By Paul M. Banks Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net,

The year 2008 truly solidified my theory: to be a fan of either the Chicago Cubs and University of Illinois football means you know a lot about soul-crushing defeats. You know more than losing, you know exactly what it’s like to have any shred of hope or optimism crushed into grains of dust. You’ve had your hopes and dreams imploded so many times that you can’t even feel optimism anymore. You’ve routinely endured the type of losing that makes you wonder to yourself why you keep returning, but in ’08 took that disappointment spiked to cataclysmic proportions. The fallout from that devastation will likely linger for generations.

I’m lucky enough to be in only one (UI football) of these subsets. If I was in the intersection of both these groups (don’t you love using ven diagram lingo?) I’d probably take a bath with an electrical appliance. If you happen to be both a Cubs and Illini football fan, I’d suggest taking the laces out of your shoes and avoiding any and all tall buildings before reading on. I’d also suggest reading this only on a bright, sunny day.

In 2008, the Cubs had their best team since, well since any of us have been alive. Unless you’re a 115 years old. They cruised through the regular season, and had they not taken their foot off the gas pedal a bit in August-September (though it’s easy to understand why they did) the Cubs easily could have won 100-105 games.

Coming off a first round playoff sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks the year before, this season was about October: plain and simple. Actually, it should always be about October, but these are the Cubs- so it’s quite common for even August and September to be meaningless. Still there was no way the Cubs could blow this thing, right? It was also the centennial anniversary of the last title. It was almost too perfect.

It was too perfect; for the L.A. Dodgers, as every Cubs infielder somehow found a way to make an error in the same inning of game 1. The ’08 sweep, combined with the ’07 sweep, and the five outs from a World Series collapse in ’03, makes me wonder if Cub fans have any reason to look forward to April each year. Regarding Cub die-hards, I wonder if they have any reason to live.

As bad as’08 was for those who live in Wrigleyville (and I mean “Wrigleyville” as the state of mind, not a physical location, kind of like “Margaritaville”), it was equally bad or worse in Champaign. Ron Zook, who is most famous for inspiring Southern fried yahoos to create a website encouraging his dismissal, was coming off a banner season. His best laid plans had finally worked as Illinois made their first Rose Bowl since 1983. The Illini got their second BCS bowl bid this decade, tying Iowa. I know, I know that sentence is utterly unbelievable, but trust me it’s true. However, just like in ’01 when the Ron Turner led Illini qualified for the Sugar Bowl, Illinois got EMBARASSED on New Year’s Day. It was another dark day.

And how did Illinois build off the momentum of a 9-4 campaign? By going 5-7 the following season. ‘08 was low-lighted by an embarrassing loss to Western Michigan before a crowd of like 6,000 people in Detroit. In an era where ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY goes to a bowl game, Illinois hasn’t been to back-to-back bowl games since ‘91-’92.

How is that even remotely possible for a team that plays in a power conference?

The Zooker is back for another year even though he REALLY should have been canned after last year’s dismal 3-9 showing; a year in which numerous experts predicted Illinois to finish third or fourth in the Big Ten. I knew better, I picked them seventh, but that was STILL too optimistic.

How can you ever trust an optimistic pre-season forecast for an Illini football team ever again? The state doesn’t have enough money to buy Zook out of his contract, meaning our hope -what little of it that we have left- is years down the road.  Hopefully, his successor will do the right thing: schedule cupcakes, beat them down, and get the program’s confidence back up so they can actually squeak out a few 6+ win seasons in a row, and then we can stop referring to every good Illini campaign as “that fluke season a few years ago.”

Of course, I know that’s an extremely sunny forecast. Because I also thought Turner would use the boost of the ‘01 season, combined with the Chicago Bears playing in his home stadium during 2002, as the perfect springboard for the program recruiting onto itself. And everything would change for the better. But Turner recruited division III level talent on defense and everywhere on offense outside of the tailback position.

At least Cub fans have that whole solidarity, safety in numbers thing going for them. They have each other to lean on in during their hopeless existence from April-September.  You know who Cub fans are because they never stop telling you. They make stupid documentaries, write cheesy books, and record awful music that reminds you they’re Cub fans. Then they stumble around and puke on the sidewalks in your neighborhood. Seriously, Cub fans, shot the f— up! You’ve produced enough cultural crap already. Even your mother is sick of you talking about how much you love the Cubs.

As for Illini fans, I guess they have basketball season. And these days basketball season seems to start in October, or maybe even September.

But all is not lost, right? The Atlanta Braves won a World Series, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won a game when it was below 42 degrees, and the Denver Broncos won a Super Bowl. The Illini won two national titles in the 1920s (I’m sure national championships were a totally different animal and had a completely different name back then) and the Cubs have a date that we’re all sick of hearing for the kajillionth time.

Well, maybe it really is hopeless for both of them. I’ll start believing after the Buffalo Bills win a Super Bowl.

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net

INDIANAPOLIS- Ohio State’s Evan Turner is likely going to sweep the national college basketball player of the year awards. He truly is royally smooth on the court. On Friday, in the Big Ten quarterfinals, his 40-foot buzzer beater to eliminate Michigan was the lead national story in almost every sports outlet. “I got 150 texts about it when I got back to my phone in here,” Turner said said Saturday.

But even “His Royal Smoothness” can get rattled by trash talk sometimes. And after his Buckeyes beat the Illinois Fighting Illini 88-81 in double overtime, Turner discussed how the trash talking by his opponents got under his skin.

“It definitely got me going. Usually I don’t really — I show emotion but I don’t really get too much into it like that. For them to start running their mouths, they really, really annoyed me. I knew we were a tougher team and everything we’ve been through. I started thinking about the sand pits, all the injuries, we always battled back through that. I knew what type of team we had. I knew what we had was way tougher than what they had, and definitely I wasn’t trying to lose.” Turner said.

The Big Ten player of the year fouled out in the second overtime, but still finished with a game 31 points, along with 10 rebounds, and six assists. Despite the fact that Turner is close friends with Illinois star Demetri McCamey, (they attended St. Joseph’s high school in Chicago together), there was some acrimony in this game.

“They were just running their mouths too much, and that was it.They were hitting shots and front runners, and they were running them off entirely too much. That’s all I’m saying,” Turner re-iterated.

For more on this, watch the video of the interview below:

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

By Paul M. Banks, President of The Sports Bank.net

Regarding college basketball in the state of Illinois, it is the worst of times. And it’s again the worst of times. We may get zero teams in the NCAA tournament. And it’s all over from the Wisconsin border to the edge of the state that neighbors Kentucky. SIU was on the national stage for much of the 2000s, today they’re irrelevant. DePaul has been a joke for decades. Chicago St. is quite possibly the worst team in all of Division I. Loyola and UIC bring nothing of significance to the table; ditto for all the remaining direction schools. But two schools, Illinois and Northwestern, spent a lot of time this season within field of 65 tournament bracket projections. Not so much anymore.

In February, both Illinois and Northwestern had a very clear map into the NCAA tournament. Both of Chicago’s Big 10 teams had a route that seemed very doable given what he already saw in their body of work. Both failed miserably, and now each will have to run the table in the big ten tournament to qualify for the big dance. Good luck with that. So whose collapse was a bigger overall letdown?

Prosecuting the Illini

Ok, so you beat Michigan State, a team that’s owned you the past three years, and win at the Kohl Center where nobody does…but then lose 5/6 down the stretch? You achieved the marquee wins needed to balance out your dreadful pre-conference losses, only to throw it all away by refusing to play offense in home losses to Minnesota and Wisconsin.

You get firmly into the tourney picture, then give up when it matters most. The home loss to Wisconsin where the inmates ran the asylum was embarrassing, but not quite as embarrassing as putting up 14 in the first half to a team that hasn’t beaten you in your building in like 30 years. Quite pathetic, but let’s not forget the Ohio St. heartbreak on Valentine’s Day. Yes, you can define a heart-breaker as a game that’s over within the first five minutes. It was the worst loss at Assembly Hall since the same year the venue hosted an Elvis Presley concert; quite heartbreaking.

Much of the blame goes on Bruce Weber, because his players folded faster than Superman on laundry day. Take the curious case of Mike Davis, who matured in reverse this season. After a breakout sophomore year, he took a giant step backwards this season. Bruce believed in mid-season that Davis didn’t practice hard enough. Take a look at Davis’ results in the biggest games the illini had to have: lots of 4-13, 3-9, 4-15 type FGM-FGA. And what makes those numbers even more pathetic is the fact those misses includes lots of bunnies, cheapies, and “high percentage shots.”

McCamey isn’t a perfect player, but he is second in the nation in assists. Maybe he’d be first if Davis could consistently finish. This team peaked on February 9th, when they were 17-8.

Prosecuting the Northwestern Wildcats

When you lose twice to Penn St. (a team that started 0-12 in Big Ten play), not to mention Indiana and Iowa, therefore completing your entire set of crunch time losses to the league’s three bottom feeders, it’s hard to imagine a collapse much worse than that. Northwestern had a scheduling quirk which might explain. A front-loaded conference schedule probably demoralized them. All the tough teams came near the start, and we reasonably believed they could fix everything down the stretch when the cakewalk portion kicked in.

Instead the results were devastating. Playing without their best player Kevin Coble, NU got off to a 13-1 start somehow. It looked like the Ewing Theory was at work again. The Cats achieved their first national ranking in 40 YEARS!!! And set a new school record for single season wins. Of course, that 19 win season, the new program benchmark, comes with a qualifier.

I’ll use an example from my own life. In high school I dated both co-captains of the pom pon squad. (my status as a 6th string DB/9th string RB had benefits) but all kidding aside, that is a fact. Just like NU setting a new school record for wins is a fact. Of course, I should also tell you that both relationships with the pom pon girls ended quickly, without getting past first base with either of them. And neither one was exactly scorching hot to begin with. Back to Northwestern basketball history, and its zero total NCAA appearances, two conference titles and one NIT tournament win. As Talking Heads once said, “facts all come with points of view. Facts are never what they seem to be.”

Of their 19 wins this season, only one was of the signature variety: Purdue ranked #6 at the time. The Cats peaked on February 8th when they were 16-7, before going 3-5 in their final eight. Despite just one of those last 8 coming against a ranked team.

The Verdict

This Illini team ended up about as likable as Al Qaeda; or the ‘04 Chicago Cubs. Following/liking this team is bad for your mental health, because they haven’t just been bipolar along the course of the season, they’re bipolar within every half of every game. Take a close look at the four meetings with their Hoosier state rivals. In the four games against Indiana and Purdue, you’ll see 8-10 minute stretches in which they looked like a Final Four team, immediately followed by 8-10 minute stretches where they would have trouble beating Chicago St.

Illinois had an advantage NU didn’t, their conference schedule was soft early on, letting them build momentum and confidence. In mid-February, it looked like they had done exactly that. Then again their signature wins came against teams missing their best player (MSU-Kalin Lucas) and second best player (Wisconsin-Jon Leuer) so maybe these wins weren’t so special.

RE: Northwestern, they lost to MUCH worse competition than Illinois, and what they let slip away is worse because it meant so much more. The first NCAA tourney berth in school history would have been a magical story, attracting national media attention like the 1995 football Wildcats’ Rose Bowl run. These Cats simply choked up a hairball under that pressure. A tourney berth at NU is history, at Illinois it’s just routine.

Usually. The Illini didn’t lose as much, but letting your RPI slip way down into the 70s and 80s during March is just plain unacceptable in Champaign. And Illinois was the only mediocre-or-better team in the conference that didn’t lose a key player for key stretches of the season. Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Purdue: all lost their best player (or a key starter) for a few games. The Illini stayed healthy everywhere except inside their own heads. And squandered their talent, luck and resources.

The orange and blue should be used to winning in pressure games now. And Northwestern went this entire season without their best player in Kevin Coble, and still won more games than Illinois, even though NU went 2-8 on the road this season. So I have to go a bit easier on them.

Bigger collapse=Illinois!

Paul M. Banks is Founder/President of The Sports Bank.net, an Upper Midwest sports webzine. He’s also a member of the Football Writers Association of America, the United States Basketball Writers Association and a sports writer for the Washington Times.com Communities and Walter Football.com

Its not every day you can say the Illini are leading in the Big Ten title race, (unless of course you are talking about the three titles the Illini earned early on this decade) but that’s exactly where our hard fought scrappers find themselves this weekend. The Illini and MSU will meet on Saturday in East Lansing, the winner of which will be 5-0 and have firm control over the Big Ten. Well, maybe. The Illini are 4-0 over the four worst teams in the Big Ten, and enter into the meat grinder over the next two games with #7 MSU and #6 Purdue.

Though it isn’t as though the Illini were sure winners in their last several Big Ten contests. Aside from their easy win over sad-sack Iowa, the Illini have either played its opponents into overtime, or played in games that came down to the wire in regulation. Saturday’s six point come from behind win at Indiana and Tuesday night’s single point victory are evidence that the Illini have not exactly been the model of consistency this season, but for the most part they have been just good enough to win lately. In those two wins the Illini have been led by their Juniors Mike Tisdale and  Demetri McCamey. Against Penn State the two accounted for 41 of the Illini’s 54 points and played 37 minutes a piece. While Tisdale also salted the victory in Bloomington away with his stellar free throw shooting. To say the least, the Illini would not be 4-0 without the play of these two.

The Illini are going to need a few more quality wins in order to make a real case for the NCAA tournament, and their next two games could go a long way in making that case, we will see what this team is really made of after facing the top two teams in the conference.

In football news, fan unfavorite and recently demoted defensive assistant coach Curt Mallory has accepted an offer to be the defensive coordinator at Akron this week leaving the Illini in need of a new defensive backs coach, and without one of the coaches that Zook has had on staff since the beginning.

This week also marked a brief period in which Illini fans hoped against all hope that the #1 wide receiver prospect in the nation Proviso West’s Kyle Prater would reconsider his commitment to USC and come home to Illinois. Well that hope finally died yesterday as news of Lane Kiffin being hired in Los Angeles convinced Prater that USC really was the place for him, Sorry Illini fans, it was not to be.

Check in next week, and apparently every week for the best outsourced Illini coverage in the business. Also you can visit my own humble website Hail to the Orange for more Illini coverage and general childishness.

1. Obama’s Election
2. Blagojevich’s Indictment
3. Ryan Goes To Prison
4. Ryan Halts Executions
5. NIU Shootings
6. Recession
7. White Sox Win 2005 World Series
8. E2 Night Club Stampede
9. 2009 Budget Meltdown
10. April 2004 Utica Tornado

Makes you proud, doesn’t it?

h/t: Chicagoist via CBS2Chicago

Alright maybe not, but it still feels good.  I said on Tuesday that the Big Ten would be in good shape if it could enter the final day tied at three games apiece.  I didn’t think that would include a win from Northwestern Tuesday and certainly didn’t think Wisconsin would knock off Duke last night.  It was classic Wisconsin basketball last night with big white guys banking in eight-footers and superb defense winning the night. 

Wisconsin beating Duke was awesome, but Illinois had the game of the night.  The Illini used a 28-4 run in the second half to score their biggest comeback in school history.  Illinois managed to gel as a team in the second half, something that was visibly missing early in the year.  Behind Tisdale, Davis, McCamey, and freshman Brandon Paul, the Illini erased a 23-point deficit in the second half and when Tisdale had the go-ahead bucket with 41 seconds to go, they just had to hold off Clemson for the huge win.  Oddly, Illinois avenged a win from last year’s Challenge where Clemson was the team escaping with an identical 76-74 score. 

About a month remains until the Big Ten season starts and the Illini will have a couple more chances to build a resume before the battle begins in conference play.  That battle is sure to be fierce, but until then we can all bask in the glory of a sweet victory.

Juice was mentioned in the preseason as a possible Big Ten Offensive POY and in just four games he has been sent to the pine and given the clipboard.  McGee has seen plenty of action in his career filling in for Juice and while he’ll certainly have some butterflies, you wouldn’t think he’d be scared to perform. 

The change comes at a critical time for Illinois, with plenty of winnable games left on the schedule.  After a tough game against the Spartans Saturday, Illinois plays Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Minnesota, and Northwestern.  If Zook’s move pays off, the season is savable. 

I can see it doing just that.  McGee is good enough to allow the Illini to compete with anyone in the Big Ten.  The offense is still filled with talent and has its explosive playmaker at wide receiver in Benn.  While optimism isn’t something easy to find in Illini fans and replacing a somewhat proven QB with a very similar type player who hadn’t shown himself to be better doesn’t seem like a great idea, this thing can work out in a couple of ways.  McGee could step up and prove that he can lead this team and ignite something and get them rolling for an easy stretch of schedule.  Or, this could serve to motivate Williams and he could take over sometime in the game Saturday and return to his form of two years ago.

Don’t count Juice out yet.  This is the same guy that led Illinois to a win in Columbus two years ago and you’d think he has en0ugh pride to earn this job back in his final year. 

Nonetheless, it’s the Eddie McGee show on Saturday and it should be exciting to watch (11am ct. on BTN).  Key to the game?  Get Benn the ball early and often. He has ten catches this year and should double that total after Saturday.

The injury, a herniated disk requiring surgery, has to be especially devastating for Wilson after he worked his way back into the starting lineup following an incident at a bar in the winter where Wilson sustained multiple stab wounds.  The injury occurred in the first week against Mizzou and Ian Thomas filled in for the win against Illinois State last week. 

Thomas will likely start again next week when the Illini travel to Ohio State.  The extra week to prepare should help out the sophomore, but the defense as a whole will be tested against dual-threat sophomore Terrelle Pryor. 

This is tough for Wilson and you have to feel for him coming off the incident over the off-season.  At least this will give some young players needed experience, but it’s another bombshell in a season off to a very rough start.

Roses are the last smell emanating from Champaign.  The offense couldn’t move the ball and the defense looked like the only unit in the Big Ten that the awful Illini attack could possibly move the ball against. Some thoughts:

• While the Zookster impressed early as the Illini head coach and continues to recruit well, a performance like the one he oversaw Saturday does not do much to debunk the idea that he is a subpar game coach. I’m not saying we should be buying up FireRonZook.com–I think some jort-wearing Florida slappies have it already anyway–but any hyperbole about Zook that doesn’t have to do with the Red Bull flowing through his veins will probably stop.
• How much worse would Illinois have been against the pass if Zook moved, say, and offensive guard to play safety?  I mean, certainly no offensive guard did his job well, but the safety play was absolutely embarrassing.  All players in the defensive backfield took worse angles than a Tecmo Super Bowl defender chasing Bo Jackson.  That should be good news when the Illini face mobile QBs Pryor and Clark in the next few weeks. 
• I don’t think the Illini have a servicable linebacker outside of Wilson, and it remains to be seen just how far above “servicable” Martez really is. 
• Looking back at the game, the body language from the Illini was very distrurbing.  Sure, you’re getting schooled by a team that lost virtually all of its skill players and is breaking in a new quarterback to the tune of 300+ yards and three scores, but there was no fight. 

So is there any good news?

Well, the Illini were missing Arrelious Benn and Jason Ford for significant portions of the game (Benn for basically the entire game), and when they get back, the offense immediately improves.  Sophomores Troy Pollard and Mikel Leshoure ran the ball pretty well in Ford’s absence.  Finally, Illinois State is coming to town next week and not a decent opponent.  Time to get things together and rebound.

1) Ohio State- Hard to put the Buckeyes anywhere else on the list.  Terrelle Pryor was the most efficient passer in the conference last year and OSU is never lacking talent.  For the first time in a while though, the talent is unproven.  Wouldn’t be surprised to see Ohio State lose a game or three this year. 

2) Penn State- Some of the same issues face the Nittany Lions that face the Buckeyes.  They lose a lot of experienced players in bunches.  Wide receiver and defensive back positions groups will be very green.  Penn State has a quarterback better than Pryor though, in Clark and a proven NFL-bound back in Evan Royster.  PSU should benefit from playing absolutely no one in their out of conference slate as they bring their young guys around. 

3) Illinois- The Illini struggle with success.  The last two times they went to BCS bowls, Illinois followed up with a 5-7 season.  This year though, Illinois returns all of its rushing yards, a dynamic veteran quarterback, and the best receiver in the conference.  The defense needs to step up, but I think the Zooker brings the Illini back this season. 

4) Iowa- The Hawkeyes received some bad news in the preseason, learning that RB Jewel Hampton would be out for significant time.  The good news for the Hawkeyes is that they return a bunch of players.  The Hawkeyes are strong in the trenches and if Stanzi can limit the turnovers and become the ideal game manager he can be at quarterback, Iowa will be in great shape. 

5) Michigan State- The Spartans were picked third in the conference by the Big Ten media this summer.  I don’t see it.  They lose Javon Ringer, who represented basically their entire offense.  One guy to watch is linebacker Greg Jones, he’s something special.  Kirk Cousins will get the start at QB for the Spartans, while Keith Nichol will also get snaps in the first game.  Nichol has the higher ceiling, but Cousins is likely the smart move at the outset. 

6) Michigan- The Wolverines have taken plenty of heat in the week leading up to the season and it remains to be seen whether the “scandal” will help bring them together or be too large of a distraction.  If Tate Forcier can even be an average starter as freshmen go, he’ll be a significant upgrade at QB.  The Wolverines have four returning starters on the O-line and a defense that couldn’t be worse than last year.  If they put the distractions aside, I see a big jump for UM.

7) Northwestern-  I have changed my mind on the Wildcats in the last couple of weeks.  I really like what Pat Fitzgerald is doing in Evanston and Mike Kafka is a great fit for this offense.  With a favorable schedule, I like the Wildcats to make some noise in the Big Ten this year.   

8- Wisconsin-  Bret Bielema has to be feeling the heat in Madison, and I’m not talking about the kind of heat that seems to land a running back in legal trouble once per year.  Wisconsin failed miserably to meet expectations last year and the pressure is on this year.  Scott Tolzien will be your yearly new starter for the Badgers, who will rely heavily on John Clay and Zach Brown to carry the load. 

9) Minnesota-  Tim Brewster’s squad will be led by the pass-catch combo of Adam Weber and Eric Decker.  Decker is one of the best receivers in the league, but the Gophers will need to establish the run with one of their young backs to give Decker a chance to really break games open.  I think Minnesota gets off to a decent start, but falters down the stretch with losses to Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, and Iowa in five of the last six weeks of the season. 

10) Purdue-  New coach, bad players.

11) Indiana- Was there any doubt Indiana would be here?  Kellen Lewis is gone, but the pistol offense is coming to town.

So what did we learn coming out of the event?

• Ron Zook broke his regiment of water skiing and small child eating to show up, which was nice.  Zook actually spent a lot of time talking discipline and off the field issues, which I guess is disturbing.  Apparently a couple of bars are off limits to players around campus (any guesses?) and they have drafted “character teams” so either Zook is very proactive in attacking character issues, or there are some serious ones.  He also jokingly–or not so much–chided the media for picking Terrelle Pryor as preseason Big Ten Offensive POY.  Good for him.  Way to base the distinction on hype rather than, you know, the guy who won the actual Offensive POY award last year (Clark). 
• Joe Pa is still living and stuff, and he was there cracking jokes and drawing out plays on tablecloths about how they used to run the spread in the 1840’s 1940’s.  A couple years ago I thought he should just hang it up, but now I hope he lives/coaches forever.  Not because of the diagrams, just because I changed my mind. 
• So yeah, Terrelle Pryor was preseason POY for offense and Greg Jones, a linebacker from MSU, got the honor on defense.  Jones is a solid choice and if you hadn’t heard of him, try to watch him play this year.  He will only be a junior, but is a heck of a talent.  Pryor…well, it’s no secret I don’t like him.  You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think Todd Boekmann could have done just as well, if not better for the Buckeyes last year.  It’s not that hard to lob deep balls up to future pros when the other team has eight or nine in the box to stop your star running back.  Pryor can run and he throws a nice bomb, but his intermediate passing game will need to improve if he wants to live up to this hype. 
• The top three teams as voted by the media will be OSU, PSU, and MSU.  Well there’s no surprise there…wait, MSU?  This is a team that was actually outgained by its opponents last year, and loses it’s only offensive star in Javon Ringer.  The QB situation should be addition by subtraction with Hoyer out and Cousins or Nichol in, but come on.  The best thing the Spartans have going for them this year is that they miss Ohio State and Dantonio has been better at avoiding embarrassing losses in games they should win easily.  I like Illinois and Iowa over the Spartans. 
• In terms of the other coaches, Dantonio and Tressel were unbelievably boring, Bielema made some lame excuse about why UW plays cupcakes every year, Rodriguez said his team was on track to improve, but he didn’t seem to want to be there, and Pat Fitzgerald continues to look like the perfect guy to lead Northwestern and I mean that in a good way. 

Plenty more Illini coverage will be coming, along with previews for each team before the season gets started in September.  You can rejoice football fans, the long month of July is almost over.

• The Big Ten did, well, okay.  Ohio State and Illinois were upset in the first round and Minnesota lost to Texas, but Michigan and Wisconsin pulled first round upsets of ACC teams, Purdue made the Sweet 16 and Michigan State rolled all the way to the final game, beating two 1-seeds from the Big East. 
• In retrospect, the exclusion of teams like St. Mary’s and Creighton does not sit well with me.  Sure, Arizona and Maryland both won games, but those mid-majors, along with San Diego State, deserved a shot.  That combined with the lack of upsets really made this tournament a step below some others in recent memory. 
• Who were the Cinderellas this year?  As much as it sucks for Illinois, Western Kentucky took on the role again, beating the Illini in the first round, then taking Gonzaga to the brink behind the shooting of Mendez-Valdez.  Cleveland State, Siena, and Dayton all won first round games, but I’d say Siena was the closest to Cinderella status after their close game with Louisville in the second round. 
• Pitt was pretty bad again this year.  Every year I think it will be the one where they turn it around and play well in the tournament, but it never happens.  Oh, and Memphis: HA!  Maybe if they played anyone with a pulse after January they would be a little better prepared in the tournament. 
• North Carolina was absolutely amazing in the tournament.  Their closest game was a 12-point win against Oklahoma that wasn’t really that close.  Their biggest scare came against LSU in the second round when they were down by three with 12 minutes to go and tied with just over 8 minutes left, then Ty Lawson decided enough was enough scoring 21 of his 23 points in that second half.  Every one of their starters was a key factor or the go-to-guy at some point in the tourney.  I heard Dean Smith say that the single elimination tournament isn’t the best way to decide a champion, but in this case the best team definitely won it. 

One good thing about the end of the college basketball season is that it isn’t one of those sports that leaves you with nothing interesting to watch when it’s over.  We have the playoffs coming up for the NHL and NBA, with MLB season just getting started, so even Pirates fans have something to cheer for at least for a couple of weeks.

The Western Kentucky team looks a lot different this year.  They have a new coach in Ken McDonald, an assistant at Texas last year, and McDonald has changed to a more up-tempo feel for the Hilltoppers.  The key for Illinois will be to get out and stop WKU in transition.  They love to run and get easy buckets, but this is something Illinois has had success in stopping this season, in particular when they played Missouri.

Western Kentucky can score the basketball though.  They average 71.8 points per game, with Illinois giving up only 56.6 per game.  Guards A.J. Slaughter and Orlando Mendez-Valdez got some tournament experience last year, so you know they won’t be rattled by the pressure defense from the Illini.

With Slaughter and Mendez-Valdez in the backcourt and Steffphon Pettigrew (ff or ph make up your mind!) and Sergio Kerusch in the frontcourt, Western Kentucky is a favorite of many to upset the Illini minues Chester Frazier.  Sure, the Illini are worse without their leader, but they’re still great defensively with balanced scoring.

I think the Illini can slow down Western Kentucky on the break, but if they’re having one of their bad offensive nights, 38-33 night for example, they won’t win.  The advantage Illinois must exploit is on the inside.  The Hilltoppers’ biggest player is 6-9 and their best players are in the 1-4 spots.  Mike Tisdale can carry this team to victory, and if he can establish himself inside early, it will open things up for McCamey, Meacham, and others on the outside.

I don’t think my mind has been changed to pick Illinois, but I’m definitely on the fence.  WKU just doesn’t seem like the same team as last year, but they can run.  If Illinois goes through a couple of their signature droughts, the Hilltoppers will make them pay running off of misses.  Illinois has to make a conscious effort to enter the post and crash the boards to win.  I’ll go homer with my 68-64 prediction for the Illini.

The game is tonight at about 8:55 ct.