Last night’s Illinois-Clemson game I feel had a lot of parallels with the Illinois-Michigan football game.  Both teams had struggled going into their respective games.  Both teams played a first half that was less than desirable.  Both of these games led Illini fans to freak out, but in the end, both games had remarkable and memorable finishes.  The mood of these Illini fans somewhat changed to a ‘maybe these team has some hope’ feeling.

With that football game, the negative thoughts were justified.  Illinois was 1-6 and hadn’t showed any sign of turning things around.  They had a team that started the season in the top 25 because a large number of people across the country thought this team was capable of playing very well.  They obviously didn’t live up to expectations and this led to a number of rants that could be seen right here on IlliniHQ.  Even thought Illinois beat Michigan 31-13, they were still a disappointing 2-6 and a bowl game, even thought mathematically possible, seemed impossible.

With the basketball game, I don’t think the negative thoughts were justified.  Did Illinois look awful in the first half against Clemson?  Yes.  Did Illinois just come off an embarrassing couple of games in Vegas?  Yes.  Did certain players to this point not play the level we think they’re capable of?  Yes again.  These situations led some fans on IlliniHQ and probably at other places out there to say some ridiculous comments that probably weren’t all that thought out.  We are talking about Illinois basketball and furthermore we are talking about Bruce Weber basketball.

‘All of a sudden, after two and a half bad games, Bruce Weber forgot how to coach.  He needs to be fired.  We are never going to anywhere with him making the calls.  Sure, he took Illinois to the national championship game in 2005.  Sure, he took a team that had nothing in the way of offense last year and led them to a very surprising 24-10 record, thanks to his preaching for strong defense.  Sure, he has the play calling ability that can single handedly win game (inbounds plays against Vanderbilt last year and switching to a zone last night @ Clemson come to mind).  Despite all of that great stuff about him, he needs to be canned.  He’s a terrible recruiter.  Kelvin Sampson didn’t cheat and get Eric Gordon at the last minute.  I bet Weber personally told Eric Gordon to go to Indiana and deliver that big blow to Illinois’s recruiting class and hurt the 2007-08 season.  It’s all Weber’s fault.  How about we tactical nuke the Assembly Hall and just get rid of basketball altogether at Illinois.  We will never win a national title so what’s the point in even trying?’

Okay, some of that is a bit exaggerated, but really people?

This is college basketball.  They don’t play 12 games like football does.  Their season isn’t decided by a couple of bad losses.  There are a number of things to keep in mind, and the big one is IT’S EARLY!  Even if Illinois were to lose that game by 20+ last night, I would still feel optimistic about this game.  Weber for the most part is starting two true freshmen and it will take some time for them to find consistency.  It’s not going to be a Kevin Durant situation, where he came into Texas and in his only season won player of the year honors.  These freshmen will need to figure things out a bit.  Until then, we will see some rough games for Richardson and Paul.  We haven’t even seen Joseph Bertrand yet.  Who knows what he’s going to do when he gets out there? Hopefully that will only be a week or two away.

And really, some of you want Illinois to fire Bruce Weber.  This would be one of the dumbest decisions ever made at Illinois.  This man is a great coach and a great teacher.  There is no way the Illini win more than 20 games with last years team if Weber isn’t coaching them.  He knows what to focus on and he isn’t afraid to make changes if someone isn’t doing their job, and at the same time he will reward you if you perform.  That’s why Bill Cole has seen more playing time.  He has played better (even though he still scares me). 

How about we all take a deep breath.  Breath in…  Breath out…  Feel better?  Good.  Let’s be happy for our Illini getting that win against a top 25 team on the road, and let’s be happy that we finally won the Big Ten/ACC Challenge for the first time in 11 years.  There’s still a long way to go in the season and I don’t plan on jumping ship anytime soon.  Not this season, and not in the following seasons.  Coach Weber has this team going in the right direction.  Once these players learn their roles and what their out there for, I don’t think we’ll be disappointed.  Go Illini!!

I-L-L…