Man, what a tough weekend it has been for Illini football team and men's basketball team. Football loses at Cincinnati 49-36. Okay, I guess that was expected since Cincy is now 11-0 and the Illini haven't looked the greatest all year. Despite the loss, the Illini did have some nice things happen offensively. Juice made some nice throws that led to three scores and he also did a nice job running around. Unfortunately the defense looked like it has looked for most of the season. Tony Pike just at the defense for lunch. The only nice thing on defense was the play of Terry Hawthorne. He had a couple of nice breakups in the end zone on fade routes, and a near interception where he read a curl route perfectly. I sure hope he stays on the defensive side next year. If he is still learning the position, that means he will only get better. I know I'm excited to see how good he could get.

Overall, this game showed us the difference between a great football team and a team that isn't quite there yet. Outside of some false start penalties, the Bearcats didn't make mistakes. Tony Pike made all of the throws on his way to close to 400 yards and the offensive line did it's job by giving Pike plenty of time to throw. Also, they were disciplined. Illinois had two huge late hit penalties that are completely unacceptable, especially this time of year. The late hits by Benn and Bussey killed an Illini drive and continued a Bearcat drive. The pathetic thing is stuff like this has happened all year. It's one thing to not execute, but it's another if you continue to perform stupid acts on the field. This needs to seriously be addressed next year or we will be staring at another 3-4 win season.

As for the basketball team, it was definitely a tough trip to Vegas. I was wondering how this team would react on the road for the first time. I was hoping guys like McCamey, Davis, and Tisdale would step up and help guide the young freshman. Against Utah, Mike Davis was M.I.A., and that killed them. As for the supporting cast, there really wasn't one. It's nice to see Tisdale and McCamey have nice games, but we need Davis to be the man inside. When these three are clicking, the Illini can still win games while the freshman take their lumps.

Against Bradley, that Tisdale and McCamey didn't shot well, and our team field goal percentage suffered. One thing I want to address is Alex Legion. I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, the only thing he's earned is bench time and garbage time. He takes so many wasted shots and ruins just about every possession when he's in the game. Until he learns to play with the team, he shouldn't step on the floor. Also, I get nervous every time Bill Cole is on the floor. I don't know if I should be or not, but I am. I would just assume see more of Keller and Griffey than Cole.

Despite the two losses in Sin City, there's no reason to panic. First of all, let's bring come back down to reality. It looks like this team will be starting two freshman more times than not, so we are going to see some inconsistent play. Also, coach Weber is still trying to figure out things like rotation and who should play the most minutes. He has plenty of time before Big Ten play to get all of the straightened out. In the immediate future, it does look like Illinois could be on their way to a third straight loss. With that being said, Clemson has lost a game this year, which wasn't true last year when we played them. Who knows what's going to happen. Either way, this is still going to be a fun team to watch. 

The Illini volleyball team made it a trifecta of defeat by losing up in Minnesota yesterday 3-0. Still, Kevin Hambly and company are having one heck of a season and hopefully can make some noise in the NCAA tournament. 

While these three teams struggled to get their wins, Jolette Law and company had a good time in San Luis Obispo.  They were able to get a couple of victories against Cal Poly and Alabama and Jenna Smith was huge.  In their two wins, Smith went 14-34 from the field and 13-16 at the free throw line for 42 points.  On top of that she pulled down 30 rebounds and had six blocks.  Not a bad couple of games.  Freshman Karisma Penn faired nicely too, goint for 22 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, and three steals in those two games.  At 6-1, Illinois is rolling and looking pretty decent.  I'm anxious to see what this team can do this season. 

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Be back here on Tuesday with the MSN results and the updated prediction standings.

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