Behind the Mic

First Gameday....And Then The Game

Posted by: Brian Barnhart

Friday, February 5, 2010 10:55 PM

It should be a fun day on Saturday.  The ESPN Gameday Crew will broadcast live at the Assembly Hall starting at 9 am Saturday morning and spend the entire day there until after the Illini-Michigan State game... which starts at 8 pm.

A luncheon will be held for State Farm and ESPN around noon on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.  I have the priviledge of introducing Rece Davis, Jay Bilas and Bruce Weber at that event.  

Then the excitement will build throughout the day as the Illini look to get the nation's attention as they battle the Spartans inside what should be a rockin' Assembly Hall Saturday night.

Let's face it.  The Illini need some signature wins to put themselves in NCAA Tournament contention.  They are in 2nd place in the Big 10  standings with a 7-3 record....but  have built that record on the back of season sweeps of Indiana, Iowa and Penn State.  Now the big boys come calling and the Illini have to be up to the challenge....or March will be a very short month for the Illini and their fans.

The Illini have put together a nice winning streak.  They are seeing daily improvement from freshmen DJ Richardson, Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey.  Bill Cole has become more of an offensive threat....and Demetri McCamey has been...well...First team All Big Ten-like.

The Illini could become a dangerous team to play in February and March.....but with surprising early season losses to Utah, Bradley and Georgia....they have put themelves in a dangerous spot when it comes to making the Big Dance.  I feel they need to at least split the next 8 games (4-4) to put themselves in better position for the tournament (11-7 in Big Ten play).  That would require knocking off some of the big guns in the Big Ten (MSU, OSU, Wisconsin) at least once....or taking care of business against the teams in the middle of the league (Michigan/ Minnesota-one home/one road). 

They can do it...but they dont have a huge margin of error either.

The first step of the rest of this season starts Saturday night in front of a national audience....with Digger and Dickie V looking on....

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