Behind the Mic

Fine Season Ends in Portland

Posted by: Brian Barnhart

Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:37 AM

The goal Bruce Weber set for this year's Illini team was to win 24 games and make a run at the Sweet 16.  He was only able to get 1 out of 2.

Which is a lot more than most people expected when practice started last October. Most people I talked to thought that while help was on the way to Champaign in the future...this year's team was going to be lucky to be in the NIT.

Coach Weber had higher goals for his team.  He saw a better shooting team that had great chemistry and an emotional anchor in Chester Frazier.  He saw the individual improvement of Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale.  And without the injury to Frazier at the end of the season...the Illini would have had a shot at the goal of chasing the NCAA Sweet 16.

I thought the defining moment of the loss to Western Kentucky was the Illini frantically trying to catch the Hilltoppers to foul them in the waning seconds of the game on Thursday night.  That was after mounting a furious 21-8 run to try and rally from the huge 17 point deficit they were facing with 5 minutes left.  The Illini spent most of the night in Portland chasing the quicker Western Kentucky team around the court and never quite being able to catch them. 

Losing is not fun...and losing in the first round of the "Big Dance" always breaks your heart.  But when you sit back and think about it...this Illini team was fun to watch and exceeded everyone's expectations with 24 wins...tied for second in the Big 10... and earned a #5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  Not bad at all.

So now it is on to springtime and Illini baseball.  In fact...I am doing some more play-by-play next weekend on the Big Ten Network for the Illinois-Michigan State series at Illinois Field.  I look forward to talking to you then.

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