It baffles me that in a game with so much riding on it, players fail to show up.  It’s one thing to make 100% effort and have a bad day, but it’s another to just flat out act like you don’t want to be there.  To me, this is what Illinois looked like.  They couldn’t guard anyone, and once again, they for whatever reason didn’t want to drive to the basket, especially early on. Someone needs to tell them that it’s okay to do that.  It’s like their afraid to draw a foul and get to the foul line.  Somehow, Illinois shot 23 free throws yesterday, and made 20 of them.  This isn’t a Shaun Pruitt Illinois team; these guys can actually make their free throws.  Instead, they don’t make much of an effort to get to the line.  It’s like we have a bunch of Rich McBrides or something.  McBride’s strength was his free throw shooting, but for whatever reason, he thought it was his 35 foot three point shot. 

After another loss in a game that had so much riding on it, the usual questions and comments resurfaced.  I’m not an expert by any means, but I figured I would take some time to offer my thoughts on some of them.

‘Demetri McCamey needs to step up and be the leader’

That would be nice, but the sooner we stop thinking about this, the sooner we can look for someone who actually wants to be the leader.  It makes sense for your leader to be one of the best or the best player on the team, but it’s obvious that McCamey isn’t comfortable with that role.  Some people can be leaders, and others can’t.  McCamey just happens to be one of those guys that wasn’t meant to be an overall leader.  This isn’t a knack on him in any way.  Without McCamey’s improved play, Illinois is probably under .500.  Regardless of whether or not Illinois is able to find or develop an on-floor general, someone else has to step up and help McCamey on a consistent basis.  I would like for it to be Tisdale or Davis, but you don’t know what these guys are going to do night in and night out.  Of late it’s been Bill Cole.  If Bill Cole has to be our second guy, then Illinois might as well pack there bags and not even go to a post-season tournament.  We can’t rely on him to make four to five threes every game.

‘Bruce Weber needs to coach better’

Yeah, maybe a little bit, but thinking that this is the biggest problem is wrong.  Weber is one hell of a coach and has proven that he knows what he’s doing.  We’ve seen first hand just how successful his scheme is when the players run the offense and defense properly.  Some people are saying that Weber needs to draw up better in bounce plays.  If you watch closely it isn’t the plays that are bad, it’s the way the players run it.  They just go through the motions instead of actually running the play.  They got to move, they got to sell the screens and picks, and they got to get open.  It’s easy for a defense to guard you when you stand still.  Right now I could probably guard some of Illinois’ players, and it isn’t because I’m good.  It’s called ‘motion’ and not ‘going through the motions’.  It doesn’t matter what you do if the players don’t show an effort to run it.  And if the problem has something to do with their dislike of Bruce Weber, they are allowed to leave.  If they respect Weber and what he does, the time to show it would be on Friday against Wisconsin. 

‘Bruce Weber can’t recruit’

I’m not going to spend much time responding to this one.  Just look at what we have coming in next year.  Also, if Kelvin Sampson and Indiana didn’t cheat, nobody out there would be saying this today.

‘Tisdale and Davis aren’t physical enough’

If either one of these guys were to become a physical down low type player, it would have happened right now.  We might as well just get use to the fact that neither of these guys will be your ideal center.  Instead, we have Tisdale who might be the best shooting seven-footer in college basketball, and we have Davis who for whatever reason can’t catch a ball.  Defensively, Tisdale will just be a little slow at times, and Davis will continue to rely on athleticism to get rebounds instead of fundamentals.  Both will have flashes of brilliance, but other than that, let’s hope something miraculous happens in the off-season. 

In the end, this Illinois team is exactly what you see.  They’re an 18-13 team that’s better than half of the Big Ten and worse then the other half.  Surprisingly, after yesterday’s loss, Joe Lunardi of ESPN still had Illinois in the tournament as the last team in.  I do not, and to me they would need to win two games in the Big Ten Tournament to get in. 

It’s time to update the Prediction Standings.  #15 Wisconsin beat Illinois 72-57, so the Badgers are +15 on the real score difference.  Here’s how we stand.

NAME                                                            W                    L                      RSDT*

Tom Young (WIS 68-67)                            17                    5                        174

Reillini (ILL 68-65)                                     14                    8                        192

Jshaw (WIS 67-55)                                     14                    7                        183

dave1956 (WIS 66-50)                               12                    8                        183

jweeks (DNP)                                               9                      11                      202

PeterE (WIS 70-60)                                     4                      2                        48

* - Real Score Difference Total

As for my prediction on Friday’s game, I will make that on Wednesday.  If you guys have any thoughts on round three between Illinois and Wisconsin, go ahead and comment below.  In the meantime, enjoy some of the nice 50 degree weather we are finally getting and I will talk to you again on Wednesday.

I-L-L…