Thoughts from Illinois' loss to Indiana on Thursday and other ramblings ...

--I get paid to call-it-like-I-see-it, so this isn't meant to be negative. But ... it was a bad loss. There's no way around it. And though they might not say it publicly, the players and coaches surely feel the same way. It was evident on their faces after the game.

Indiana is not a good team, and this was a winnable road game. The Illini led most of the game and, instead of finding a way to win it at the end, found a way to lose it. The selection committee will not look kindly on this one in March.

--One positive: For the second straight game, Illinois executed a last-second inbounds play brilliantly. The Illini went the length of the court in 2.7 seconds, got an open look for a three-pointer, and the ball did everything but go through the hoop. Given the team's late-game struggles at many points in recent seasons, the last two games have to be encouraging for Illini fans. They executed terrifically on the final play of the Wisconsin and Indiana games. 

--Jolette Law felt her team didn't match Indiana's desperation, and that certainly appeared to be true. The same thought went through my head in the first half, though it appeared to me that Illinois played harder in the final 20 minutes or so. But for a mediocre rebounding team to have a 10-rebound advantage against Illinois says something.

--Didn't get a chance to mention this in my reporting on the game, but Lacey Simpson's foul trouble no doubt had an effect. Simpson picked up her third and fourth fouls in a span of 19 seconds and had to leave with 14:38 to play. The Illini led 33-27 at the time. She returned at the 7:04 mark to a tie score.

The Illini simply can't afford her absence, and it's even tougher to swallow when a fifth-year senior makes the type of silly over-the-back foul that Simpson committed on No. 4.

For this team to reach its potential, its seniors have to be great. Not good. Great. If they don't play that way, Illinois will be stuck in the 17- or 18-win area code, as it has been for years.

--Some very weird officiating vibes going on in this game. The crew consisted of Marvin Sykes and Kathleen Lynch, two veteran Big Ten officials, and Shannon Feck, who is not. On several occasions, Lynch blew her whistle to make a call while out of position, usually as the farthest official from the play. And it usually came while Feck was the closest to the play. I have no idea if Lynch was mad at Feck, whether she was simply making what she felt to be the right call or whether she was trying to make up for missed calls by her crewmate. But it was very odd to see Feck watching a play develop right in front of her while Lynch blew her whistle standing 25 feet away.

It's the first time I've seen Feck work a Big Ten game, and I know nothing about her, other than that she's listed on the Ohio Athletic Conference (Division III) web site as being one of that conference's officials, or was in the past. I thought she handled herself just fine, but it appeared Lynch felt otherwise.

--Former Illini Lori Bjork, finishing her senior season at Maryland, will appear on ESPN2 at 6:30 p.m. Monday night in a game against Virginia.

Interesting profile of Bjork on the Maryland web site. Under the question, "I chose Maryland because...", Bjork responded, "because I wanted to have a chance to play for a winning program and for coaches who really care about their players."

Is it just me, or was that a thinly veiled shot at someone?

--OK, commenter Jim46 recently asked for my Big Ten All-Decade team of UI opponents. So, leaving aside Illinois players, here's my starting five, using the traditional positions:

Point guard: Lindsay Whalen, Minnesota. She played for a horrible team as a freshman. By the time she left, the Gophers were a Final Four entrant. That's strong.

Shooting guard: Kelly Mazzante, Penn State. Scored a Big Ten-record 2,919 points. No-brainer.

Small forward: Katie Douglas, Purdue. She played this position alongside Stephanie White and Ukari Figgs before the decade began (1998-99 NCAA title team), so I'll count that. Finished as a guard in the early part of the decade.

Power forward: Janel McCarville, Minnesota. More of a center, but again, I need to play with the positions a little bit. Formed the league's best inside-out duo with Whalen, although Jantel Lavender and Sammy Prahalis are in the process of challenging that.

Center: Jantel Lavender, Ohio State. Give her a slight edge over former Buckeye star Jessica Davenport, a three-time Big Ten Player of the Year, because of her athleticism.