MXC greatest hits

For those of you who have not watched MXC on Spike, it is a great way to waste about 4 hours on a Sunday when you are hung over. I say this because no matter how bad you feel, at least you aren't in as much pain as the contestants. This is a Japanese game show where people compete in ridiculous challenges for lord only knows what kind of prizes. It is dubbed over by 2 guys speaking English. Sometimes they can be really funny, other times they are just talking Adam Sandler jibberish and you want them to shut up. My favorites on this show are the rolling pins, and anything that involves swinging on a rope and trying to land on a unbelievably small platform. Basically I love these because the laws of Physics have proved that these challenges are impossible, yet episode after episode these clowns still try it. Oh and lets not forget that most of these people land on their necks in what appears to be about 4 inches of muddy water. This show is awesome.

Here are the top 25 painful eliminations from the show. (Watch until the end for some that must have caused life-threatening injuries)

Illini beat Wisco

The Illini improved to 17-3 after beating Wisconsin on Saturday at Assembly Hall. Illinois was pretty much in charge the entire game until forgetting that you can pass when you get double teamed during a press break.

Here is a link to the highlights of the game if you missed it.

Big Ten Network

Here is a Big Ten Network interview with Bruce before the Wisconsin game.




Here is my breakdown of the game.

First, I can't take Doris Burke. I like the banter that you get with Lavin and Musberger because it is pretty funny, I just find Doris Burke talking about wanting to eat 6000 calories and kissing under the eternal flame overly creepy. Also I don't need Doris talking about how difficult childbirth is when I am trying to finish my 3rd pitcher of Coors light at Joe's. She does know basketball though, so it isn't too bad.

Dave O'Brien is an idiot. He blasted McCamey for being inconsistent. His 2 examples were going for 4-13 against Tulsa and 0-9 against MSU. If you have had 2 bad games in 20 all that means is that you are not the greatest basketball player of all time. He talked about players disappearing in games, maybe he should have done his homework and realized that Illinois does not rely on only one player. If you have 4 players averaging almost exactly the same amount of points per game, and the team is among the leading assisting teams in the country, then perhaps you find the hot hand and go with it. Illinois has had 8 different players lead the team in scoring this year.

I want to know whose idea it was to have Trent Meacham check Krabbenhoft all game, because he did a really good job and played his ass off. Krabbenhoft did get a couple shots in the post, and got free for a few 3's, but overall our help defense was great and Trent denied the ball well. Trent gave up at least 4 inches and a ton of weight. From the start that was by far the biggest mismatch of the game, and Wisconsin could not take advantage of it so give Trent a lot of credit.

Tisdale gets at least on foul a game for an illegal screen, kinda like Brian Randle would pick up 4 fouls because he was out of position and couldn't play defense without reaching in and hacking. Tisdale's second foul was absolute bullshit though. So much has been made of Tisdale being skinny and not having enough strength in the post, so when he actually gets good position and keeps his man on his hip while reaching for pass it is frustrating to see him get a foul for that. This brings me to a point of contention, should coaches automatically pull a player when they get 2 quick fouls in the first half?

On one side of the argument, some people believe that if you leave a player in, then they can't play with as much intensity on defense, which makes them a liability until at least half time. Also a good opposing coach and players will go at that player to try to get his 3rd. If the player does get his 3rd, then not only will they sit, but when they do come play in the second half, once they get their 4th they are pretty much done until the last 5 minutes of the game.

The other side of the argument is that when you pull that player, they will get cold on the bench. Basically the player is only going to be valuable to you for the second half of the game. Usually too, when they do come in for the second half of the game, they are most likely ineffective because they haven't been in the flow of the game at all. I call this the Brian Randle theory, yet it is a struggle to find a game that he was effective to begin with.

I think that if you have a post player, then you have to sit them with 2 fouls because it is much easier to isolate that player one on one to try and draw their 3rd foul. For guards it is much easier to play in foul trouble, you may just need more help on dribble penetration from the rest of your team because you can't be aggressive 25 feet away from the hoop.

Dominique Keller and Calvin Brock do a great job either maintaining momentum when they come in, or in some instances they actually add more. Keller does it on the offensive end, and Calvin does it on D. If Keller can get close enough to use the glass, then chances are it is going in, no matter what crazy angle he uses to shoot the ball from.

This was the best all around game I have seen Demitri McCamey play. He has scored more in other games, but he did a great job with his on the ball defense, fighting through screens, and jumping passing lanes on defense. On offense, he didn't settle for 3's all game long even though he hit a couple. He used dribble penetration to get inside for pull-up jumpers and also made it to the hoop on shots that he knew he would get fouled on. Early on in his career he didn't understand when he should pull up so that post players couldn't help, he would get rejected or make difficult passes because he was too deep. None of those situations happened in this game. His passing and floor vision were great, and seems to really understand the offense and knows where to find the open man.

I actually was impressed with Trent Meacham on the offensive end. The last few games he had basically looked exclusively for his outside shot, but in this game he did a good job of penetrating at the end, and also curling off of screens and getting jumpers in the lane. As long as he continues to do this, then I think his outside shot will come around.

What the hell happened to our composure during the end of the game? We have played against 2 of the best pressing teams in the country in Clemson and Mizzou, yet when slow nonathletic Wisconsin presses us, we look like a JV high school girl's team. Thank god Jason Bohannon could not hit an outside shot to save his life, or else that game could have gotten away from us and you would be reading a meltdown post from me right now. You do have to give the Illini credit for hitting their free-throws at the end of the game.

So now we have more wins than last year, and if what Bruce Weber thought at the beginning of the season holds true, we only need 7 more wins to make it to the NCAA tournament. For what it is worth, Joe Lunardi has Illinois as a #4 seed right now, which would be our highest seed in the tournament since the National Championship team being a #1 seed.

Crazy Dunks

Here are a couple of awesome dunks to start your work week off with. I saw them on WithLeather.com



I personally like this one out of the two.




I will say that it does seem a little unfair that the other team looked like it had 5 white guys on the floor that were no taller than 5'11. And seriously what kind of A-hole coach designes a double alley-oop in high school basketball. I looked up both of these kids and neither of them seem to be recruited by anyone. Their names are Ike Nwamu and Deuce Bello, I shit you not, even I can't make up those names.

Illini Links and Preview

Big Ten Network has done a great job of having not only games, but posting videos and interview. Here is some of the cool Illini stuff that they have up there.

Just saw this video and it is pretty special.




Here is another video which talks to Mike Tisdale about his 6,000 calorie a day diet. I'm pretty sure that this has been mentioned during every telecast this year. Although that is better than having to hear about Weber losing Eric Gordon or Jamar Smith crashing his car drunk.



This is the Matto video, which is similar to the one above, but is longer and sweeter because it has old players talking about Illinios.



Here is a preview of the Wisconsin game from the players. Thank you Big Ten Network, and for god sakes Trent please shoot the ball well.

Links for the day

Here is a really good article about Bruce Weber and the Illini this year. It is nice to see other coaches in the Big Ten really respect him, although Izzo is one of his best friends.

Supinie on Weber

It is a little disheartening to see the "win now at any cost" mob mentality that sports fans have nowadays. Bruce took Illinois to the national championship game and 3 years later people want him fired. Ron Zook took Illinois to the Rose Bowl last year, and people are now comparing him to Ron Turner and talking about him getting fired. People are giving Lovie Smith pretty much one more year in Chicago after taking them to their first superbowl in 20 years.

There is no more building of a program, if you underachieve one year, you better fix it next year or you are out. Fans sense of entitlement these days is sickening. So if Illinois makes the NCAA tournament this year when no one expected it, should Bruce be granted at least 3 more years? Probably not, people will say that we should never had missed it in the first place. However if he does not get this team to a Final Four in the next 5 years people will be asking for Bill Self to come back, and trash Bruce like usual. The sad thing is that it will be even worse for the next guy, because if he doesn't win right away people will remember that Bruce took us to a Final Four in his 3rd year, put numerous players in the NBA, and even with one shitty year, still had one of the best coaching records in the nation. Zook has it even worse because he is trying to build a program where one never existed.

Good article talking about Dominique Keller and how he fits in with this Illini team

Liesse on Keller

I like Keller a lot, and I see him being our emotional leader next year with Chester gone. The year after that we won't have a problem with leadership as you can take your pick from the 6 seniors we will have. Its nice to have high character guys who care about team rather than self.

Here is an article about the upcoming game against Wisco

Daily Illini on Badgers game

Apparently this game doesn't just scare the hell out of me. It is nice to see that the game will be sold out, so now if we can get the blue hairs out of their retirement homes, into their rascals and to the stadium, maybe we actually will have the best seats in the house filled.

Here is an article about Vinny Del Negro getting yelled at by Ben Gordan and liking it.

Tribune article about Vinny Del

Personally I think this is a last grasp by Vinny. Hopefully for his sake, the Bulls will play better now that Hinrich and Deng seem healthy and Larry Hughes isn't missing 65% of the open jumpers he takes. This is a legitimate team when you have Hinrich, Gordon, Rose, Deng and Captain Barbosa (Gooden) all healthy and playing together. Vinny getting fired wouldn't surprise me, but he should have at least 2 months with his starting line-up healthy before he gets evaluated.

John Paxson, should get fired! He is now trying to trade Larry Hughes who hasn't seen the floor pretty much all of 2009 because a guard heavy team for:

Tribune on Hughes trade

Let's add another guard/small forward to compete for minutes with Deng, Hinrich, Noch, Thabo. Here is a little background on Simmons.

He played ball at DePaul, and then bounced around the NBA for a few years. He had one good year in Los Angeles, too bad it was for the Clippers, and that in turn got him an enormous contract that makes no sense.

His stats this year: 8 ppg, 4.5 rebs, 1.3 assists, and he shoots 43% from the floor.
Larry's stats: 12 ppg, 3 rebs, 2 assists, and he shoots 41% from the floor.

He has 2 years left on his deal, so he will be here for another year at least. You gotta love Paxson trading Hughes for another player that no one else will want. He is a starter now, so I expect the same situation that we have with Hughes, Simmons is gonna hate not knowing when he is gonna play and ask to be traded. Or he will sit quietly and make is 10 million a year.

Finally we have a chat with the Cardinals GM. It is not just for St. Louis fans, read about 2/3 of the way down for an interesting question and an even better answer. The same fan has a reply towards the end that is awesome.

Stltoday chat with Cardinals GM

You gotta love this guys sense of humor. Boiling the Ocean was a classic line.

Here is something funny to watch, but it is not safe for work because Denis Leary likes to swear a lot. If the video doesn't play, just click the link below the videos and it will take you to Funnyordie.com

Denis Leary Remembers Denis Leary Movies - watch more funny videos

Denis Leary Remembers Denis Leary Movies Part II - watch more funny videos

Durty

Big Ten Breakdown Part 2!!

Everyone in the Big Ten is now 5-7 games in and some teams have been surprising, and some have played pretty much like I have expected them to (I'm talking about you Crimson and Crean!) So let's breakdown what has happened so far.

January 21, 2009

The day after Barack Obama got sworn in as our new commander and chief is a day that the top of the Big Ten and sports gamblers alike would love to forget. What the hell happened tonight?! Michigan State and Wisconsin who I had picked as the top of the class lost to Northwestern and Iowa who I picked to finish last. I know that you are thinking that I picked Indiana to finish last, but I am not including them in the Big Ten this year. They are done, and now we can actually have 10 teams in the Big TEN.

Michigan State needs to stop turning the ball over, plain and simple. They had 18 against Illinois and Northwestern. They have not shot 3's well at all in the those games, and I know Raymar Morgan was sick, but damn somebody else should step up. They out rebounded NW by 20 (39-19) had less fouls, but shot 7 less shots because of the turnovers, so kiss your home court winning streak goodbye.

Wisconsin got "Duked" by shooting 25 less free throws than Iowa. They just need to learn to put teams away. When you get up on a team that has such a hard time scoring like Iowa by 7 with 11:00 to play, put the hammer down. They did the same thing against the Fighting Tubby's but even worse. Blowing a 9 point lead with less than 4 minutes in a game is unheard of, unless of course you are Arizona and you are playing in the Elite 8. This is something that not only could lose the Big Ten for you, it could cause you to take Michigan's place in the NIT.

So here is a up to date standing of the Big Ten.

Michigan State (5-1)

After beating Illinois at home, I really wasn't sure if MSU would lose at all at home in the Big Ten, damn was I wrong. They are still in the drivers seat in the Big Ten, and I think that they will run off at least 5 in a row. @ OSU is not gonna be a problem for them. @ Iowa shouldn't be one either, Iowa still sucks no matter what miracle they just pulled off today. Penn State, the Tubby's, and the former Big Ten team known as Indiana will get polished off at home. I have more faith in Tom Izzo than I do in any other Big Ten coach, this team should not lose at home again this year once they start taking care of the ball.

Minnesota (4-2)

Still don't buy this team. They had 2 miracle wins already this year by beating Wisco, and beating Iowa on the road. They should be 2-4 but aren't so oh well. Next 4 out of 5 could be losses and should be. Purdue and Illinois at home, Michigan State and Ohio State on the road. If they go 3-2 I might start calling them the Gophers again. I have watched this team play terrible for long stretches in 4 of their last 6 games. They are lucky that I am writing this tonight instead of yesterday because the loss to Northwestern on the road was one of the worst displays of basketball that I have seen this year. I had so many jokes lined up it was great but MSU screwed that up for all of us. On the bright side I think this team still has some bed shitting left in them, so stay tuned.

Illinois (4-2)

What can you really say? The only gripe I have right now is that they had leads late in the second half of both of their losses on the road, but they are respectable losses. This team will be in every game this year because of their phenomenal defense. I am a little worried about playing Wisco on Saturday because I can't fathom the Badgers losing 4 in a row, but stranger things have happened, like Kevin Coble dropping 31 on Sparty tonight! I also like getting 4 days off before playing the Tubby's on the road. They need to steal 2 games on the road and win out at home, and they are not only dancing in March, they might take the Big Ten.

Purdue (3-2)

Lost their first 2 games to a decent team, and then a good home team. Survived a scare @ NW, and still aren't playing at the caliber they were last year, but the talent is there. This is the stretch that will tell whether or not this team will compete for the Big Ten title. @ Tubby's, @ Wisco, home against Michigan, @ OSU, @ Illinois. Go 3-2 in that stretch and they finish in the top 3, 4-1 and everyone else in the Big Ten should be afraid. Keaton Grant where have you gone?

Penn State (4-3)

Jamelle Cornely is a damn Beast!! So far a good home team, they suck on the road. At least Hummel and Kramer played against Illinois, but stealing that win @ Purdue was big. They will crush Iowa at home, but then it is time to pay the piper as they play @ MSU, @ Michigan, Wisco at home, then @ Purdue for the ass-kicking of the century. They really don't play really good defense and Battle has disappeared in some road games. Oh and it is Penn State basketball, so they will also crap the bed.

Ohio State (3-3)

I hate this god damn team and I hope they don't win another game, predictions be damned!! BJ Mullins is a tool and I will now focus all of my "I hope Eric Gordan is a bust" energy on this slappy jerk-off. So first this premature ejaculation (my new nickname for him since the best basketball player in high school hype was garbage) shushes the crowd at Illinois after a dunk when he was down 11, so he is on the Durty Butter list of people to target for every mistake they make. Then Evan Turner who played worthless goes to the Illinois bench after the game and says something to McCamey and starts banging his chest. What the shit is wrong with this team? I understand that Turner and McCamey have been best friends for the past 15 years, but get a grip beat off, you just got the shit kicked out of you!! He said in the post-game that McCamey knows him and his teammates, and that we should ready for a war in Ohio State. This is like a bad remake of "The Warriors". They all need to stop all this garbage and seriously pray that David Lighty comes back fast, but he isn't an world player, so they are in trouble. I could care less about who they play from now on, they are not good. NIT lock, and Matta can lock up all the All-Americans he wants, Freshman don't win championships!!!

Wisco (3-3)

Not closing out games, and they aren't getting any easier. Their next 5 games alternate between 3 away games and 2 home games against Illinois twice, Purdue, and @ NW and @ Penn State. They need to figure out how to play 40 minutes fast or their season could be over. I just hope they figure it out on Sunday after they have just lost to Illinois. I still think that they could pull out some wins, but they are not athletic or have dominate inside size, and a lot of other teams do have that. They need to figure it out on the defensive end and start hitting the open looks that they are getting.

Michigan (3-4)

No road wins (as I have stated before beating Indiana in overtime is a loss), and 2 home wins so they are really 2-5. Fluke offenses work occasionally and you will get some surprising wins, like beating Duke and UCLA, the same as Northwestern beating MSU tonight, but in the long run you will fold. When you have no back-up plan for going 5-30 from 3 point range, then ass kickings by Penn State happen. Too bad Yerk told me this after I picked them to beat a single digit spread against Indiana. Deshawn Sims should transfer right now, because his teammates avoid him on offense like he just failed an STD test.

Name one road game that they have left that you see them winning after what happened today in the Big Ten:

@ OSU
@ Purdue
@ UCONN (Great scheduling Beilin, that should really help your teams confidence)
@ Northwestern
@ Iowa
@ Wisconsin
@ Fighting Tubby's

Maybe Iowa.....Maybe?

Iowa and Northwestern (2-4)

They obviously shocked everyone tonight, but teams will now not take them lightly. Iowa lost their best scorer, and then pulled a guy off the bench who pretty much never played to lead them in scoring the last 2 games. David Palmer had 19 against Purdue and 21 against Wisco. Before that he scored 17 total points in 9 games, and didn't even get off the bench in 8 games. Does anyone else think that Todd Lickliter might be a total moron? Anyway, coaches will prepare for him now, so he will come back down to earth. But you do have to love a kid who shows up like this, he could end up being a good story in the Big Ten. Although, he could start hanging out with the Iowa football team and go to prison. Not sure which way the ball will bounce.

Northwestern is actually playing really good defense, and the 1-3-1 trap that they run is tough. That being said, that means that they will be competitive instead of being doormats. Games like tonight can happen, but they aren't going anywhere. They need to learn how to shoot free-throws at the end of games before I will give them more credit, because they absolutely pissed away the Purdue game and that was terrible.

So far the only thing that I am wrong about is Wisconsin and Minnesota, but the season is still early and I think Minnesota will have trouble late, if they both falter, it could be a 3 horse race with Illinois, MSU and Purdue. More breakdown next week.

Illini Crush OSU

With the Illini win tonight against Ohio State, they have now matched their win total from last year. Illinois now has the same amount of wins (16) and have 16 less losses than last year. It is very easy to get caught up in the moment and not realize exactly what Illinois has accomplished so far. Before the season began, most fans thought that winning 20 games would be damn near impossible. Everyone was hoping that we would be competitive and just build a solid group before help came in the form of recruiting for the next two years. Now the Illini are ranked for the first time since Dee Brown and James Augustine left school, and are tied for 2nd in the Big Ten now. Illinois is back to playing amazing defense and move the ball in the motion offense better than any of the last 3 teams we have had. Illinois also has an attitude at home again, which is something that the home crowd has lost.

First thing is that the support for this team in Champaign as far as attendance is embarrassing!! If you can afford to shell out the 10,000 dollars it takes to donate to actually get seats within 10 rows of the court, then you can probably either afford to go late to work on Wednesday, or afford to give up your tickets to someone who is willing to go to Assembly Hall. I look for Barack Obama to remedy this after he takes care of the BCS.

Now to the game tonight

First even though we won by almost 20, the team looked lethargic at times to me. They played very hard, but I don't think they had their legs for this game. Calvin Brock had a break-away after a steal and looked like he was going to pass out before he got to half court, he consequently blew the lay-in after he forgot to jump before he went for the bunny. Also, I would not be doing my job that pays me nothing if I didn't mention Keller rim checking himself like he was in an old school Grant Hill Sprite commercial. The good thing is that we looked slow on offense, but everyone played great defense.

Mike Davis for having great hands on offense, cannot seem to grab a defensive rebound clean with 2 hands. Everyone knew coming into this season that Illinois would have problems rebounding, but teams are eating us alive on the offensive boards. I am not looking forward to playing Penn State, because Cornley attacks the offensive glass like Bush attacked the Middle East! I don't know if Obama can pass legislation fast enough to prevent this before we play PSU at home.

2 things that opposing teams are not able to do well against us is press, and play zone. Tonight Ohio State had a full court man and also a zone press that did not cause us any problems. This team was also made to play against zones. Against OSU's 1-2-2 or 3-2, Illinois did a great job of flashing to the high post for either a jump shot, or a high-low with the posts. Our bigs also did a good job of reversing the ball from the high post if they didn't have anything. Against the 1-3-1, we fins the same open shots, but they are off of pick and roll to a post on the baseline, or just reversing the ball to the post in the short corner. Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, and now Dominique Keller are great on the baseline, or the top of the key. Even Calvin Brock has gotten open shots there when Illinois goes small with him playing the 4.

Did anyone else love McCamey's technical? In the first 10 games this year, everyone said the he goes through the motions, and doesn't show enough heart and emotion on the floor. Now he is cheering on the floor, trying to get the crowd into the game. He is even slapping the floor on defense. By the way his defense in this game and also against the guards at MSU was great. He is stripping the ball, not getting beat off the dribble, and is trying to do things on both ends of the floor. This was the fourth game out of five that McCamey started the scoring by hitting a 3. If his effort continues like this for the rest of the year, then the Frank Williams comparisons need to stop.

Calvin Brock is not getting enough credit for his play the last 5 games. We are consistently going with small line-ups with him playing at the four, which means that on defense he is guarding a post player who has him in weight and height. He guarded Raymar Morgan really well at MSU and also matched up against Marquise Gray and Goran Suton. He had 5 steals today, and 4 of his 6 points came off of offensive rebounds and put backs.

Brent Musbuger will always mention Vegas, drinking at a local bar or fraternity, and Chester Frazier's lack of dread locks this year. I am still waiting for ESPN to realize that the greatest broadcasting team ever would be Gus Johnson doing the play-by-play, Steve Lavin doing the analysis and Brent just talking about people in Vegas sweating out the spread and which campus bar had the best drink special the night before. Lavin actually got a shout to the GM of Houlihans during the telecast. His name is Larry Wingate, just tell him that "Lav sent you!" No one else in sports even talks about betting lines or drinking with Coeds during a game. I'm pretty sure Musburger not only talks about these things, but is actually partaking in betting and drinking during the game. Although he must bet on games with an off shore sportsbook now, Obama will have this rectified before March Madness.

Trent Meacham has officially reverted back to his Sophomore year skill level during the Big Ten season. I had mentioned in an earlier post that he has not shown up in a big game this year, well now he has not shown up in a Big Ten this game this year. Indiana does not count as an actually Big Ten game since they are more like an exhibition team this year. So far in the Big Ten Meacham's 3 point shooting has been:

@ Purdue (0-1)
@ Michigan (1-7)
Indiana (7-9)
Michigan (1-5)
@ Michigan State (1-7)
Ohio State (0-5)

Do you see the pattern? Earlier in the year Trent was doing a good job of not only shooting outside, but also penetrating in the lane and getting easier shots because people were running at him. Now that he can't hit a 3, he doesn't have people flying at him like they did before, so he isn't getting in the lane. He will still get more playing time than Legion because he plays better defense and Legion proved against Michigan State that he can't dribble yet.

I now hate BJ Mullins more than anyone in the Big Ten. What kind of moron shushes a crowd when you are down by 11? Who the shit does this guy think he is? Blow Job, no one is talking about you or cares about you other than saying that you are an underachiever. You were the No. 1 recruit in the country and people thought that you would be one and done and a lottery pick. Now you aren't even starting on a team that might make its second straight trip to the NIT Finals. You shot 6-8 from within 5 feet of the hoop, had 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers, and shot 2-9 from the free throw line. You know who had lines like that all the time? Shaun Pruitt. Get ready to join Greg Oden, Mike Conley Jr, Daequan Cook, and Kosta Koufas as busts in the NBA.
Which one of these is not like the other? Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, LeMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant, BJ Mullins. Exactly!

So we are 16-3 and looking forward to Wisco coming in to town on Saturday. Look for a Big Ten Update soon, because I need to continue to blow up Michigan after they shit the bed tonight against Penn State.

Illini beat Michigan

So Illinois avenged it's loss to Michigan by beating them at home 66-51, and a few things about this game stood out to me, the casual observer. Now mind you, I missed the first 6 minutes of the game because Penn State decided to foul as much as possible against Michigan State during the last 2 minutes of the game. Once the game started I noticed the following things:

1) Demitri McCamey is by far the best player on our team. If you don't think so, you are crazy. The first half of this game we played very sloppy basketball, and the only thing that kept us in this game in the first half was the fact that McCamey scored 15 of our first 28 points. Also for the third game in a row he started the Illini's scoring by hitting a 3, and finished off the half scoring 12 of the Illini's last 16 points.

2) I am still waiting for a good game against a good opponent from Trent Meacham. Right now it is a guarantee that he will shoot terrible in close games against tough opponents just like it was a lock the Brian Randle would get 2 fouls before the first TV timeout last year. Allow me to elaborate. Trent is averaging 12.2 points a game this year, not bad, but consider how he has gotten to that point. So far this year, you would have to say that our biggest games have been against Vandy, Kent State, Tulsa, Clemson, Mizzou, Purdue and Michigan twice. That is 8 games, so the other 9 were pretty much cupcakes. You can also pretty much throw out Mizzou, because that game was a blow out in the first 10 minutes, and Trent scored 15 points after it was already a 20 point lead in the second half.

So without the 23 point out put against Mizzou, Trent is averaging 8.5 points a game, and last night against Michigan he scored 8 of his 11 after we were up 15. Here are his shooting stats in our big games.

Vandy 4-8 (4-6) from 3. 14 points
Kent State 3-7 (1-4) from 3. 7 points
Tulsa 3-8 (0-2) from 3. 6 points
Clemson 3-8 (0-4) from 3. 6 points
Purdue 4-7 (0-1) from 3. 11 points
Michigan 2-9 (1-7) from 3. 5 points
Michigan 2-9 (1-5) from 3. 11 points.

I am completely nit-picking here because when you have a team that is playing this well so far it is hard to find things to complain about. I am just worried that down the road we are going to need Trent to step up and bury some big 3's for us when McCamey is having an off night, and it might not happen. On the bright side he is playing good defense and is getting in the lane and to the hoop better than any guard on the team.

3) Alex Legion is not where we thought he would be. It is a little unsettling that the only player who seems to take terrible shots is Alex Legion. Yes, Calvin Brock has taken some bad shots, but Legion's all seem to come with about 30 seconds left on the shot clock and after only 2 passes. The rest of the team moves the ball so well, and you aren't sure when the ball will be shot. When Legion is in the game you can tell instantly when he touches the ball if he is going to shoot. I am more than willing to give him all the time he needs though, because it has to be difficult to sit out over a year and then try to get back into playing at game speed. He is the only person on the team with a shoot first mentality, but one day he will get hot and that mentality will score 30 points for us.

4) Mike Tisdale has a great offensive skill set. He is playing much tougher with his back to the basket even in the last 10 games. Early in the season you would see him get pushed off the block and shoot hook shots fading away from contact. Now he is putting his shoulder into people which is not giving defenders space to try and get up and block his shot. His touch outside is incredible, which now sheds some light as to why Weber had him attempt 3 game winning 3's last season. (Because lord knows Trent would have missed them) Just kidding.

5) Teams are now playing Mike Davis tight inside of 15 feet. I will be very surprised if we see very many more Mike Davis 14 foot jumpers from the baseline off of pick and roll anymore because teams are now either not hedging as much on the screens, or rotating over baseline help. This does free up dribble penetration and look for more kick outs to guards for 3. Mike is going to have to work for all of his points now, but he has such great balance and touch inside that he should be fine. He is still rebounding like a monster which a lot of people, like me, were very worried about from him.

6) Michigan is who I thought they were. Michigan has lost 2 out of 3 on the road, it really should be considered 3 of 3 though, because going to overtime against Indiana is a loss for anyone's program. They also lost their only neutral site game. 3 point shooting for those games:

Duke Neutral Site - 6 of 22 (27.3 %)
Lose at Maryland - 12 of 29 (41.4%)
Beat Indiana at IU - 12 of 40 (30.0%)
Lose at Illinois - 7 of 26 (26.9%)

Besides the Maryland game they have shot like crap when they are not at home. Shooting below 30% from 3 3 out of every 4 road game is not gonna win shit in the Big Ten unless it is against Indiana. They will only win 3 Big Ten road games. Look out Iowa and Northwestern.

Big Ten Rushers

The Big Ten is losing pretty much all of their leading rushers. After today, Javon Ringer, Kory Sheets and Tyrell Sutton were all graduating, but now we have PJ Hill, Shonn Greene, and Chris "Beanie" Wells all declaring early for the draft.

So the leading rushers coming back are?

Evan Royster at Penn State with 1236 yards last year.
John Clay at Wisconsin with 884 yards
Juice Williams at Illinois with 719 yards.

Beanie Wells to the NFL

PJ Hill to the NFL

Big Ten Breakdown

We have now played 2-3 games in the Big Ten conference season so it is possible to see where the teams in this league are going to finish. Here are the standings so far.

Michigan State 3-0
Wisconsin 3-0
Penn State 2-1
Michigan 2-1
Minnesota 1-1
Iowa 1-1
Illinois 1-1
Ohio State 1-2
Purdue 0-2
Indiana 0-2
Northwestern 0-2

Best of the Conference


Michigan State - Is it shocking that Tom Izzo has the Spartens playing the best basketball in the Big Ten. Granted he has the most talent, but MSU played a brutal schedule in the Non-Conferene like usual, did it without big man Goran Suton, and now they are primed to take over the Big Ten. He does an amazing job of mixing in his veteran leaders with the crop of All-Americans better than most people in the country.

So far MSU has won on the road twice. Beating the Fighting Tubbbys in Minnesota and Northwestern. Beating Ohio State at home is a good win, and they will most likely beat OSU on the road because they will still be without David Lighty. At Penn State and Illinois at home will be tough games. Penn State is much improved, and except for last years abortion, Illinois always plays MSU tough. If they win both, they could be 11-0 before they have another tough test @ Michigan and their cross half court and launch offense. MSU only has Michigan and Wisconsin once which will help their case for the Big Ten title, but in their last 6 games the have Purdue twice, Wisconsin at home and have to go to Illinois. I think MSU will finish 15-3 in the Big Ten.

They are crazy deep at guard, Suton and Gray have been around Big Ten basketball for what seems like 8 years, and Delvon Roe is a really good Freshman. Top to bottom they are the most talented 8 man rotation in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin - Just like MSU and Tom Izzo, Wisconsin always puts a good team on the floor as long as Bo Ryan is selling used cars in Madison. Wisconsin looked horrible getting their asses handed to them by UCONN, but they played Marquette and Texas tough. The only team that has the talent of any of those teams in MSU and they only play once and the game is in Madison. Wisconsin has one of the best home courts in the Big Ten. Bo Ryan has his team molded into the same team he has had for years. Athletic post man? Check (Landry), point guard who can penetrate, defend and shoot? Check (Hughes) Tall slappy white guy who can rebound and shoot outside? Double Check (Leurer and Krabbenhoft) and finally 80's style Indiana guard who can shoot as soon as he steps into the gym? Check (Bohannon). They play great defense and play a non-flashy offense that is solid. The only thing that will hurt Wisconsin is their depth if Hughes or Landry get hurt or in foul trouble.

Wisconsin has already beat Michigan on the road, Penn State at home in a close game, and then they demolished NW at home lastnight. They play Purdue on the road which they could steal if Robbie Hummel and Chris Kramer are still banged up this Sunday. They luck out by getting MSU and OSU only once. Their schedule is by far the easiest in the Big Ten, but they have only played 3 road games so far so they might have some hiccups along the way especially playing at Iowa and Illinois back to back within 4 days. I look for them to finish either 14-4 or 13-5, depending on if they lose at home.

Middle of the Pack

Penn State - Penn State is kindoff a shocker here because besides the top 3 that they have in Battle, Pringle and Cornley, their isn't a lot to their team. Talor Battle is a great guard, and is in the class of Harris, Moore, and Turner as the best in the Big Ten. Cornley is a beast inside, but is only 6'5, so they lack a big low post threat which could hurt them agaisnt teams like MSU, Wisconsin, Illinois, and yes even Michigan if they ever learn how to use Deshawn Sims. Their talest player that does anything is Andrew Jones III and he is only 6'9 and they are not very deep at guard. They guards they do have though can light it up. They will surprise some teams like they did agaisnt Purdue, but they might also lose some games they should have won.

Unfortunatly for them, they only have Northwestern once, whom they already beat, but barely at home. They only have OSU once, but that is on the road. They beat Purdue at home, but like I stated earlier that was without Hummel and Kramer. The middle of their schedule will either make them a tournament team, or they will get the hell kicked out of them. They play @ MSU, @ Michigan, Wisconsin at home, then @ Purdue. All of this is in 2 weeks. During this stretch they will play 5 of 7 games on the road with Illinois and Ohio State thrown in their at the end. If they beat Minnesota on the road I think they will go 12-6, otherwise they go 11-7.

Purdue - Starting out 0-2 in conference isn't gonna help anyone, but Purdue has the talent to run off a lot of games at the end of the season as soon as they get healthy. Illinois and Penn State both stole games from Purdue, but the one that has to hurt the most is Illinois, because that was at home. The starting 5 is set for this team, and is loaded with talent. Moore, Hummel, Grant, and Johnson can all kill you on any given night. They also have depth at every position really, they just got caught having their best player and best on the ball defender hurt at the same time. I personally don't think that Kramer is the greatest defender, but having watched Chester Frazier for the last 3+ years, I understand how much of an emotional lift these guys can bring with their hustle and intensity.

Purdue is 0-2, and they play Wisconsin on Sunday with the distinct possibility of going 0-3. They only have Minnesota and Indiana once, so that sucks for Purdue. With the early loses, unless Purdue runs the table, they will lose at least 5 games. The bad news, playing on the road in the Big Ten this season is gonna be the toughest in the last 5 years, the good news, PU has the talent to win a lot of those road games. I think that Purdue when healthy won't lose at home again unless it is MSU or Wisco, so I think they finish 12-6.

Ohio State - Losing David Lighty is killing this team. He is the best player they have on both sides of the ball (Evan Turner is the best offensive player). Without Lighty, this team is one year away from being great. They have absolutley no depth at PG since Crater is transferring, and BJ Mullins is not playing at the level that everyone thought he would coming out of high school as a top 5 player. With the losses on this team, it is forcing Buford and Mullins to grow up quickly, but the Big Ten has too many veteran teams now with similar talent. Gone are the days where one player can carry at team, so Diebler, Mullins and Buford really need to step up quickly, or Lighty needs to heal like Superman.

Starting out on the road didn't help OSU any in losses to Minnesota and MSU, and they have to go to Michigan and Illinois after taking care of Indiana. They do only play Wisco and PSU once, so that should help, but if they aren't careful, by the time that Lighty gets back, it won't matter much anymore. Starting out the Big Ten season 1-4 isn't out of the realm of possibilities here. Also having to play Michigan twice, Illinois, MSU and PU in 5 out of 6 games will not help. Barring a complete turnaround I think that OSU goes anywhere from 11-7 to 9-9.

Illinois - No one thought that Illinois would be in the position that they are in right now. Having only lost 2 games and playing unselfish basketball like the glory days of 2004-05. Illinois has the talent to contend in any game, however as they showed at Michigan and against Clemson, they might have a problem finishing out those games. I know they have won close games all year, but those teams have since faltered and the wins don't look as great anymore. If McCamey can become consistant, Legion can become consistant and they all continue to play great defense, then they should have no problem holding home court. The problem may come on the road for this team.

Illinois gets the total shaft as far as scheduling goes in the Big Ten. They only play cupcakes Iowa and Northwestern once, and they start out playing Purdue, Michigan twice, MSU, OSU, and Wisco. Thank god they threw in Indiana to mix it up a little bit. The good news is that Illinois already beat PU on the road, and they have a nice stretch towards the end of the season where they are at Northwestern and Indiana, and then have Penn State at home followed by at OSU and then Minny at home. So realistically if they can weather the storm early in the season they can stack up some wins at the end. Also 4 out the next 5 games are at home, those being against IU, a winnable rematch of Michigan, and a Lighty-less OSU, only Wisco at home could be seen as a real loss. If they can come out of that with only one loss to MSU on the road and be 5-2 this team can contend for a title. If they lose at home to Wisco and someone else they could very well be 3-4 going to Minnesota. If they take care of business early look for Illinois to finish 12-6, if not they could be 9-9. I'm going with 12-6 though.

Some notes though: Illinois has beaten Minny I think 19 times in a row, so they are looking for revenge. PU will most likely be healthy in the rematch. Lightly will be back when we play at OSU. We are at Northwestern, and they always play us tough there. We end with MSU at home and at PSU, and PSU has played us close for the last 3 years.

Frauds

Michigan - They looked terrible against Indiana!! So here is the story on Michigan. They have only played 2 road games, at Maryland which they lost, and at Indiana which they should have lost. They also beat Savannah State in overtime. By the way, last time I checked Savannah was a city not a state, but I digress. Yes beating UCLA on a neutral court was big and beating Duke at home was also big, but that is what Beilein's system is made for. It catches opponents who aren't ready by surprise, and if they get hot, they can shoot you out of the gym. Is this a way to beat teams that know your system and have prepared for it for 2 years now? No. People would like to think that lastnight would be a wake-up call to them to play hard no matter who the opponent is, but I would think that Misnamed State would have done that. They play defense in spurts, and at times the only way Deshawn Sims touches the ball is when he gets it 25 feet from the hoop. John Beilein is the Mike Dantoni of college basketball. The team is fun to watch and all the players love the system because they have a green light anywhere this side of half court, but in a game that is slowed down, or on an off shooting night, they will lose.

They are 2-1 now and handled Illinois at home. I think that they will beat teams at home except for Wisconsin and Purdue, but they will not win road games that they should win. They only have to play MSU once, and don't get Indiana at home. Finishing the season at Iowa, home against PU, and then at Wisconsin and Minny does not bode well for this team. In the middle of the season they also are at OSU and PU, then have Penn State at home, then go to play UCONN before coming home to play MSU. They could very well go 1-4 in that stretch and lose confidence. I just don't like this team and its gimmick offense against solid Big Ten coaches who have seen it before. I think Michigan finishes the Big Ten season 10-8 to just because they get OSU without Lighty twice. I think they will start the Big Ten season 5-3, maybe beat somebody they weren't supposed to, but there will be at least one head scratching loss on the road and maybe one at home, so that 10-8 could very well turn into 8-10.

Minnesota - Just like their Michigan counterparts, they do have a good win against Louisville, but don't let that win fool you. Louisville was playing their second game in 48 hours, while Minny had 10 days to rest up and prepare. Plus who has Louisville beat? Just UAB, that's it. There is a distinct possibility that UL will be a bubble team after playing a hellish schedule in the Big East. Minnesota has only played one road game this year and beat Colorado State (Colorado is a state, I have been there) by only 1. They already lost to MSU at home, and beat OSU at home. Tonights game against Iowa will tell alot. If this game is close, or Iowa wins, then Minnesota can be determined to be absolute frauds. Tubby is recruiting well, and he is maturing those players by playing total pussies at home. When you have played both North and South Dakota State along with SE Louisiana, Georgia Southern and Eastern Washington, I think it is time to hire a new scheduler. At least they threw in the gugernaut that is High Point and Cornell in their to get this team some battle wounds. Tubby was smart to do this though, because they are gonna get their ass kicked in the Big Ten, but still make the NIT most likely.

I don't even care about there schedule. The only road games that they have a shot of winning are Iowa, Northwestern and Indiana. Best case scenario for the Tubbys is that they finish 9-9, more likely it is 7-11, and they can kiss the tourney good-bye.

Don't Even Bother

Iowa - They haven't beaten anybody, nor are they likely to. The rest of the Big Ten just has too much talent for them. They might make some games close by playing like Michigan and drilling a ton of 3's, but as soon as the lost every player that was good from last year, and Todd Lickliter refused to recruit convicts like Steve Alford, this program was doomed. Cyrus Tate was supposed to be good, but I have no idea what the hell happened to him. I'm not sure if Anthony Tucker is back, but it won't really make a difference.

All we need them to do is take care of business in Indiana, other than that it doesn't matter what this team does. Maybe 5 wins for Iowa this year.

Northwestern - The other gimmick offense in the Big Ten. They might surprise some teams at home this season by running their geek offense, and they actually are getting more athletic, but they are still Northwestern, and they will continue their streak of NEVER MAKING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT!

5 Wins maybe.

Indiana - We finally get to the real reason I wanted to write this post. If you have stayed with me so far, then I am sure that this is also what you were waiting for. Oh it was great to see Indiana play their little walk-on hearts out lastnight against Michigan. It was also great to see the 16,000 white people and 7 minorities get behind their walk-ons and JUCO transfers lastnight. They gave me a scare, I'll admit. Everyone in the Big Ten who was cheering for Indiana's first defeated season in the Big Ten were holding their breath. I would like to thank Indiana for not letting us down. Even though Michigan put on one of the worst displays of offense, coaching, substitution managment, adjustments during timeouts, ball handling, stopping penetration by white walk-ons, and closing out on white guys who don't go inside the 3 point arc I have ever seen, Indiana still pissed this game away. Matt Roth and Verdell Jones are both from Illinois and it is nice to see them get some playing time for one year, because they have already been recruited over. Tom Crean will have this team playing great in 2 years, so it is nice to enjoy this glorious season of futility.

Predicition: Still no wins!!!

OVERALL

Michigan State 15-3
Wisconsin 13-5
Purdue 12-6
Illinois 12-6
Penn State 11-7
Ohio State 10-8
Michigan 9-9
Minnesota 8-10
Iowa 5-13
Northwestern 4-14
Indiana 0-18

Eff Michigan Update

Michigan did salvage Indiana's defeated Big Ten season by playing normal basketball in the second half and giving it inside to Deshawn Sims. He was 7-11 inside the arc, 0-4 outside of it. Indiana could have actually won the game in overtime if they knew how to hit free-throws. I stand by my earlier statements that Beilein is a terrible coach, if you are Michigan the fact that this game actually went to overtime should be seen as a lose by your program. You gotta love the fact that Lucas-Perry and Manny Harris both shot 9 3's each. Not to mention the rest of the team who each probably shot 4 each. I think I saw the a cheerleader get out there and put up a couple. Lesson learned, never bet on a Michigan game ..... EVER!!

Eff Michigan

So less than 4 hours after I write a post about how Indiana is gonna lose every Big Ten game, leave it to John Beilein and his gimmick fucking offense to fuck that up for us all. Way to shoot 7-28 in the first half while going 3-18 from 3. I am going to go out on another limb and tell Michigan fans that they can go ahead and never look forward to a Final Four or a National Championship. Actually, screw that, you will never win a Big Ten Title or tournament as long as this guy is your coach. I was told today that because they shoot so many 3's that they would be a terrible team to bet on the road. I thought that even if they were cold, Beilein would realize that he has a monster inside with Sims and the best player in the conference in Manny Harris, so maybe he will draw up some plays for them and tell people to stop shooting 3's like a 6 foot white kid from Indiana. Nope, let's let everyone jack 3's until the cows come home while Sims posts up Kyle fucking Taber 3 feet away from the hoop. I almost want to throw up thinking that we lost to this team.

So what happens when Michigan has an off night shooting 3's? They get the shit kicked out of them by a team that couldn't beat Lipscomb at home. Way to have a back-up plan d-bag!!

Illini vs. Indiana

So right now I am watching the Illinois - Indiana game in Champaign from last year on Big Ten Network. I can't believe that we lost that game, and now all I can remember how horrible last season was to watch. Illinois had a 12 point lead with 16:00 minutes left in the 2nd half, and we choked that game away. I can't wait to play Indiana this weekend. Even though Indiana's season completely went to shit last year, and now are struggling to find a home win, I still want to watch Illinios absolutely destroy them. It will be great to see Indiana as just a shell of the team they were last year. Lets all hope that they don't win a game in the Big Ten this season. You would think that the only game that they could win this season would be against Iowa or Penn State. Well Iowa already beat them once, and Penn State just took down Purdue, so sorry Hoosiers, but you look to be screwed. Look for Illinois to start a winning steak against Indiana that probably won't end until at least 2013. Here are some of my thoughts after watching this game:

- I wonder what McDonalds DeAndre Thomas is eating cheeseburgers at while he is on break from making fries?
- Calvin Brock looked to kill Chipmunk Gordon every time he touched the ball. He played with so much intensity it was crazy.
- Demitri McCamey played out of his mind in this game. Brian Randle unfortunately did not show up. Shockingly he picked up his 4th foul with 8 minutes left playing his stellar defense
- Why did Chipmunk's family wear Black Indiana jerseys? Were they trying to make a statement, or could they not afford actual red ones?
- Shaun Pruitt never learned how to pass in 4 years, and somebody should have sat Brian Randle down and explained to him that a motion offense is based on ball movement and screens, and also that it isn't a foul if he dribbles with his right hand.
- As much as it pains me to say it, DJ White was really good.
- Rodney Alexander was not very good.
- Fucking Free Throws!!
- God Damn Demitri McCamey was unreal in this game!!
- I never thought that I would forget that Shaun Pruitt missed 2 chances to win the game with free throws at the end of regulation and overtime. I'm real glad that he was the one who started screaming at teammates and coaches in the Purdue locker room to the point where he got suspended, because now I don't feel bad for hating him.

So for this weekends game here is breakdown of the Hoosiers:

Record: 5-8
Wins: Northwestern State, IUPUI (by 3), Chaminade (by 2), Cornell, and TCU
Loses: Notre Dame, St. Joe's, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Northeastern, Lipscomb, and Iowa

They only have 2 players averaging more than 10 points a game, and they have only cracked 60 points twice in their loses. Thanks to Kelvin Sampson, they play pretty much 4 Freshman and some Juco players.

There really isn't much to Indiana, they do have some Freshman that will be pretty good in a few years, too bad the rest of the Big Ten is light years ahead of them. And for all of the Indiana fans that say that they are recruiting great, well they might be, but Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Michigan and Minnesota are recruiting just as well, if not better, and they aren't starting from scratch. Good thing Indiana sold their souls for 2 wins against Illinois and a first round NCAA loss. If this spread is anywhere around 10-12 points take it. Chester Frazier will have a week to heal his strained groin, and Mike Davis should be better from suffering from Tonsillitis.

Funny Stuff and Links

Holy Shit do we have some funny videos and links for you guys today.

First we have a trailer for the new Broken Lizard movie. If you don't know, Broken Lizard if the comedy group that made the classic Super Troopers. This is a Red Band trailer so it is not safe for work.



null - Watch more free videos

Next we have a couple of comedians that are originally from Chicago who are funny as all hell.
This first guy is Kyle Kinane. I feel bad that he had to perform on Carson Daly's show. Can anyone explain to me how this d-bag has a show, and more importantly who the shit would watch him?


Kyle Kinane On Last Call With Carson Daly



This next guy is John Mulaney. He is a writer for Saturday Night Live. His stand-up is a little more grown up I guess, but still funny.

Television Appearance


Here is a video of T-Jack getting choked slammed in the Eagles vs Vikings game. I hate the Vikings, but more importantly my Brother-In-Law loves them, so here you go. This is not safe for work because they used Ice Cube as a background track.

Illinois is now a #10 seed in Joe Lunardi's most recent Bracketology

Here is a really good read about Mike Tisdale and his brother by John Supinie

Dee Brown was released by the Suns this week according to the insidehoops.com

Mariotti is Back

Love him or hate him, Jay Mariotti is an employed sportswriter again. Jay signed up with aol sports and is contributing to the www.sports.aol.com website. His first couple of columns are pretty much what you'd expect: one which kills the sun times, another which kills Barkley; but as always they are well written and opinionated.

http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/bbdp/sunnier-times-in-new-mainstream-media/292744

http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/bbdp/charles-barkley-an-american-idiot/294506