On Women's Basketball

Eastern Illinois review

Posted by: Tony Bleill

Sunday, November 16, 2008 9:01 PM

Lou Holtz, speaking in a football context, says that as a coach, "You have a different team each week." In other words, your players might be the same, but you never really know if they're going to show up to play.

Jolette Law probably can relate. Two days after an impressive showing at IPFW, the Illini women struggled past Eastern Illinois 49-45 after trailing by 14 in the second half. Surprising? Not really. The only thing that's consistent about young teams is their inconsistency. I have a feeling I'll be repeating this throughout the season, but Illinois likely will be a team that looks good one minute, terrible the next. That's just the way it is with freshman-laden teams.

I think it's important to remember this, too: Eastern Illinois is a very good team. I like the Panthers' chances to make the NCAA tournament as the Ohio Valley Conference's automatic qualifier. If not for some shaky ballhandling in the second half, they likely would have pulled it off. They have plenty of scoring options, play solid defense (holding Illinois to 49 points and 31 percent shooting) and have some depth. Brady Sallee's club will win a bunch of games.

Other observations from Sunday:

--Lacey Simpson's first-half foul trouble proved again that if any of Illinois' three upperclassmen -- Simpson, Chelsea Gordon or Jenna Smith -- can't stay on the floor, the Illini will have trouble. Simpson sat out 12 minutes in the first half and Illinois basically collapsed. Simpson is that valuable.

"I always start off too aggressive, I think," Simpson said. "I just have to be smarter and realize I can't put my team through that. Just focus more on my post defense and try to settle down a little bit during the first half."

Simpson's presence is important on both ends. She is Illinois' second option on the offensive end, and there's a steep dropoff to No. 3.

"It's hard to double up on Jenna when Lacey's out on the perimeter," Law said. "She can hit the three, she can put the ball on the floor, she's a great entry passer. With Lacey being out of the ballgame, it was a little difficult. We had two bigs in, and they were just going to prove to us, ‘OK, Lana (Rukavina), you're going to have to knock down that shot.'"

--Illinois' chances were enhanced by getting into the bonus with more than 12 minutes remaining in the game. The refs "let ‘em play" in the second half, and that favored Illinois, which had the momentum. There were a few noncalls that hurt EIU, but coach Brady Sallee didn't mention the refeeres after the game. However, if you read between the lines a little bit, he probably wasn't happy with what transpired. At one point, the team fouls in the second half were Illinois 1, EIU 7.

During his press conference, Sallee was discussing how pleased he was with his team's defensive effort when he threw in a non sequitur that seemed to indicate his disappointment in the foul totals.

"They're a good free throw shooting team," Sallee said in a manner that suggested what he really wanted to say, but couldn't, was: ‘If the refs don't call all those fouls, we win the game.'

--The win was Illinois' 200th at the Assembly Hall. Here's one of my favorite stats. Illinois' winning percentage at the Assembly Hall (.657) is higher than at Huff Hall (.633). And keep in mind, a couple of those teams that played at Huff were among the best in school history. Add this to the lengthy list of reasons why the UI women should stay in the Assembly Hall rather than going back to Huff, as some have suggested. Believe me, you don't want to get me started on that topic. We'll be here all day.

--Got back to the office to watch the end of the Purdue-IUPUI game on BigTenNetwork.com. What happened at the end of the game was absurd. Purdue led 80-44 and had the ball. With less than 30 seconds to go, Purdue coach Sharon Versyp instructed her point guard to hold the ball and just let the clock run out, and that's exactly what the Boilers did. Or tried to do. Amazingly, referee Marvin Sykes -- in one of the most ridiculous pieces of over-officiating you'll ever see -- blew his whistle and made a five-second call with 1.9 seconds remaining. Purdue broadcaster Tim Newton was apoplectic. "You've got to be kidding me!" Newton said. "That is embarrassing." Memo to Mr. Sykes: Let it go. Please. Just let it go.

--If you need a Kelsey Bone fix, I'm here to help. If you've trolled the Web enough, you might have spotted this item from a Wall Street Journal blog. It's pretty interesting:

 

Kelsey Bone, a premier high-school basketball player, shunned UConn in part, she says, because the reporters who cover the Huskies were overzealous in attempting to divine her college plans. Hartford Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs tries to untangle the story, which includes a dig at newspapers by UConn’s coach; an aggrieved message-board post by Bone’s mother, Kim Williams; and reporters who are denying they overstepped any boundaries. “I believe the reporters when they say they didn’t over-pursue Bone," Jacobs writes. “I also believe they dialed a few more times than they wanted because Williams didn’t return some calls. There’s also no accounting for recruiting services or someone falsely posing as a reporter. And who knows how badly Bone is exaggerating?”

 

Don't worry, folks. I won't be causing Illinois to lose out on any top-level recruits.

(You can read Jacobs' column here.)

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