Durty Bracket Update

Here is the Final Durty Bracket Update, we will have a Durty Bracket Recap at the end of the tournament.

It is pretty much all said and done, and our worst fears were realized. No, not that Kansas made the Final Four, our worst fear was the the only woman to fill out a bracket will win. Unless someone hops in a Delorean and changes their bracket, it looks like Cara will win. Congrats to soon to be Mrs. Webb, not only on the win, but obviously (according to the name) the upcoming nuptials.

20 teams still have their national champion alive, although most of those people picked Carolina to win. A few things to note

- After a panicked phone call from Cara's soon to be husband we at Durty Butter have made an executive decision to allow her enter future DB pick'ems. I for one cannot wait for her post on this blog. This could be the greatest thing on Durty Butter since the weekend that we went 4-0-1 in college football picks.

- Tarnow who is a Carolina Law School grad picked Duke to win it all. I think this goes back to the Illinois National Championship game. Now that is dedication, it takes a lot of love for your alma mater to pick Duke to beat the school you attended grad school at. He should be commended.

- Feel free to let me know what you think about the bonus points, but you will never change my mind that it makes the first round more interesting. Also a lot of people were in play for the title at the end by having less points for each round.

- Durty and Butter were in the top 5, so I think we have proven our college sports knowledge. Also to go along with that, never pick with your heart, because in hindsight, a Chester Frazier-less Illinois team does not make the Sweet Sixteen.

- The Big Ten has had a good showing in the post season, and right now hopefully Digger Phelps is choking himself with his fluorescent tie while he bites down on his matching highlighter. For all the bashing he did on the Big Ten this season, MSU knocks off the #1 seed overall, and his beloved Notre Dame got destroyed by Penn State. That game was close for about 4 minutes, and Notre Dame only managed 18 points in the first half. Suck it Digger. Even Izzo took a shot at him today.

- Speaking of Izzo, 5 Final Fours in the last 10 years is pretty god damn amazing, the next closest is UNC with 4. Even though he is in the Big Ten and we have to face him 2 times a year, you have to love this guy. He is classy, and always coaches up the talent that he has.

- I am watching Ocean's 13 right now and I need some clarification about something. In the first movie, wasn't tunneling out of the question because of all of the sensors around the vault? Well how can you bring a drill into the 3rd one that was used to make the damn Chunnel? Nobody is going to notice this time? The thing was big enough to mimic a damn earthquake, and build a connection between ENGLAND AND FRANCE!! And where did they start digging from? If you have been to Vegas, you know that there isn't any open land with 10 miles of the city! And finally at the end, Clooney says to Pachino "2nd, your not gonna go to the cops because.... well your not gonna go to the cops." What the shit does that mean? Why wouldn't he go to the cops? It makes no sense, way to phone this movie home. The only movie I can think of that was a worse sequel was Mission: Impossible 3.

- Welcome back to mediocrity Memphis. You will lose all of the talent you had this year, and if any of the recruits that Calipari signed stay with Memphis I will be shocked. Memphis was like the girl in school who came back from summer break and had a totally new make over and changed her personality (Fed Ex pumping money into the University like it needed a bailout). Well after a few months, people realize that she is just as average as she was before, and now her jock boyfriend(Calipari) dumps her for the hot cheerleader(Kentucky) who is single now after dating the drunk college guy(Billy Clyde).

- I had a lot of fun with this Bracket, and will be looking to do more things like this, so stay tuned. I hope you all enjoyed the updates. Also check back to see Cara's post.

Illini Recap

Now that the college basketball season is over (I understand there are still games, but none of us really care), we can look back on what the season gave us. First I want to dispel some myths that people have concocted in their minds because they are focusing on the last 2 games instead of the season as a whole.



1) Illinois was a bad offensive team



This is a favorite for people who don't understand basketball, look at the ACC or Big East and assume that is the only way basketball should be played, or only looked at the box scores after a game. Here is the first point I would like to make, Illinois was the second leading team in field goal % in Big Ten. For the most part of the year, they were first. They also led the NCAA in assists per field goal. Now most of you probably don't put a lot of stock in those facts, but one relates to the other. Having such a good FG% and assist total is based on the fact that Illinois runs a good offense, and more importantly gets good high percentage shots. Guess what? You can shoot a 23 foot 3 pointer any time you want in college basketball. Alex Legion proved this theory everytime he stepped on the floor. Why waste the 35 seconds you have on the shot clock chucking these bullshit shots when you can try to get an open look from 15? This is probably my biggest gripe with Illinois fans. They assume that the fact that Illinois doesn't score as much as other teams in different conferences, automatically means that the motion offense is crap! Fans assume that it has nothing to do with the fact that we don't have the level of players that UNC, Duke, UConn, or Pitt have. Or the fact that we didn't have a guard that could consistently take his man off the dribble to the paint. Here are the facts of Illinois' offense.



- The motion offense is the reason that Mike Davis averaged 11.3 points a game. Mike can't dribble or effectively post yet, but this offense gets him open looks in spots that he can shot he can do damage. Just wait till he develops a back to the basket game or the ability to take a bigger less athletic post player off the dribble.



- The offense leads to good defense. You know the reason that Illinois had one of the best defenses against the 3 point shot? Because opposing guards have to spend 25-35 seconds running around screens on defense. To steal a line from the now "retired" Billy Packer, their legs get tired.



- A balanced offense leads to more wins than having one or 2 good players. Here are 6 teams that were in the Preseason top 25 that underachieved: Texas (#7), Notre Dame (#9), Miami (#17), USC (#18), Florida (#19), and Davidson (#20). You know what all of these teams have in common? Yep, they have 1-2 great scorers, and beyond that nothing offensively. This is why Illinois was had better years than all of these teams. Illinois does not have one player on their roster that would have been a focal point on any of these teams, yet they won 24 games this year because guarding 5 people is much more difficult than guarding 2. Everyone of those teams I mentioned has at least one person on their roster that will get drafted if they left school right now, Illinois has none, yet we had a better year.



- I won't argue against the fact that having a playmaking guard would have helped this team. That along with the fact that Illinois was a terrible transition team this year is what led to our downfall. And that just leads to recruiting, and losing Jamar Smith. Having a guard that could come off the bench and be able to score is what we were missing. Alex Legion could not fill that role this year, so we had to rely on 3 guards, none of whom could consistently score on their own.



2) Demitri McCamey is not as good as we thought



Let's not all jump off the bandwagon just yet. He was still just a Sophomore, and didn't have much around him. Remember Dee Brown his senior year? At least he had Augustine who was consistent inside. Beyond that he had an inconsistent Rich McBride, Brian Randle, and a Freshman Jamar Smith who couldn't shoot during the Big Ten season. Dee tried to carry that team instead of deferring to others, and he averaged 14.2 points a game, and 5.8 assists a game, but he shot 36% from the field and 32% from 3.

The Vanderbilt game, which very easily could have changed the course of our season was your typical big time Demitri game. He had 23 points that game, and then turned in his next big performance in the Clemson game where he scored 20. Then he dropped 20 against Mizzou, and of course none of us should ever forget him during the Northwestern game with 21 points and the game winner. The only thing about Demitri is that he allows his offense to effect the rest of his game. As long as he progresses like he did from his Freshman year, he will be a solid player when everything is said and done. Also take into account that he will have better, more experienced players around him. He shouldn't have to carry the offensive burden as much. I hate to break it to everyone, but he will never be Frank or Deron Williams, but he will still help this team develop. Especially if he does lose a few pounds and tries harder on the defensive end.


3) Bruce should have used his bench more.

He might have been able to use the one more player at times, but who do you want to bench in order to get Bill Cole minutes? He is not a guard and not a post. If he was a huge mismatch on offense, then I'm sure Bruce would have sacrificed his lack of defense to get him in the game. Also no one after the none conference uses more than 8 players. You need to play Jeff Jordan because you are short on guards. Calvin Brock was able to play the 2, 3, and 4, so he is in, and Keller could score and also somewhat defend the post, so he is in. Alex Legion got his shot and played himself out of the rotation, and Semrau just was not effective on the offensive end. When you already have Chester Frazier who is not a great offensive player, and Trent and McCamey who were streak shooters at best, you can't afford to put another player in that can't score. In the next 2 years, you can bitch about players not getting PT because the gap between the bench and starters is going to shrink. Also you are going to damage consistency and chemistry when a player doesn't know what his role is, just look back to the 2008 season if you don't believe me.

Now a look to the future

Illinois will lose Chester Frazier, Trent Meacham and Calvin Brock. The one player out of those 3 that will hurt the most is obviously Chester. Calvin Brock will also be a major loss as he could play many positions and brought some intensity off the bench. Trent Meacham as well as he played in his career will be the easiest to replace because we have some guards who can step in who love to shoot (Alex Legion)

Backcourt

Demitri McCamey is the only guard who can handle the ball who returns. Jeff Jordan is not yet able to handle ball pressure to the point where you are comfortable with him as your primary PG. DJ Richardson has been playing the point mainly this year in high school, so he will got a lot of playing time in the backcourt. Brandon Paul who won Mr. Illinois this year, will probably come off the bench with Calvin Brock's minutes. He is 6 foot 5 and a slasher who can get to the rim and finish. Alex Legion will be a starter this year, and take over Trent Meacham's spot. Joe Bertrand might red-shirt this year as he is the one player out of the 4 coming in who is pretty raw.

Frontcourt

Tisdale and Davis are locked in at starters, so the question that you have now is whether or not Bruce goes big and starts Keller, or keeps him coming in off of the bench and goes with a 3 guard line-up. The depth in the froncourt is going to be the strong point for the Illini. You have 3 year players in Cole and Semrau, and also red-shirt Freshman Stan Simpson. Add to that mix Tyler Griffey who is a bigger, stronger Bill Cole, and you are going to have a problem getting everyone minutes. You will have 4 players vying for one spot as a back-up to Davis. If Cole can get quicker, he might be able to play the 3 and take some pressure off of the Freshman coming in, and also this opens up more time for Griffey, Semrau, and Simpson.

Outlook

Look for next season to be comparable to this season. With only one Senior on the team, this season will be used to develop chemistry and teaching the young guys how to play defense. The reason that I don't feel that we will be better is because you lose a lot of defensive intensity, and also the rest of the Big Ten will be much better. Hopefully this off-season is as productive as last year's was. If this occurs than you will have a much better offensive team, yet other teams will be able to score on us, especially against our backcourt. It will be a much more exciting team to watch, but the results will not be much better than this year.

What to look forward to tonight

The sweet sixteen starts tonight and the Bulls play so here is what to catch:

6:00 - Purdue vs UConn

UConn is playing in the midst of allegations of recruiting violations. It has been almost a week since we have seen Chris Kramer's mom screaming like son just won the national championship. Also, not to many people have heard Haseem Thabeet talk, but he is like Dikembe Mutombo's long lost son. Here is a great video of the rest of the Rockets making fun of him.



7:00 - Heat at the Bulls

Luther Head is now with the Heat, and they are actually playing him. The Bulls are trying to lock down the 8th playoff spot, and have won a lot of good games lately. Here is a video of one of the greatest dunks ever by an Illini. It did happen in a high school all-star game but who cares.



8:30 - 30 Rock

For those of you who haven't seen 30 Rock, it is the best show on television right now unless it is Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Here is a link to some videos or full episodes.

30 Rock at NBC/

9:00 - Villanova vs Duke

Here is to hoping that Duke loses. It is pretty amazing that no matter who Duke plays I want them to lose. The only other schools that I can think of that I want to lose as bad are Kansas and Memphis, which made last years national championship game unbearable to watch. I didn't add Indiana to that list because lets face it they are garbage now, and will continue to be garbage for the next 2 years. Here is the "Where Duke Happens" video with the much more enjoyable parody after.

Illini Recruit Shot

Tommie Hopkins who is a safety from East St. Louis was shot in the leg this week. Apparently he will be fine.

Tommie Hopkins Shot

The 2 things that stand out to me is

1) He was shot at 4 a.m. on Monday morning. When I was in high school, I was usually in bed at 4 in the morning on Monday because I had class the next day. Maybe he was on spring break, but god dammit, don't these kids have parents?

2) His car was shot 6 times. I have never been in a situation that involved random gunfire (thank god), but getting shot at 6 times isn't random gunfire. Hopefully this was a case of mistaken identity, because not to many people will shoot at someone 6 times for the hell of it.

Thankfully Tommie was only hit in the leg once, and he will be okay. This is a recurring theme with Illinois football players. Martez Wilson got stabbed on campus, Enrique Robertson got kicked off the team for allegedly firing a gun outside of a bar, and we all remember the Jodi Ellis and Derrick McPherson incident. What the hell happened to getting into fights with random drunk frat guys or getting caught underage drinking? It's like Champaign turned into Bagdhad in the 5 years that most of us have left campus.

Durty Bracket Update

Now that we are past the first weekend, there are officially 7 people in the country that still care about their bracket. Here is our update going into the Sweet Sixteen

1) DiscoStu
2) Soon to be Mrs. Webb
3) Anal Roberts

First if Disco actually wins this bracket than that will mean that I can officially stop following college basketball. I don't want to partake in following a sport that allows Bill Self to win back to back championships. In hindsight we should have assumed that there would be a global economic meltdown after Kansas won their first title. If they win a second title, then I implore everyone to move to the wilderness, because Armageddon is just around the corner. Normally I would bash anyone who picked Kansas and call them many terrible names, but Disco is much bigger than I am, and it has taken me 5 years to breath properly after receiving multiple "jack hammers" to the chest in college.

Soon to be Mrs. Webb is still hanging around even though there is no money involved. Michigan State in the National Championship game might be the downfall of this bracket. However if they do make it, then Cara will most likely win. That win will come at a cost though, as not only will she not be invited back next year, but we will most likely ban all women.

And now to my favorite: Anal Roberts. Leave it to Guymon to have one of the better names out there. The reason that this is my favorite is because when he used this name 2 years ago, I got a phone call from my sister asking me "what the shit is Anal Roberts?" Apparently my brother-in-law loved this name so much that his bracket revolved around beating Anal Roberts. For 3 weeks all he could talk about was Anal Robert's picks, and whether or not he would beat him. My sister was not a fan. I personally am hoping for this win so that when I go to my niece's 2nd birthday in May, Kinney and my sister can explain to my mother why her granddaughter's first words are "Anal Roberts".

Thoughts so far

- There were at so many teasing upsets that didn't happen it was sickening. Pitt, Villanova, and Louisville all played like crap for 36 minutes, and then pulled out their games.

- Pretty much every good coach in the last 15 years is in the Sweet Sixteen. Coach K, Roy Williams, John Calhoun, Jim Boehiem, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Rick Pitino, John Calipari (it kills me to put him in that list). Will Mark Few or Jamie Dixon make the jump to that level this year?

- I hope most of you caught the Ohio State and Wisconsin overtime games because they were awesome. Every time I tried to root for OSU, I got a picture of BJ Mullins hanging out with Matt Sylvester in my head and started cheering for Siena.

- This might just be a knee-jerk reaction to Illinois losing, but I think Gus Johnson is a little over the top this year. Either that or he is going into Meltdown mode a little too early. Gus starts screaming with 7 minutes left in the game now. After watching a basketball game for exactly an hour and a half, Gus loses his volume control. I'm worried that he is not gonna have enough left in the tank to call a buzzer beater. Gus might be the first announcer that will need a sub during a game. Either way, he makes any sport he is announcing that much better. He should have his own reality show where he travels the world and challenges random sportscasters to see who is better. Put Gus head to head with the ESPN Deportes guys to do a Mexico vs. Brazil soccer match, now that is reality T.V.

-I have just created my dream team for an announcing crew. Gus handling the play by play, Brent Musberger as the 2 man, and Charles Barkley as the expert. If the game is great, Gus can go crazy as usual, and if the game sucks, the Brent and Chuck can try to one up each other with drunk Vegas stories. This is how I see it going down.

Gus: "AND IT LOOKS LIKE MICHIGAN STATE WILL HOLD ON TO BEAT KANSAS 75 TO 63." (this is in Caps because Gus is screaming this)
Brent: "Well pardner (to chuck), I haven't had this much fun in a long time."
Chuck: "Yeah the last time I had this much fun was 2 weeks ago when I won $100,000 at the Mirage sportsbook betting the over on Syracuse and UCONN."
Brent: " Oh boy, I bet the guys who bet the under were pretty upset about that one? I know Jack Arute would have been, isn't that right Jack?" (now you get the Erin Andrews voice over)
Erin: "Umm Brent, Jack Arute was fired a long time ago, I have been doing the sideline reporting with you for 3 years."
Chuck: "Not everyone, Michael was to busy losing his share in the Charlotte Bobcats at the craps table to care about the $500,000 he just lost on a college basketball game. God damn does that guy love to gamble!" ITS TRRBLE!! "I think he won a girl who looks like that sideline girl in a poker game at the Bellagio once." "What's her name?"
Brent: "Ha Ha! Charles my man, that is fantastic." "Well Folks! That's all we have tonight. For Charles Barkely, Steve Lavin, Kirk Herbstreit, and Jack Arute, I'm Brent Musberger. Have a great night."
Gus: (Catatonic and paramedics are trying to give him oxygen)

Sports would cease to exist as we know it after these three did a game together. Nothing couuld top this. Gus just being Gus, Musberger drunk and living it up with Barkley, and Barkley hitting on Erin Andrews. I dare you to try and come up with better broadcasting scenerio!!

For those of you who have never heard of, or played the Musberger drinking game, this is it. It needs to be updated a little bit, but it makes college football even better.

Durty Bracket Update

After the first day of play in the first annual Durty Bracket our top 3 are:

Nigerian Nightmare
M Madness = Baseball is here
Soon to be Mrs. Webb

Of course the person in second place is somebody I don't know, and third place is the only woman we have in 38 brackets!

So here is what happened to allow this. Everyone I know who did this bracket is an Illinois fan except for my Brother in law and Webb's soon to be wife.(there are a few people I don't know) The reason that RD is in first place right now is because he is the only one out of us who had the balls to pick Western Kentucky. Either that or he is a traitor, I am shockingly in a good mood right now, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt. However RD is now 1:42 away from having West Virgina destroy his bracket. Sorry buddy, hope you enjoyed your time at #1.

Same goes for M Madness, I hope you did not have WVU in the Elite 8 in all of your brackets, cuz they just screwed you. For the record, I was telling people lastnight that I didn't believe that WVU was that great, because they really didn't win any big games. They were like Illinois, beat the teams they should have beat, and lost to teams they should have lost to.

Cara being the only woman would have won this challenge except for one simple fact: We are not playing for money. If this was worth anything over 100 dollars then Cara would have been the runaway Vegas favorite to win. Sorry Cara, but you aren't gonna win this one.

Here are a few of the sexy picks that people have made that screwed them:

Illinois over WKU - obviously we are all stupid, and everyone else in the country is smart, because Illinois grads, Barack Obama, and Erin Andrews are the only people who picked Illinois.

Utah State over Marquette - A lot of people not only had this game picked, but also had Utah State making it to Sweet Sixteen. This is absolutely shocking to me. Although I guess everyone else must not share my blinding hatred for the entire state of Utah. The only part of Utah that I like is the spot where Deron Williams is at any given time. The rest of the state can suck it.

WVU over Dayton - Everyone picked this game and J Dani is done, because he had them in his Final Four. He also picked Utah State in the Sweet Sixteen, so he is doubly screwed. Sorry Buddy.

Clemson over Michigan - I loved Clemson in the second game of the weekend, just like I love Mizzou on the second game of the weekend. It is really hard for a team to prepare for their pressure in just one day. However in order to do this, you have to win your first game. Screw you Clemson!

Here are some random thoughts on the first day:

- Nobody is covering any spreads. Except for Carolina and UCONN winning by a collective 2000 points yesterday.

- I cannot watch sporting events with people I don't know.

- To go along with the last thought, Don't cheer for your bracket. I had to sit through listening to the most annoying Asian girl that god has created. She was living and dying with every Villinova shot. We get it moron, you picked Nova in the office pool at the DMV that you work at, but guess what? It was a god damn #3 vs #14 game. The entire country picked Villanova, you idiot. Did she think that the reason that the other 450 people in the bar were cheering for American was because we all happened to go to school there? Or somehow she magically unlocked the code of picking bracket winners by figuring out that the numbers by the name we seeds? I wanted to punch her boyfriend in the face for 1) dating her and 2) allowing this to even occur.

- If you have a friend that knows how emotionally invested in you are in a team, and he can't wait for the second that your team loses so he can rub it in your face, is he really a friend? I don't get this. Everybody has been destroyed after a loss before, so why would you enjoy kicking a buddy in the nuts when he is already down? This of course does not apply to Duke/Notre Dame/Yankees/Frontrunner fans, these people you can mock until doomsday.

- I really hope that somebody I don't know wins our bracket. I don't think I can handle somebody I know winning, because I like to think that I have more college basketball knowledge than most of you. God help me if my brother in law or Yerko wins, I will never hear the end of it.

Big Ten vs. NCAA

Like most of you, I am getting pretty sick of hearing about how bad the Big Ten is, and how their is no way that they should have gotten 7 teams in the tournament. There is absolutely no basis for this other than the fact that ESPN loves teams and conferences that score because it makes for good t.v. Not one Big Ten tournament team had a head scratching loss to the point where you could make an argument against them. Here is a breakdown of what the Big Ten did to the rest of the basketball world.

Michigan State -

vs. ACC
Lost to Maryland 80-62
Lost to UNC 98-63

vs. Big 12
Beat Oklahoma State 94-79
Beat Texas 67-63
Beat Kansas 75-62

Sure the ACC losses look bad, but Michigan State should be considered the Big Ten and Big 12 champion after crushing 3 of the best 5 teams in the Big 12

Illinois

SEC
Beat Vanderbilt 69-63
Beat Georgia 76-42

Big 12
Beat Mizzou 75-59

ACC
Lost to Clemson 76-74

The SEC games don't mean anything because both Georgia and Vandy suck, Mizzou is a #3 seed and won the Big 12 tournament and Illinois beat the hell out of them. Again the ACC game sucks because Illinois could have won that game.

Purdue

ACC
Lost to Duke 76-60
Beat Boston College 71-64

Big 12
Lost to Oklahoma 87-82 in overtime

The loss to Duke was bad, and the Oklahoma game was really close. Purdue was up 6 with 5 minutes left and they blew it.

Ohio State

ACC
Beat Miami 73-68

Big East
Beat Notre Dame 67-62
Lost to West Virginia 76-48

Also beat Butler 54-51

Miami was a decent ACC team, and Notre Dame was supposed to challenge for the Big East title. Butler is a tournament team right now.

Minnesota

Big East
Beat Louisville 70-64

ACC
Beat Virginia 66-56

It is well documented that Minnesota didn't play anyone in the non-conference, but beating the #1 overall team should mean a lot. I mean, people think that Western Kentucky is the second coming of George Mason because they handled Louisville in the 3rd game of the season.

Wisconsin

ACC
Beat Virginia Tech 74-72

Big East
Lost to UConn 76-57
Lost to Marquette 61-58

Big 12
Lost to Texas 74-69

Wisconsin can be an argument for some people, but losing to Marquette and UConn are not terrible losses, Texas and VT both blow, but Wisconsin kind of does too.

Michigan

ACC
Lost to Maryland 75-70
Lost to Duke 71-56
Beat Duke 81-73

Pac 10
Beat UCLA 55-52

Big East
Lost to UConn 69-61

So for the 7 teams that got into the tournament from the Big Ten their records in non-conference over major conference and tournament teams is:

Big 12 - 4-2
ACC - 5-6
Big East 2-4
SEC 2-0
Pac 10 - 1-0

Based on this, what conference should bitch? Here are the next teams in each conference that didn't get in

Miami 18-12 (7-9) - Beating St. John's and Kentucky are not good non-conference wins. Maybe if you beat Ohio State then you could complain that you are better than a Big Ten team that got in.

Kansas State 21-11 (9-7) - When you lose to Iowa, Kentucky, and Oregon, you should be banned from any post season tournament. Best wins are Oakland and Cleveland?

Providence 19-13 (10-8) - Again, your best non-conference win is Rhode Island, yet you lose to Northeastern, St. Mary's, Baylor and Boston College. I don't care what you do in your conference, you can't lose to 4 non-tournament teams in your non-conference.

Washington State 17-15 (8-10) this record speaks for itself.

Florida 23-10 (9-7) The win against Washington is the only good win this team has. And when you lose 7 games in the SEC you have nothing to cry about.

Bubble Teams
St. Mary's - Do I think they got screwed? Yes, but the team they should be pissed about is Arizona. The only tournament team that they beat was San Diego State, but SDSU didn't make the tournament. The Providence win is okay, but not great. As soon as Patty Mills went down, they were screwed.

Creighton - The only tournament team that they beat was #12 seen Northern Iowa who is in their conference and they split with them. And they lost to Arkansas - Little Rock and Nebraska. The only school that you can lose to that gives the exact location of the school in the state is UNLV.

San Deigo State - They have an even worse case than St. Mary's since they lost to them. They also lost to Arizona and Arizona State. The win against Utah is not good enough to complain.

Its not like the Big Ten got 10 teams in and they all got ridiculous seeds. Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin got seeds of 10 and higher. They got exactly what they deserved. Do they have better resumes than the teams that didn't get in? Yes. Are the seeds consistent with what the teams did over the course of the season? Absolutely. But now you are going to have to listen to people say that they were right about the Big Ten because the 3 teams that got lower seeds did not pull off upsets. It is asinine to listen to people talk about how the Big Ten didn't deserve 7 teams. The Big Ten is a conference that was stacked in the middle. Just because we didn't have 3 teams in the Top 10 doesn't mean that the conference as a whole is garbage, it just means that the conference was pretty even.

Rich Eisen proves that Announcers are not Athletes

This is a hilarious video that was found by Speedy, who is our new contributor at Durty Butter. 2 things:

1) This video is awesome
2) Beware of Speedy. He will blow your mind with his wit and humor. We are currently negotiating his salary, and also how funny he can be. I have to have a stipulation in his contract that if people like him more than me he will be fired. Our legal staffs are currently hammering out a deal. Stay tuned.

Jereme Richmond Update

Jereme Richmond was able to play against Zion-Benton and Waukegen was able to win that game. That set up a match-up against Waukegen and Warren. Warren has Illini recruit Brandon Paul. Brandon Paul has just hit 2 free throws to tie the game, and he is about to shoot his third:



That was amazing. Richmond ended the game with 30 points and 10 boards. Brandon Paul had 27 for Warren. The future looks really bright.

NCAA Thoughts

The conference tournaments are finally over, and everyone is either creating their excuses for missing work on Thursday, filling out their brackets, and calling their bookies. Ladies and Gentlemen are you ready for the greatest 2 days of the year? I tell you what, I am!! So without further ado, I give you Durty's NCAA Dance Dissertation!

-First for those of you who are faithful readers. We have created a yahoo group NCAA Pick'em. To enter, just follow this DurtyButter Link. The password is durtybutter. Be warned though, I will be updating the leaderboard here on our lovely blog, and I will most likely make fun of bad picks. So if you are sensitive, take heed, because I can get really bitter when I am not winning.

- As for my predictions 3 weeks ago on seeds for the tournament I did pretty good. You can read it here. I was right about Michigan State at #2, Purdue at #5, and Minny at #10. I had Illinois at #4, Ohio State at #9, Wisconsin and Michigan out and Penn State in at #7. That was 3 weeks ago, suck it Lunardi!

- This will be the greatest NCAA tournament of all-time!! It will have nothing to do with the teams, or the parity, or even the chance that a lower seed will make another magical run like Davidson or George Mason. This will be the greatest NCAA tournament of all-time for one simple fact....... we no longer have to listen to BILLY PACKER!!! This is the single greatest thing that has happened to college basketball since they expanded the field to 64 teams. However, as Pacman pointed out to me: "Without Billy Packer, how am I going to know when a players legs are tired, and that is why his shot is short?" This was Billy's go to line. He anxiously waited for a player to miss a shot short so he could impart this little gem. I always wanted to ask Billy if a shot that was long meant that a players legs were too rested?

- I am rewatching the Illinois Purdue game right now, and goodnight we could not hit an open shot! Give the bench credit though, because they played very hard. For a minute in this game I didn't know if it was Chester Frazier with the broken hand or Demitri McCamey. I was a little surprised that it took over 30 minutes for us to post up Mike Tisdale, but oh well. Purdue is playing great basketball, and I look for them to make the Sweet Sixteen at least, especially since they crapped down their leg last year in the dance.

- Every announcer in the game now just makes up words like it is commonly used in basketball to sound like they know what they are talking about. Clark Kellog (whom I do like) just puts "ability" at the end of words and makes it seem like this is typical basketball jargon. Here is an example from the Illini - Purdue game. "Jim, Mike Davis is such a good rebounder because he is long, has a great wing-span, and has great jumpability." So instead of saying "jumping ability" it is now "jumpability". I have heard him use this method at least 3 other times. I wonder if Bud Light is making fun of him with their drinkability commercials? I for one think we should embrace this and just do away with "ing" in the English language. For example: So I for one am excited to go a bar on Thursday, have a lot of beers to show off my consumeability, my class skipability and pray that my NCAA Tournament bracket pickabilty is good. Over the last 2 years my betability has been great, so hopefully my money makeability will hold true this year as well. What do you think?

- Aside from Clark Kellog, I also really like Greg Anthony. However I can't imagine that Yerk and I are the only 2 people who are shocked that Greg Anthony is as good of an announcer as he is. 15 years ago if you had to choose between Gangsta Rapper and CBS announcer for Greg's Post NBA career, how many basketball fans would have picked announcer? When asking a question to the NCAA selection committee chairman Greg used criteria, utilized, familiarity, and prioritized all in the same sentence. I'm pretty sure that Greg Gumble shit himself when he heard the question. Anthony is amazing, not only is his analyizability great, but he sounds like he belongs with the big boys. I think the bad perception is based on the fact that Jerry Tarkanian was the coach, and every school he coached at was sanctioned after he left. Here is a NY Times article about it all. Needless to say the only thing that would be more shocking to me than Greg Anthony would be if I found out that Anderson Hunt is now a brain sugeon.

- Doug Gottlieb needs to get a damn grip! Being opinionated is refreshing nowadays, especially on ESPN, because it seems like no one on that channel wants to say anything bad about the ACC or the Big East. Watching ESPN is like watching a big time sporting event with a frontrunner sports fan. ESPN is the guy at the bar who is from Montana but is a Patriots/Yankees/USC/UNC fan, the guys whose closet looks like a rainbow. Yet Doug takes bashing to another level. He just yells at the person who is sitting with him, and could care less who he is destroying. He is college basketball's version of Screaming A Smith. He is 3 weeks away from being on First and 10 with Skip Bayless. When you are on TV, it is not smart alienate every member of your audience, which is what he has done. Basically if you are not a Top 10 team then Doug thinks that you should just go out back and shoot yourself because you are worthless to the sport and society would be much better off without you. This has to be the reason that he is on ESPN 2, because if he ever went head to head with Vitale, Dickie would either start crying, or his head would explode. God created Doug Gottlieb to restore balance to the universe because of Dick Vitale's positivity.

- I can't wait for Jim Nantz to turn and blankly stare at Clark Kellog during the Final Four and say "Your not Billy" Just like Brick does to Veronica Corningstone when Ron Burgondy gets fired in "Anchorman"

- Here are some of my thoughts on the Bracket:
1) How does Arizona consistently get into the tournament? You lose 5 out of your last 6 and still get in?

2) Thank God Memphis did not get a #1 seed, but they did get the best #2 seed. This will happen for the next 5 years, because there is no one in Conference USA who will beat them.

3) Syracuse basically went from a #5 seed to a #3 seed by making the Big East Finals. 5 of the 7 Big East teams have #3 seeds or better, so they better get 5 teams into the Sweet Sixteen. Marquette and West Virginia are both #6 seeds. So if anyone bitches about only getting 7 teams, tell them that the NCAA gave them 5 sweet sixteen bids and probably 2 Final Four bids. If James didn't get hurt for Marquette, you could have had another team with a #3 seed or better.

4) Clemson dropping all the way to a #7 seed is amazing. This team 2 weeks ago was a #3 seed. I think that they will beat Oklahoma, unless Michigan gets hot and knocks them out in the first round.

5) As much as I have hated Minnesota, I would love to see, and actually think that they have a good chance to beat Texas. Minnesota plays great defense, and has the size to make this a tough game on Texas.

6) Illinois getting a #5 seed is amazing. I thought we deserved a #6, but could have easily gotten a #7. Also getting Western Kentucky is much better than getting Arizona as a #12 seed. The committee asks for a injury report, and uses that for your seed. So maybe Chester will play, everything he is saying leads you to believe that he will do anything he can to play.

7) I would have loved to see St. Mary's in the field, because Patrick Mills is awesome, and if he didn't get hurt, not only would they have made it, but they could have actually challenged Gonzaga for the conference title. He is a chucker, but he was fun to watch in the Olympics for Australia, when he dropped 20 on the USA.

8) Overall, this tournament will be dominated by the ACC and Big East, and rightly so. At least 8 teams out of those 2 conferences should be in the Sweet Sixteen. Don't be surprised to see 10.

9) Here a few teams that I think can make a crazy run in the tournament:
UCLA - They have been to the Final Four the last 3 years, and have 2 senior guards who took them there
Wake Forest - They have beaten tourney teams BYU, UNC, BC twice, Clemson twice, Duke, Florida State, and Maryland.
Dayton - They have beaten Marquette and Xavier. They are the epitome of a Cinderella.
Wisconsin - If they can control the tempo, they can win. After their losing streak, they won 5 straight. The opposing teams scored: 50, 44, 52, 51, 50. Shut down Tony Douglas who averages 21 a game, and FSU is toast.

I Knew It!!

I didn't want to say it in a post. I spent the entire season praying that something like this wouldn't happen, and it finally did.

Chester Frazier hurt his hand in practice on Wednesday. From all accounts it looks pretty bad, and he might not play on Friday. I know that Frazier is probably the toughest basketball player to wear an Illinois jersey, but having an injured hand does not bode well for a point guard. Even if he doesn't shoot that much, it will affect his dribbling, passing, and of course his rebounding. Gotta love how this happens after an amazing season, and right before the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments!! Bring on Alex Legion!

Frazier injured per Illini HQ

Jereme Richmond Update

Jereme Richmond is an Illinois commit for the 2010 season and is ranked as the #3 Small Forward in the country. He plays at Waukegan and right now they are in the playoffs. In his last game Jereme got thrown out for receiving 2 technical fouls in a blowout against Fremd. Apparently the first one was a double technical as he and another player were pushing each other as they ran down the floor. The second technical was for him hanging on the rim after missing a dunk. The reason that this is such a big deal is because if you are ejected from a game, you have to miss the next one. Well Waukegan's next game is against Zion-Benton, which is the school that has one time Illini recruit, and current Ohio State commit Lenzelle Smith. Zion-Benton is #7 in the state, while Waukegan is ranked #12. There was a major uproar about not only the technical, but also about Jereme (who is the Sun-Times Player of the Year as a Junior) not being able to play.

Here is the video of the technical posted on Youtube by Jereme's dad: (Jereme is the one who buries the jumper and shoots the free throw, yes he is a monster, and yes that is how you spell his name.)




I actually was waiting for another play after watching that, but that was in fact the dunk attempt that got Jereme thrown out of the game. The guard is trying to throw the ball off the backboard to him, and his just misses the dunk. Even with the bad quality of the video it is plain to see that it was an atrocious call. It was ruled today that he would be allowed to play in his next game, but read this article as to why he can play. This is basically the entire reason for this post. Enjoy!

Richmond will play

The Richmonds have always stayed firm in their commitment to Illinois, and hopefully this is just another step in solidifying his commitment. Pretty funny how a rabid fanbase can actually help recruiting, and not hinder it.

Big Ten Season is Over

Now that the Big Ten season is over, we can look forward to the Big Ten Tournament and make some predictions. Also we can recap who the Coaches and Media types selected with Big Ten honors, but before that we must recap the Illini loss to Penn State.

- From the start of the game, Trent Meacham was not in it. He had a stupid turnover when Penn State pressed after a made basket, and that led to a 0-7 shooting night. He is now 2-15 in his last 2 games. Everyone needs to pray to whatever supreme being that they believe in that this is not a token "Trent Meacham Slump", because Alex Legion will not be there to bail us out.

- McCamey took people off the dribble all night. It was shocking how easily he got to the basket in this game. This means one thing: Penn State plays horrible on the ball defense. They rely too much on help from their big men. Hence the reason they can beat Illinois twice, and Michigan State, but also lose to Rhode Island, Temple and Iowa. If they can get consistant help, then they are okay, but if they give up too many lay-ins, they are screwed. Lunardi still has them in the NCAA tournament, but beating Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament isn't going to help them. They will have to beat Purdue to get in. They did beat them early in the season, but that was without Robbie Hummel.

- McCamey also looked up the floor a lot, and Dominique got some easy baskets from it. This is something that Illinois hopefully looks to do more of. Between Mike Davis, Dominique Keller and Calvin Brock, you have 3 players who can beat people down the floor. When you have a team that can go cold so quickly, and don't shot free throws because they are a jump shooting team, you need to find easy baskets.

- Do you think that Chester Frazier was pissed about losing on Senior Night? He drilled 2 threes in the first 10 minutes and played his typical smothering defense all game on Talor Battle. Battle got his token 15 points, but it took him 17 shots to do it. Nobody should want this season to end, because who is going to bring intensity on a consistent basis next season? McCamey, Davis, Tisdale and Keller's attitude during the game is contingent on how well they are playing offensively. At least with Frazier and Brock, you know that you are going to get as much effort as possible out of them every minute they are in the game. How ridiculous was his shot from behind the backboard with the shot clock running down?

- Mike Tisdale is making a better effort to rebound. Not only that, but he is becoming a little more intimidating inside. He has had some huge blocks in the last few games, and he is doing it without using his body and getting fouls. However, Big Ten officials are pretty much on autopilot when it comes to officiating games, so they call fouls on scenarios instead of actual plays. Just watch the foul on Mike Davis at the end of the half. Davis was jumping for a rebound, he was being backed into, but since Conrley is bigger than Davis, it is a foul. Look for them to get crap calls in the tournament just like they were at the beginning of the season. Remember, Ed Hightower, Ted Hillary and Jim Burr are considered the A team when it comes to officiating, so if Illinois makes it to the Championship game, be prepared to throw shit at your t.v.

- And now for the meltdown! Illinois is up by 10 with 5:00 minutes left, and then McCamey fouls Morrisey on a 3 point attempt. He makes all 3 and it is 60-53 Illinois.

- Now the Big Ten officials decide that it is time for them to over this game by calling 4 fouls in 25 seconds. A hand check on McCamey's drive, Tisdale over the back, Tisdale on the drive and the previously mentioned call on McCamey for 3 free throws. Gotta love having the game called one way for 35 minutes and then changing it up for the last 5.

- Fifth foul on Mike Davis on a crazy Talor Battle drive. For the record, McCamey and Meacham had 3 drives earlier in this game that got no calls. Battle even had about 3 drive like this before and there was no call. 63-57 Illinois, 3:25 left.

- Two plays that I think could have sealed the deal. First Trent Meacham misses a wide open 3, and then the next time down after a terrible call by the refs give Illinois the ball back, Tisdale misses a shot. With Tisdale's shot I can't understand why he went right! He was posted on the right block, he had hit 3 straight hook shots from the exact same spot going baseline, yet for some reason, on this shot he turned into the lane. Huge plays. Still 63-57 Illinois 2:15 left.

- I wonder if the fact that it was Stanley Pringle's birthday was in the scouting report, because it should have been. He was amazing in this game. After 2 free throws for Penn State because we can't box out. 63-62 Illinois with 58 seconds left.

- Meacham gets a good look in the lane with 20 seconds left, but it doesn't go in. Talor Battle turns the ball over and Illinois gets it back with 9.5 seconds. Mike Davis gets fouled with 8.4 seconds left, and actually the play was drawn up for him, because Meacham and McCamey were nowhere near the inbound. In my opinion this was a good call. Mike Davis is a 70% free throw shooter, it is much easier to inbound the ball to him as opposed to a guard, and he has hit big free throws at the end of games before. He just short armed the shit out of it. What I am more upset about is that Davis pretty much set a pick on Chester Frazier when he was guarding the drive of Battle.

- This game reminded me of every game we lost last year. We had momentum, had a lead a half, had a decent lead in the second half, and then fell apart. Add to this the fact that we shot 2-7 from the free throw line. I thought I was in a time warp, I was just waiting to have somebody ask me why Brian Randle fouls so much.

- So Illinois loses, but thanks to Penn State shitting the bed against Iowa and MSU taking care of business against Purdue, Illinois has a 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Now for the matchups in the Tournament on Thursday and my predictions.

#8 Minnesota vs. #9 Northwestern

Minnesota beat the hell out of Northwestern at home 72-45 to avenge it's earlier lose to NW in Evanston 74-65. This will be a tough game for Minnesota because they play great pressure defense on the ball, which Northwestern loves. If Minnesota switches up their defense a lot, then they will have a shot, but they don't take care of the ball at all. Also take into consideration that Minnesota is a terrible team away from home, so I actually think that Northwestern will win this game, but it will be close.

#7 Michigan vs. #10 Iowa

Both of these teams love to shoot the 3, so which ever team gets hot will win. Add to this the fact that Cyrus Tate is finally back for Iowa, and they are a much better team than they were before. Michigan should have won both games in this series, but they absolutely choked at the end of the last meeting, and then lost in overtime because John Beilein decided that he should bench First Team All Big Ten player Manny Harris for the duration of it. I think Michigan will pull this out.

#6 Penn State vs. #11 Indiana

I would love to see Indiana win this game and basically bounce Penn State, but I don't see it happening. Penn State played themselves back on the bubble by losing to Iowa after they beat Illinois, so they will be playing pretty hard. Indiana does not have the talent to beat anyone, and the only close games they have played have been at home. They will have a pretty good crowd since the games are played in Indianapolis, but how many people are going to shell out 250 dollars to watch a #11 seed lose their first game? Penn State should win by double digits.

Here is the Big Ten Networks breakdown of the selections to All Big Ten teams.



Then besides these, you have Tom Izzo and Ed Dechellis as coach of the year. Travis Walton as defensive player of the year. William Buford was Freshman of the Year, and BJ Mullins won First Douche Bag of the Bench of the Year. Chester Frazier did make the All Big Ten defensive team, along with Chris Kramer, JaJuan Johnson, Damien Johnson and Travis Walton.

Mike Davis was second team with the coaches, and third team with the media. Demitri McCamey was third team with both. Mike Tisdale was honorable mention in both, and Chester Frazier was honorable mention with the media.

Links for the Day

First off we have a link that Yerk sent me to follow up on the Bill Simmons article about the NBA. This Wall Street Journal article discusses the amount of money that is being spent and possibly lost on new stadiums that were just built.

Wall Street Journal


Next we have an article about Jamar Smith. It is a pretty good read, and a lot of the information that is in the article has been posted before, but I want you to read it because it I found a very interesting correlation between this article and the next on that I post.

Jamar Smith from Courier Press

Now this article is about the leading scorer of women's basketball and her trials and tribulations the past few years. I saw this on deadspin one day, and I hope that I am not the only person who has put 2 and 2 together. What a family!

Dallas Morning News


Soccer Hooligans are completely nuts, but this guy is funny as hell.


Soccer Fan Gets Freaky with Reporter - Watch more Funny Videos

Here is a trailer for a new movie from Todd Phillips. He is the guy who did Road Trip and Old School. He is the white guy with the afro and mustache who shows up at door and says "I'm here for the gangbang" In Old School. Anyways, this movie looks really funny, and has probably the greatest cameo ever!



You know how you make a good movie? You have Andy from the Office missing a tooth, a baby wearing sunglasses, a tiger in a bathroom, and Mike Tyson singing a Phil Collins classic! That's all you need. Your move Judd Apatow


And finally I have a trailer for what will most likely be the best, and coolest movie of the year. If you haven't noticed, I am the type of person who likes to get to the theatre early so I don't miss any of the previews.

Former Cubs Great to host Dance Competition

I just read this from Deadspin, and I can't imagine anything cooler in the world than this party. Apparently Jimmy Edmonds likes to drink, likes strippers, and enjoys being a restaurateur so much that he has combined all 3. He is now hosting a Stripper Contest!! Here is the link from Deadspin:

Jimmy Boy loves the ladies!!

NCAA thoughts

The selection show for the NCAA tournament is only 10 days away now, so here are a few things that I am marinating on:

1) Memphis will get a #1 seed - This is an absolute travesty of epic proportions. Memphis will now coast into the Sweet 16. The only good news is that their bracket will be the easiest to pick. Memphis will get used by whatever 4 or 5 seed that they play, and then the 2 seed from that bracket will make the Final Four. Just a little insight into why Memphis is garbage. They have beaten 1 (that's right 1) top 25 team. They beat Gonzaga who is garbage also by 18. The biggest wins they have besides that are against Tennessee (18-10) Cincinnati (18-12) and Seton Hall (15-14). Right now they are 2-2 in Big East play, UCONN and Louisville are 15-2 in Big East play, and this team is supposedly on the same level?

2) The SEC should only get 3 teams - Florida and Kentucky were somehow in the NCAA tournament before tonight. Well Kentucky lost at home tonight to 11-18 Georgia, and Florida lost to 17-12 Mississippi State. With how terrible the SEC is this year, they should not be allowed to have a team with more than 7 losses in, but Tennessee will get in because they actually played a decent non-conference schedule. Florida's only big win was at Washington. They lost to Syracuse and Florida State, and have lost 7 games in conference. Kentucky is even worse. Their biggest wins have been against West Virginia and Kansas State, only one of which will make the NCAA field. Beating Tennessee twice doesn't really matter when you lose to VMI, Mississippi and Georgia. LSU, South Carolina and Tennessee should be the only teams in, but I'm sure that either one of Florida or Kentucky will make it as a 12 seed. This is also what upsets me with the Media in college basketball. Illinois and the Big Ten get slammed constantly for not scoring, but nobody is trashing Kentucky for letting Georgia drop 90 on them!! Instead it is just another bad loss. All of the sudden losing isn't as bad as long as you look good doing it. To equate this to life, it is like saying that a man being ugly and having a small penis is cool as long as he is rich, or a woman being stupid and having no personality is fine as long as she is hot and has big boobs. But if you are good looking and have a normal package, if you are broke, then you might as well stop playing!! This is why mainstream media is garbage, they are more fickle and superficial than a 19 year old Theta!

3) Mizzou could get a 2 seed - Which ever team out of Oklahoma, Mizzou, or Kansas wins the Big 12 Tournament will get a 2 seed. Oklahoma losing tonight to Mizzou pretty much killed them as a 1 seed. However, their might actually be 2 Big 12 teams with 2 seeds. In order for Kansas to become a 2 seed, they would have to win the Big 12 Tourney because they shit the bed tonight against Texas Tech, but Mizzou by beating Oklahoma tonight can get that seed without a conference title. They would have to make it to the Finals, but it is not that far fetched. The media (ESPN) is absolutely in love with Blake Griffin, so they would have to lose to Oklahoma State, and then their first round game of the Big 12 to get anything worse than a 3 seed. If Kansas beats Texas on Saturday they have pretty much locked up a 3 seed. It really helps when the bottom 1/3 of your conference is a combined 12-48 in conference play. If Rick Barnes losses in the First Round of NCAA's this year, will high school kids stop committing to him? God I wish Daniel Gibson was a flop in the NBA, but instead he is good, and has by far the best nickname since "Air". Damn you Rick Barnes!! And double damn you "Boobie" Gibson!

4) Marquette is Done - Losing Dominique James has destroyed this team. 4 games ago it looked like they were a lock for at least a 3 seed. They have lost 3 in a row without James. Albeit those 3 games were against UCONN, Louisville and Pitt, but this late in the season it is hard to find another person to step up and fill the void. They were in the game tonight against Pitt, and they still have 3 great players, but this late in the season, I just don't see them adapting well to playing without James. They have Syracuse left, and then most likely a Bubble team looking to get a signature win, so there is no easy game to get some momentum. This is a gut feeling, and it is sad really, because I thought that this was a Final Four team for sure. They had amazing guard play, shared the ball well, and played really good defense. If they get anything below a 5 seed (which they will) I think they are out in their second round game.

5) Northwestern is 2 seconds away from being a Tournament Team - Take your pick, but they should have beaten Illinois and Purdue at home. Either one of those games makes them 18-10 and 9-8 in Big Ten play. That would include wins over Michigan State on the road, Purdue on the road, and Florida State at home. Losing at Iowa really hurt this team. Here is a question though: If Northwestern wins @ Ohio State on Sunday are they in? That would be at least 5 wins against tournament teams, and really only bad losses to Stanford and Iowa. If Minnesota makes it that would be 6 wins. A lot of teams in other conferences are trying to get in with worse records and resumes. I doubt it too, but you never know. They have the offense and defense to obviously surprise teams. A win at Ohio State, and a Big Ten Tourney win, and they are on the Bubble and could be dancing.

6) UCLA will make a run - They do it every year. Like I said before, they are the anti-Texas. Shipp and Collison are Seniors now, and between them, they are 13-3 in the NCAA tournament with 3 Final Fours in a freakin row!! (read that last sentence again and let in sink in) I am penciling them into the Elite 8 at least, I don't care if they are playing the Celtics in the Sweet Sixteen, they are going to make the Elite 8. Their records heading into those tournaments were 27-6, 26-5, and 31-3 respectively. They are 22-7 right now, so they are not really that far off, but no matter what, having 2 guards who have been there 3 times is unprecedented! They are the one team you do not want to see as a 4-6 seed in your bracket!!

Luther Head to the Heat

Luther Head was bought out of Houston (thank god!!) and now he is playing for the Heat. This is great because he was basically not playing at all in Houston. Now he is on a team that will make the playoffs, and also play with one of the best players in the league. Earlier, his agent turned down an offer from New Jersey because they did not think he would get enough minutes there. So it looks like he will get some PT in Miami. Can't wait to see what he can do. The only other shooting guard that the Heat have other than Dwayne Wade is Daequan Cook.

So the guard line-up in Miami now looks like this:

PG
Mario Chalmers
Chris Quinn

SG
Dwayne Wade
Daequan Cook
Luther Head
Dorell Wright

Here is the Link:

Luther Head to Miami

Illini head into last regular season game

Illinois finished their last home week 1-1 which is what most people expected. Right now the Illini sit at 23-7 and 11-6 in the Big Ten. If the Illini beat Penn State on Thursday, it guarantees that they will lose less than 10 games this year. Normally that wouldn't mean much, but coming off of a 16-19 season, I think that losing only 9 games is a miracle! Let's recap the last 2 games before we look ahead to the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments. This is epic, so strap in.

Minnesota

This game started out as the Damien Johnson show. Johnson scored 12 of the first 15 points for Minnesota, and just like the previous game, Minnesota killed Illinois on the offensive glass. As soon as Johnson went to the bench, the Illini took the lead, and pretty much didn't look back.

- First, I can't get over the fact that Colton Iverson is one of the ugliest looking people on the planet. If this guy does not make the NBA, then his personal life has no chance. I don't know too many women who are in the market for a 7 foot white guy who is a cross between Opie and Sloth from the Goonies. I was waiting for him to scream "Hey You Guys!!!" after he had a putback dunk. Although when you are making millions in the NBA, then this happens!

- Like I said before, Damien Johnson was owning the Illini, but when he came back into the game, he didn't do anything. For the most part he was either posting up a smaller guard like Meacham and Frazier, or driving on Davis. Minnesota never went back to him. Instead they sat outside and jacked up horrible jumpers for the rest of the game.

- What this team is lacking is a guard who can finish. I have mentioned it before, but the only person who can finish in the lane or in transition is Chester Frazier. Meacham and McCamey get into the lane, but they have to throw up acrobatic crap because neither is explosive. It has been really frustrating to see how many time these two have blown lay-ins because they don't go up strong. It is more frustrating in the case on McCamey because he has the size to bully his way to the hoop. We will have this type of player in abundance for the next 4 years, but then we will be struggling with a lack of ball-handlers.

- Mike Davis has been playing like a man lately. He is attacking the glass, screening well, and running the floor for some easy baskets. That being said, I am getting really annoyed with his token turnover inbounding the ball. It has happened way too many times, and those possessions are key when you are a slow-tempo team like Illinois.

- On the flip side, Mike Tisdale needs to grab more than 3 rebounds a game. A lot of times, he is just swatting at it with one hand, and it is frustrating as all hell!! He makes up for it on the offensive end, but we all knew that he was a shooter. This has to change before next season.

- Minnesota shot terrible in this game, and that is a credit to Illinois. The only open looks people get on Illinois is from offensive rebounds. This team flies around screens like they are possessed. The scouting report is starting to get around though, and teams noticed the Northwestern game. Minnesota and Michigan State went backdoor a couple of times, and also ran curls around screens because of our defenders were trying to deny the ball so much. This puts a lot of pressure on Davis and Tisdale to move their feet and help.

- To further make my point, we had a 4 on 1 break and Davis got rejected by Johnson. We are a terrible transition team. Our guards do not give the ball up early enough to make the defender make a decision. Johnson did not have to move at all, all he did was run to the center of the lane a wait for someone to come to him.

- Tubby played 10 people in this game. From what has been written, there seems to be a little bickering behind the scenes of this team. People want more playing time, and they are getting pissed about losing. I called it though, this team is not very good. The only thing that has gotten them this far is that they play hard on defense, and rebound hard. They don't have very good shooters though, and don't take care of the ball very well. It will be really interesting to see if they can beat Wisconsin on Thursday? I personally doubt it.

- The end of this game was one the undisciplined displays I have ever seen. When Mike Davis put Illinois up by 9 with 2 minutes left, Minnesota fell apart. Illinois got the ball back after a terrible shot, and ran the shot clock down to 10 seconds. Busch ends up fouling Meacham 30 feet away from the hoop giving Illinois another 35 seconds. Again Illinois runs the clock down to 15 seconds before another foul gave them another 35 seconds. That was only the 5th team foul. Illinois runs off another 10 seconds before Minny gets their 6th foul, and then finally another 5 seconds before the 7th! So Illinois got a 1 minute possession before they had to take a shot or shoot free throws. So Illinois had a 9 point lead with 2:05 to play, and then a 11 point lead with 1:05 to play. In that time Minnesota never had a possession, and Illinois' only shots were 2 free throws. Where the hell was Tubby on this one? As soon as the first foul happened, the gophers should have been fouling to get the ball back and extend the game. Instead Illinois wrapped it up with 2 minutes left in the game. Terrible coaching. Minnesota got 3 possessions and 2 shots in the last 2 minutes.


Michigan State

Maybe it is because I really like Tom Izzo, but I really don't get that upset when Illinois loses to Michigan State. MSU is always disciplined, play great defense and play harder than anyone else in the Big Ten. From a pure basketball sense, this was one of the most enjoyable games I have watched all season. The intensity that each team played with was phenomenal, and whenever Michigan State got on a roll, Illinois fought right back. When Illinois tied the game or cut the lead down to one possession, Michigan State answered with a huge shot. From start to finish, this was an exciting game.

- For what seems like the 30th time this year, the only people who got to watch the first 5 minutes of the game were the fans in attendance. Is it really that hard to stagger the start of games to take into account that every college basketball game takes over 2 hours to play? Not only do you miss the first five minutes, but then you miss the next 3 minutes because you are seeing replays of what you missed, and of course you have to see the starting line-ups, and all of the worthless stats that some intern was up all night cutting into in-game graphics. Waiting to see what the score is after the first five minutes of a game is like finding out that somebody won a 300 million dollar lotto, and you can't remember where you put your ticket! You are praying to god for good news, but in your heart, you know you will be disappointed.

- Like I said before, MSU took every punch that Illinois threw, and responded with their own. The way they did this was amazing though, because most of them came off of a lay-in after a made basket. Izzo must have watched the UNC-MSU game film and realized that Kalin Lucas can do exactly what Ty Lawson does. MSU had a 25 foot inbound pass, one dribble, and a pass along the sideline, and then a drive to the hoop at least 5 times in this game. When Illinois was able to make MSU play a half court game, they got stops.

- A healthy Raymar Morgan makes this team at least an Elite 8 team. MSU is crazy deep, rebound well, play great defense, and have an amazing point guard. They have inside scoring with Suton and Roe. They have outside shooting with Lucas, Summers and Allen. They have a slasher with Morgan, and they all get up and defend. It is hard to find a flaw within this team. The only thing I can think of is that they don't always play with intensity against teams that they are better than. That won't happen when they get to the NCAA tournament. Izzo has 4 Final Fours with some teams that did not have this amount of talent. He might take them to their 5th.

- It is hard to say how much I am gonna miss Calvin Brock and Chester Frazier. Those two fly all over the court. It sucks that Brock got into foul trouble and barely got to play in the game.

- Dominique Keller and Alex Legion have both obviously digressed over the last 6 games. Keller is starting to be a black hole inside, and does not always block out. Legion is pretty much done for the year. He was off the bench before Jeff Jordan for the first time in god knows how long on Sunday. It shows that Bruce had confidence in him to play him so early in the Illini's biggest game of the year. Legion missed a lay-in, came back down and missed a transition jumper, then could not get around a screen and gave up a lay-in. He seems to be more comfortable in the offense because he is not launching the first open look he gets. That being said, he has no confidence at all on the court and is pressing. Maybe if Illinois can get up early in their first Big Ten tournament game he can get some solid minutes and shots, but I don't really expect that. It has to be a shock to everyone that we are 23-7 and Alex Legion has been pretty much a non-factor.

- Ed Hightower called a pretty good game for 30 minutes, and then he reverted to his cartoon alter ego. Hightower gets too caught up in controlling the game. It is almost like he seeks out the calls that he is trying to make. It is like Leslie Nielson in The Naked Gun. He enjoys the atmosphere too much, and calls the game accordingly. This is what upsets me with Big Ten basketball. The games are physical, and if you allow it to be played one way for 30 minutes, then for the love of god finish it that way. I don't get upset with calls that are usually called fouls or out of bounds, but the inconsistency drives me bat shit crazy.

For instance, Play Number 1: if a guy is going over somebodies back for a rebound and causes the ball to be knocked out of bounds, you have 2 calls you can make. 1) Call a foul on the person who came over the back. 2) Call the ball out of bounds on the person coming over the back. 99% of the time officials will call #2. They never look to actually see if the ball glanced off of someone else, because if they do that, then they are neglecting the foul, and then the game will get out of control. Play number 2: A post player hedges on a high screen and roll, and rides the guard to about 30 feet away from the hoop. You again have 2 calls you can make 1) allow the post player to ride him as long as it isn't blatant or he is reaching. 2) Call the bump that occurs on every play because a good guard will try to initiate contact. Again in this situation the foul is almost never called, especially in the Big Ten.

Both of these are dependent on what type of game an official is trying to call. They vary from game to game, and in reality they are both fouls. What upsets me is when one is called and not the other. If you are gonna allow players to crash the boards hard and bang inside, then why should they not be allowed the same contact outside, and vice versa? I understand that Tisdale and Davis don't block out great and aren't very strong. But since when are you allowed to push a player out of his position as long as you have the strength to do so? Davis got called for a foul way outside of the 3 point line, and that changed the way he and Keller hedged on Lucas. Lucas then proceeded to kill Illinois on the drive.

Anyways, as soon as Walton shoved Davis in the back for the foul, Ed Hightower took it upon himself to control the game, and both teams suffered from ridiculous calls, and blatant non-calls. Here is how:

1) Raymar Morgan had a forearm in the back of Mike Davis every time he tried to rebound. I counted at least 5 times.
2) Mike Tisdale set a moving screen every time down the floor for the last 15:00 minutes. But they only called one on Keller which was not as blatant as some later in the game.
3) 10:10 Raymar Morgan swims Meacham (who had good position) and then knocks the ball out of Tisdale's hands and out of bounds. Hightower could land a 747 in a blizzard with his emphatic hand signals and screams as he gives the ball to MSU.
4) 9:56 McCamey is fouled by Walton on a lay-in attempt, but he didn't go up very strong, so that call isn't terrible. (no-call)
5) Chester Frazier gets 3 free-throws but Walton doesn't leave his feet, or touch Frazier's arm. Fraizer threw his legs into him and then fell.
6) Jeff Jordan gets a steal and a lay-in. The defender jumps with Jordan, there is obvious contact in the air, but no call because the defender does not swipe at the ball and went pretty straight up. He does hit him with the forearm underneath.
7) Tisdale tries to post inside on a inbound play and he his basically grabbed and pushed out of the way. Wouldn't have been that bad had the camera and official not been standing 3 feet away. Even Dick Enberg who is 163 years old saw it and made a comment.
8) Suton gets a five second call even though Davis was not that close, and Suton took a dribble before the call was made.
9) Chester guards Kalin Lucus for 9 seconds, but there is no 5 second call. Make up for the previous call.
10) Finally the Intentional Foul that never occurred against Trent Meacham. I have seen that 6 times now, and still don't know what the shit Ed was thinking.

Now for the most part, these calls really did not determine the outcome of the game, but it does show that officials can and do get flustered when a game is so competitive as this one was. Ed and Co. did not want to make the controversial call, but instead called hand checks on drives, and fouls on post ups to try and stop the contact. Had Ed not stopped the game to make Davis and Walton shake hands like an angry teacher at recess, they could have called the game normally for the last 10:00 minutes.

Finally the reason we lost this game is because when we were tied with 6:00 minutes left, Illinois had 3 possessions to take the lead and could not do it. The turnovers at the end of the game either due to bad passes or the shot clock running down were for one reason: Illinois was trying to get the ball to Tisdale. For the last 5 minutes, Illinois exclusively looked to Tisdale in the post. Unfortunately, Izzo put in his own 7 footer, and Tisdale could never get solid position, especially in the last 3 minutes. It was a good strategy by Illinois because Tisdale was owning people in the second half, but couldn't do it in crunch time. Even Mike Davis was trying to get the ball to Tisdale. So the clock ran down as we were trying to get the ball inside, and then the guards were forced to put up junk because they only had a few seconds to shoot.

Either way it was a great game, and this was the first time I actually enjoyed watching a loss over again.