UI women's preview: Northwestern
Check out Bleill's latest chat here
UI women at Northwestern,
2 p.m. Sunday
LINEUPS
northwestern (16-12, 7-10)
Probable starters
P Name HT. YR. PPG
G Beth Marshall 5-5 Jr. 7.3
G Kristin Cartwright 5-11 Sr. 7.1
C Amy Jaeschke 6-5 Jr. 17.1
F Kendall Hackney 6-2 Fr. 9.0
F Brittany Orban 6-0 So. 8.8
Top reserves
G Allison Mocchi 5-10 Fr. 1.6
G Meshia Reed 5-8 Jr. 4.9
F Dannielle Diamant 6-5 Fr. 6.1
illinois (14-13, 6-11)
Probable starters
P Name HT. YR. PPG
G Lacey Simpson 6-1 Sr. 9.5
G Lydia McCully 5-9 So. 4.0
C Jenna Smith 6-3 Sr. 18.1
F Kersten Magrum 6-1 Fr. 3.3
F Karisma Penn 6-2 Fr. 10.8
Top reserves
G Fabiola Josil 5-9 So. 2.1
G Whitney Toone 5-10 Sr. 2.6
G Adrienne GodBold 5-11 Fr. 6.0
Facts & figures
Site: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston.
Radio: Dave Loane and Mike Koon call the action on WDWS 1400-AM and WDAN 1490-AM.
Series: Northwestern leads 31-30, including a 16-11 advantage in Evanston. But the Illini have won 20 in a row dating to February 1999. Illinois hasn't lost in Evanston since 1996.
Coaches: Joe McKeown (23-35 in second season at Northwestern; 532-209 in 23rd season overall); Jolette Law (44-49 in third season at Illinois and overall).
TONY BLEILL'S Storylines
1
Avoiding the cellar
With a loss today, Illinois will finish no better than a tie for 10th ... in other words, in last place. Illinois hasn't suffered that ignominy since 1994-95, when the Illini shared it with Michigan. The Illini are tied with Indiana and Minnesota. If they remain tied with both, Illinois would be the No. 10 seed for the Big Ten tournament Thursday. (Illinois owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with Minnesota but loses it against Indiana.) If Illinois wins while Michigan and Indiana lose at home, the Illini could finish as high as seventh.
2
Milestone victories
These aren't your older sister's Wildcats. Northwestern has made major improvement this season, reflected numerically by posting its first winning record since 1996-97. Along the way, there have been notable victories: In December, Northwestern snapped a 22-game losing streak against Purdue. Earlier this month, the Wildcats snapped a 17-game losing streak against Iowa. And today, Northwestern gets a chance to break a 20-game skid against the Illini.
3
Repeating history?
The backdrop for today's game is what happened Feb. 11 at the Assembly Hall. In the best 20 minutes of basketball the Illini have played all season, they buried the Wildcats with a 36-12 start, a beginning that clearly stunned the visitors into submission during an 81-50 Illini victory. Smith scored 28 points in the half en route to a career-high 34 and Illinois played so well – and the Wildcats so poorly – that McKeown said he planned to burn the game film. If Illinois comes close to repeating that effort today, it wins again. But that's a big 'if.'
Prediction
NORTHWESTERN 60, ILLINOIS 53
Many times this season, the prediction in this space wasn't accompanied by a lot of confidence. That's not the case today. Illinois' winning streak against the Wildcats will end today, and the reasons are numerous. Chief among them: Northwestern has plenty of motivation, given the smackdown it endured at the Assembly Hall. What's Illinois' motivation? Plus, Northwestern has been playing some of its best basketball in recent weeks. The Wildcats are 5-3 at home in Big Ten play, while Illinois is 1-7 on the road. Then there's this: Northwestern is simply the better team. There are more reasons, but you get the picture. (News-Gazette prediction record: 17-10)
I'm still thinking about 2 and a half hours will do it for us in the Womens BigTen BB Tourney. Sad!
Thanks Tony, for the tip on Clay Kallam's excellent artice 1n Slam Online. Tremendous insight on Law. I suspect she will go down with the ship. By now the light should be on. But will she admit defeat. Of course not! "My ego knows better!"
Still think we ought to "outsource" the new WBB head-coach recruitment endeavor. The last two selections have been huge embarrasments.
Sheesh! I am not sure I am a huge Law backer(still thinking and gathering facts) but you negative guys may want to consider that you are not helping our team with negativity either.
You should have been at that Northwestern game. It was beautiful. Not only did we have very good performancs from several players, but the most positive and dedicated fans were there. We were loud and united. Our team gave us a lot to cheer about, and we responded. Illini fans were louder than NU's, I believe. Jenna's mother remarked "it (atmosphere) was like a mini big ten tournament". I had already been thinking that.
There is a lot of rhetoric about how Coach may be hurting the program. How about if we consider ourselves? Are we creating a fan atmosphere that makes a young woman say "I want to go to ILLINOIS!!! Are we going to games, are we supporting the team, or spending time and energy running down the program and putting out negative comments?
I too have not drawn a conclusion on Coach Law. Some games have me wondering Why isn't she doing this or Why did she do that? This year's win-loss record is better than last year's & not as good as 2 years ago. On the flip side, given the same team roster, would they have made it to the Championship game in Indy 2 years ago under Coach Grentz? Most likely, Danyel Crutcher would not have left, & she was a good player, but who's to KNOW she would have stayed healthy & played out the season?
Bottom line: I want to support women's basketball at U of I. If in 2 years good players continue to leave, the program hasn't improved & a new coach is brought in, I probably won't regret seeing Coach Law go. Until then, she's part of the Team & I'll continue to support the Team by attending games & cheering the positives.
Comments
IlliniHQ.com embraces discussion of Illini sports. We welcome you to contribute your ideas, opinions and comments, but we ask that you avoid personal attacks, vulgarity and hate speech. we reserve the right to remove any comment at its discretion, and we will block repeat offenders' accounts. To post comments, you must first be a registered user, and your username will appear with any comment you post. Happy posting.