Wisconsin coach Lisa Stone almost sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

"Illinois is a great team," she repeated. "They really are."

Of course, her team had just throttled the Illini 53-38 on Thursday, and it wasn't that close. But what probably stood out a bit in Stone's mind -- and certainly of Illinois-watchers -- was the mystifying manner in which Illinois could look quite competitive against the nation's No. 2 team in North Carolina, then look so horrible against Wisconsin.

"I saw Illinois against North Carolina," said Stone, sounding like a defense attorney. "They're a good team."

They were bad on Thursday, the offense being the main offender. The problems weren't anything you probably have not seen before. Lack of movement. No penetration. No help for Jenna Smith. No inclination to get baskets in transition.

At the risk of beating a dead horse -- shoot, we've past that point a long time ago, I guess -- it's fair to say that the Illinois offense won't be fixed to a major degree until the Super Six arrive next fall. Like most nights, Illinois had plenty of open shots Thursday. They just didn't go in. There isn't a question that this is a poor shooting team, even with all of its other troubles. Those problems won't be solved until A) the players work on their shooting diligently through months of offseason work, or B) new players who are better shooters arrive. Which will it be for Illinois?

No matter how you look at it, Thursday's game was terribly disappointing for the Illini. If Illinois can't be competitive at home against Wisconsin, it's hard to envision more than a couple Big Ten wins. Without any sort of productive backcourt, the Illini could bring up the rear in the Big Ten.

Other observations (hopefully, a little less pessimistic):

--Saturday's "Pack the Hall" game will be intriguing. How many people will show up? School's out, and most folks are probably looking for something to do, so that's on Illinois' side. Plus, it's an 11 a.m. game, so kids don't have to worry about getting to bed. And did we mention the free tickets?

I'm going to guess that the crowd is around 8,000-9,000.

The bigger question is will anyone watch on CBS? The network is showing the game as a split-national broadcast. The other 11 a.m. game is UConn-LSU, and you can be sure that CBS will give that game to just about everyone in the country outside of the states of Minnesota and Illinois.

--Even with Illinois playing poorly Thursday, I'm a bigger believer in Wisconsin than I was going in. The Badgers play hard, listen to their coaches and genuinely seem to like playing alongside each other. Talent's not everything. The Badgers know their individual roles and perform them ably. The type of defense they play -- based on positioning, and staying in front of the person you're guarding -- is the discipline type of approach that gives Illinois fits.

--The first truly surprising result of the Big Ten season has arrived. Michigan State won at Purdue today, putting a little dent in the Boilermakers' title hopes. That means only Ohio State and Indiana are undefeated in league play, and we're only one day into 2009. This could be really interesting.