the Illini will be a lock.

Mini-Sota

The Golden Lophers narrow hopes of making the tournament were dashed on Wednesday when they lost by the slimmest of margins to Purdue, 59-58. After such an emotional game and not much riding on tomorrow's match-up, I don't expect the Lophers to put up much of a fight. We had some problems with Minnesota's front line last year, but a resurgent Mike Davis pulled down 12 boards and scored 13 points Tuesday. Sophomore Center Ralph Sampson III (great bloodlines) is a big boy at 6'11" 240 so Davis and Tisdale will have to utilize their mid-range games to prevent Sampson from clogging up the middle while the Illini are on offense.

I'd love to see the Illini Freshman build some extra confidence closing out the season. Brandon Paul is usually good for one SportsCenter highlight a game. What do you say he creates an entire reel alongside runningmate DJ Richardson?

Illinois - 71
Lophers - 62


Sincerely,
The All Big10 Team Injury Bug
(victims: Evan Turner, Kalin Lucas, Robbie Hummel)

Illinois vs. Wisky

Tonight @ 6pm
Where? I'm open to suggestions. Shoot me an email.

The rest of America needs to take a cue from New Orleans and make the Monday after every Super Bowl a national holiday. I mean, the Super Bowl itself is already the single greatest celebration of American patriotism aside from Independence Day – apologies to President’s Day, Thanksgiving, Kasmir Polaski Day, and Bastille Day.

A favorite part of Big Sunday is always the commercials. At my office, that was the topic of conversation. Forget the masterful performance of Saints QB Drew Breeze or the 5 lb balls Saints Head Coach Sean Payton, my coworkers wanted to talk about Betty White, free breakfast at Denny’s, and a house built out of Bud Light. Personally, I liked e-Trade (that Milk-o-holic Lyndsey), Doritos (keep your hands off my mama), and Budweiser Auto-Tune.
They were all pretty good, but let me show you some of the best of all time…Super Bowl and non-Super Bowl included.

Terry Tate Office Linebacker

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You kill the Joe. You make some mo’!

The pain train is coming. Woo! Woo!

You know you need a cover sheet on the TPS report, Richard! That ain’t new baby.

Bud Light Swear Jar

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Can I borrow your pen? Can I borrow your f!$%ing pen?

Phil Collins

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Phil Collins radio anyone?

Before Sunday’s game, Peyton Manning was ready to be crowned the best QB of all-time. While I am a huge Peyton Manning fan, Drew Brees is as under appreciated as they come. There was a stat during the 10+ hours of pre-game that compared Manning and Brees over the past 6 year. They had the same amount of touchdown passes but Brees had 1200 more yards passing. Unfortunately, even with this Super Bowl victory, Brees is not considered in the same caliber as Manning. Well, not unless he wins another Super Bowl.

Another underappreciated athlete suits up tonight for the Illini. He’s #32, and he was just named co-Big10 Player of the Week (the other half of the award was his high school running mate Evan Turner). McCamey has accounted for 49% of the Illini offense during Big10 play; he is 9th in the country in assists; and he is on pace to have the single highest assist total in school history - the most since Deron Williams. At the beginning of the season, I could barely find a fan in Illini nation to believe in D Mac’s ability as a point guard and a leader. McCamey is changing a lot of minds this year. Will he ever be mentioned in the same breath as Deron Williams? Not yet. I think he’ll have to pull a Drew Brees.

Wisky

Like Michigan State on Saturday, Wisconsin is missing their leading scorer in 6’10” center Jon Leuer. Still, Wisky has been defying the odds all year, and they are practically unbeatable at Kohl. We will need to play even better than we did on Saturday to knock off the Badgers.

Freshman guard DJ Richardson had an amazing dunk in traffic Saturday. We need him to play lock down defense against Senior guard Trevon Hughes. Whatever happens, it’s going to be downright insane at the Kohl. The winner of this game is in the driver seat for the Big10 title. It’s going to be a good one.


Wisconsin – 59
Illinois – 63


Sincerely,
Abe Vigoda