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)