Indiana Lose their "Biggest Game"

I think it is safe to say that Illinois fans hate Indiana (for obvious reasons), Duke (because everyone hates Duke) North Carolina (for obvious reasons) and any team that is coached by Bruce Pearl. Even though a 13 point win against Indiana on Sunday doesn't really mean much in the grand scheme of things, I would be lying to all 5 of you if I didn't admit that this was one of the most enjoyable wins of the season for me.

Everyone came out and played pretty solid and pretty hard. You could make a case that Demitri McCamey had one of his worst games of the year, but he had the flu over the weekend so he gets a pass. The only thing that scares me about this, is that he might get other people sick, and this is a week where Illinois needs everyone to be at 100%.

I'm not sure if all of you heard about the argument between Tom Crean and Mike Davis. Basically when Davis dunked on Indiana at the end of the first half, he stared down the players inbounding the ball for Indiana. He didn't say a word, didn't flex or pound his chest, he was just staring. Crean took exception to this because he doesn't want the fragile mind set of he collection of walk-ons and D-2 caliber players to be damaged any further than it has been already. Apparently he made a comment to Davis about showing some class as they walked by each other at half-time, and Davis yelled something back at him. Ted Hillary who is fast becoming the worst official in the Big Ten pulled Davis aside and told him to knock it off. This basically led to Calvin Brock getting a tech for dunking a basketball and then being happy about it. If you wanna talk about class, how about Tom Crean condoning large paper cut-outs by the student section of Indiana of Eric Gordon and Rod Blagovich? This is Tom Crean's idea that he brought over from Marquette, not the Indiana student sections. Also is it "classy" to get into a verbal altercation and then a staring contest with a player when you are the coach of one of the most "storied" programs in college basketball. If Bruce Weber had done this, every major paper and web-site would have dedicated at least 3 writers to this, because Bruce is a whiner for being upset for losing a recruit to a cheater. Just to put your minds at rest, if you are an Illinois fan, you don't have to like Tom Crean because Indiana finally hired a guy who is not a cheater or a player-beater. He is a douche who is paid a ton of money, so you don't have to feel sorry for him because he has no players. It is okay to start hating him now, you don't have to wait until 2012 when Indiana will matter again.

- Mike Davis passes to Mike Tisdale so well in the post. I can't wait to see what these guys are like when they are seniors after playing together for 3 years. Indiana had no answer to Tisdale at the top of the key, or Davis at the top looking for Tisdale on the block. I really want one of these guys to become a vocal leader on the floor though for the future. Tisdale did miss 2 cutters for easy lay-ins when he got double teamed though. I have a feeling that he will get this rectified in the future unlike a former post player who couldn't understand that when 3 players are guarding you, somebody else might be open.

- To continue my on-going man crush on Calvin Brock, did you guys enjoy his hustle plays as much as I did? He had a dive on a loose ball that started a fast break, a great charge, and then the awesome tip dunk on an offensive rebound. I am gonna miss Chester and Calvin's hustle next year. For the record, his technical foul was one of the worst calls of the year. It is the NCAA way of trying to keep fans in the seats for Indiana games though. The only way that Indiana doesn't lose games by 40 every night is due to officials, plane and simple.

- Best sign of the year so far: Never. Never. Never. GIVE UP!!! Whatever helps you losers sleep at night. Also can somebody answer these 2 questions for me: 1) Why did the fans have cut-out of Peyton Manning? and Why chant ERIC - GORDON? If I remember correctly, Eric Gordon led Indiana to 3rd place finish in the Big Ten, a first round loss in the Big Ten tournament, an 8 seed in the NCAA tourney, and then a first round loss there. All Gordon did was use the University for one year to showcase his skills for his NBA payday, leave a hole at shooting guard for the next year, and create a hatred from Bruce Weber that will cause him to want to destroy Indiana for as long as he coaches. Both teams lost here.

- Indiana went to a Triangle and 2 and it did cause problems, but I was actually impressed with how Chester Frazier handled it. I know everyone was screaming at him to shoot when he was open, but there is absolutely no reason for him to do this. They were playing off of him, so he basically could shoot a 3 whenever he touched the ball. Chester was patient, tried to penetrate and find open people, and shot when he absolutely had to. The only thing he did do was over dribble when he should have passed and moved. I can handle Chester shooting an open 3 with 5 seconds on the clock, but if he started jacking them with 25 seconds left, then I would have been pissed. His 3 with 5 minutes left was huge and this was Chester's take: "It's all a mind game. It was a different tactic because our big guys were killing them, so they figured, 'Hey, we'll give Chester a shot.' But it backfired on them and they lost." God I love this kid!! He said that he hopes more teams play off of him because it takes pressure off of him and allows him to find open players easier.

- Loved the bounce back game for Alex Legion. For the first time since the Michigan game, Legion looked comfortable running the offense, and took open shots instead of contested shots. We need him to continue this type of play down the stretch for Illinois. The Illini basically have their 5 remaining games against NCAA tournament teams. Penn State might be out, but that doesn't make them an less dangerous, then they have Minnesota, Michigan State and Ohio State. If they take care of business at home, Illinois will finish 3-2, and with a 24-7 record. This is a big week thought with Penn State at home, and OSU on the road on Sunday.

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