On Women's Basketball

Northwestern review

Posted by: Tony Bleill

Friday, February 13, 2009 12:02 AM

Observations from Thursday's UI win against Northwestern at the Assembly Hall:

--Don't look now, but the Illini might be playing themselves into a similar spot as last year in regard to the Big Ten tournament.

A year ago, Illinois was the No. 9 seed and beat Wisconsin in the first round, then took out top-seeded Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

With two weeks left, Illinois could again be playing in the 8-9 game at the Big Ten tournament (possibly against Wisconsin), and likely facing Ohio State in the quarters with a victory.

I wouldn't expect a repeat, of course, because the magical run that Illinois fashioned a year ago doesn't happen every March. But there's no doubt the Illini are much improved from the mid-January club that couldn't get out of its own way.

The key is an improved offense that now has some flow, some purpose and a sense of confidence. Lydia McCully and Fabiola Josil are breaking down defenses with the dribble. Everyone is moving the ball much better, and cutting and moving when they don't have it. The shooting still needs work -- and that remains one of the team's biggest offseason priorities, in my opinion. But that's almost beside the point. As NU coach Joe McKeown noted, Illinois is getting better shots now. Even if they don't go in, it's a good sign for the Illini.

--Lacey Simpson's right ankle injury didn't prevent her from finishing the game, and she typically brushed aside any notion that it would be a problem going forward. But she was limping noticeably, and that wasn't a good sign. It's just a guess, but I wouldn't expect Simpson to be 100 percent for the Purdue game on Sunday. She'll need to be if the Illini are to pull the upset.

--For his part, McKeown called his team's effort "maybe the worst game we've played this year." He said the Wildcats' defense was "terrible."

"I thought we did a great job guarding Jenna Smith in the game at Northwestern. And tonight we didn't do a very good job on her," McKeown said. "But I also thought Illinois played well and we couldn't really turn them over, couldn't get any transition baskets off of turnovers and that hurt us. I thought they played really poised tonight and I'm disappointed we didn't. We're a better team than we played tonight."

--Michigan State's win at Indiana, coupled with Ohio State's loss at Iowa, has really turned this thing into a race. MSU is 11-3, Ohio State 10-3. I think OSU is the better team and will win it in the end, but you have to give the Spartans credit. This is a relatively young team; everyone except backup guard Mia Johnson will be back next season, so the Spartans are putting themselves in a position to be considered one of the teams to beat in 2009-10, too.

--Law was in Ohio this week watching Regina point guard Tay'ler Mingo, one of the nation's top juniors. Here's the report.

 

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