For all the up and down emotions of the last few weeks as the Illini coaching search was underway....it was refreshing to actually have a press conference and have the man who got the job address the fans and media all around the state of Illinois on Thursday afternoon. 

Working off of lists is always kind of dangerous when it comes to trying to make a judgement on just about anything in this world.  The reason it is tough is because the lists being discussed are always subjective to the opinion of the person doing the list.  Everything from the 10 most powerful people in the world...to the 100 most beautiful people in the world...and everything in be

The Illini basketball season basically mirrored the football season from last fall.  Great start.  High hopes at mid-season for a desirable post-season destination (major bowl game or NCAA Tournament).  Then momentum seemed to turn on a dime and both seasons came crashing down in a staggering number of losses.  Those mid-season collapses wound up costing both Ron Zook and Br

I have given numerous "talks" over the years to various groups around the state of Illinois about my job as the " Voice of the Illini".  I always enjoy those visits....meeting new people...and just talking Illini "stuff".

In a lot of basketball tournaments there is a dreaded "play-in" game.  A game where a couple of lower seeds have to fight each other to get into the first full day of the event.  Most times....the winner of the play-in game earns the right to face the top seed in the tourney.

Illinois and Iowa get together for the only time this year during the regular season on Sunday afternoon (5 pm).....and while the two teams have almost identical overall records....they have arrived at those numbers from different directions.

The Illini are struggling.

Everyone in Illini Nation is well aware of that fact. 

But...the Illini can still put themselves in good position for an NCAA bid if they take care of their 3 home games (Purdue, Iowa, Michigan)...and steal a road win somewhere (Nebraska, Ohio State, Wisconsin). 

One road game down...3 more to go over the next 12 days. 

The Illini again had a pretty good offensive performance in Bloomington Indiana against the Hoosiers Thursday night...but Indiana went 35-42 from the free throw line.... and pulled away late to take down the Illini 84-71. 

The Illini have battled through some injuries (Sam Maniscalco-ankle ....D.J. Richardson-wrist).....young players learning on the job (Tracy Abrams, Myke Henry, Nnanna Egwu)...and a couple of sophomores who are getting big minutes for the first time in their careers (Meyers Leonard, Joe Bertrand). 

The crazy Big Ten basketball race has taken all kinds of twists and turns in the first full month of the conference season.  Iowa wins at Wisconsin and Minnesota...then loses by 30+ at Michigan State.  Nebraska beats Indiana.  Penn State crushes Purdue....barely loses to Indiana....gets clobbered by Nebraska...then beats 22nd ranked Illinois.   The Ililni manage to beat