Funny Stuff

Here are a couple of things that I found this last week that I wanted to share with everyone. Have a Happy Thanksgiving




Shocked that Jimmy Fallon is actually funny in this. This almost makes me want to watch his show. Almost.

I just made a touchdown!

No Mas Presents: Dock Ellis & The LSD No-No by James Blagden Sports SPIKE.com

Curb Your Entusiasm

After watching the Illini play tonight I think that I need to take the rose colored glasses off of all of you. As much as I would love to tell all of you that Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson are the saviors of this program, and they will take us back to the Final Four, they won't. Everyone was excited when Paul was averaging 20 points a game, and then Richardson dropped over 20, but we all need to realize that those scores were put up against sub-par competition. Just like everyone else, I love watching Illinois score over 80 points a game. Who wouldn't be excited by seeing players hit 3's all over the place, and also take the ball to the hole and be able to finish? Unfortunately after watching the way the freshman played tonight against an over matched opponent in Wofford, I honestly believe that Illinois will probably be about as good as last years team.

Now you can tell me that DJ Richardson carried us in the first half by hitting 4 shots from beyond the arc, and that he was the reason that we held of a very hot shooting team. I would tend to agree with you, except for the fact that the reason that Wofford shot so well from behind the arc was directly related to him and Brandon Paul playing pretty much ZERO defense at all. I would be more prone to think that the reason that Illinois stayed in the game early on was because the veterans of this team realized that there was an unbelievable mis-match inside and they decided to dump the ball down to Tisdale over and over.

Like I stated before, this team will miss Chester Frazier more than anyone will ever believe. The only problem that will occur is that most people are more willing to accept a 80-70 loss than they are willing to accept a 60-50 loss. It is much easier for a casual observer to see the shortcomings of a player on the offensive end than it is to see their weaknesses on the defensive end. If Chester scored 20 points against Ohio State last season, you wouldn't care if Evan Turner dropped 30 against us. Do any of you remember what happened last year when Chester (who is 6'2 at best) went head to head against a future NBA player who is 6'7? Turner had his worst game of his season, scoring only 4 points and Illinois won 67-49. They then won at Ohio State by 1. Evan Turner had 17 points, but he did it on 6-15 shooting. Now while all of you are falling in love with DJ and Brandon drilling 3's like JJ Reddick against South Central Carolina Community College, I ask you this...... Who is going to stop Evan Turner from dropping 30 this year? My fear is that we basically had an even trade off between offense and defense.

If you think that these freshman are going to carry us during a grueling Big Ten season then you are god damn delusional!!! Michigan State is not Wofford, and their post players can probably guard DJ and Paul outside. The reason that I am so worried about this season right now is because the Freshman are being allowed to make mistakes that prior players were never allowed to. Here are my problems right now with the 2 Freshman guards:

1) They play no defense!!!

Not only was the game close in the first half, but it was actually tied 50-50 with 13 minutes left in the game. Bruce finally went with a veteran line up with Jordan, Cole, Davis, Tisdale and McCamey. Keller subbed in for Tisdale, and Illinois picked up the defensive pressure. Wofford missed their next 4 shots, and Illinois went on an 8-0 run to take the lead and keep it, eventually getting up by 17. Their is absolutely no ball pressure at all with DJ and Paul. Not only do they allow dribble penetration pretty much anytime they are guarding somebody, but they also don't fight over screens, or deny entry passes. 3 things happen when a post player is allowed to get the ball on the block. He is either fouled, makes a shot, or passes out. It is really rare when a player misses a 5 foot shot, and you aren't doing your post players any favors by letting a guard pass inside whenever they want.

2) They never look inside

Illinois has never ran this much high-low since Bill Self left. The only way Tisdale gets the ball inside when DJ or Paul are in the game is if Davis or McCamey gives it to him. People have been bashing Tisdale this season so far because they seem to have expected more from him. You want to know what he is shooting so far? He is 15-22 from the floor!!!! Give him the GOD DAMN BALL!!! He is also perfect from the free throw line and has 8 blocks. Mike Davis is 20-35!!! Give him the GOD DAMN BALL!!! Combined they have shot 57 shots in 4 games this year. Brandon Paul has shot 42 by himself, and made only 18. Unless you want Tisdale and Davis to bring the ball up and create their own shots, then you should cut them some slack. If they are fed the ball like they should be, then they would be the ones averaging over 20 points a game, and they would most likely be more efficient doing it.

3) They can't handle the ball

Like we saw in the previous game, Illinois cannot handle pressure when Demitri is not in the game. Thank God Jeff Jordan is back because when Illinois tried to get into their offense without either of them on the floor, it was like watching a monkey trying to screw a football. If Illinois has less than 20 turnovers against Clemson and Mizzou this season it is because McCamey and Jordan play the entire game. I think you can pretty much chalk up a loss in the Clemson game at least, and possibly the Mizzou game because we will turn the ball over constantly. The nice thing about having a backcourt of Chester, Demitri and Trent last season was that they were all basically point guards. If you don't see Paul out of control at least 5 times next week against Clemson I will be shocked. His shot selection will most likely be terrible that game, and that game could get out of control in a hurry. We need the greatest game that Demitri has ever played against Clemson to have a shot of winning.

Like I mentioned before, it really pisses me off that DJ and Paul are allowed to continue to make these mistakes. Alex Legion and Bill Cole have spent the better part of a season on the bench because they don't defend well at times. Demitri McCamey has spent 2 years in Bruce Weber's dog house for numerous reasons. Yet DJ and Paul consistently play more minutes than anyone even though at times their shot selection is poor, their defense is below average at best, and their ball handling is awful. I really hope that Bruce holds these Freshman accountable, because when he has, he has proven that it will make them much better players.

Now that I am done bashing the Freshman for being Freshman, I think that things can be okay as long as they learn to be role players on this team. It is amazing to me that Tisdale, Davis and Keller are being so patient with them so far. However, if you continue to see games where Davis and Tisdale are only getting 6 shots a piece, then there will be problems.

On the bright side, I am overly impressed with the play of Cole and Legion. Yes Legion!! Tonight he played fantastic. He didn't allow any dribble penetration, and he ran the break well. Cole was amazing with his on the ball pressure and did another fantastic job crashing the offensive boards. If they keep it up, don't be surprised if you see Richardson and Paul on the bench in tight games. Granted they have been able to score a lot in these meaningless games, but lets not forget who is coaching this team. There is plenty of fire power on the court with Davis, Tisdale, McCamey, and Keller. They led us to an NCAA appearance last season, and right now they are playing at the same level if not better. Bruce is still a defensive coach, and I'm pretty sure that he doesn't think that he can outscore the likes of MSU and Purdue with 2 Freshman.

As excited as I am with the scoring ability of the Freshman so far this season, I would much rather see them learn how to play a little defense before the Big Ten season starts. If they can't then we will be exactly in the same position we were last year, except the games will be in the 80's instead of the 60's.

Durty Thoughts

I am going to try out a new weekly installment here at Durty Butter. I would have done this sooner, but it took me a year and a half to come up with a clever name. Anyway, this is basically gonna be a post that deals with not only sports, but pretty much anything that I am thinking about at this very moment. It won't be everything that I am thinking of, because Porn already makes up 93% of the Internet. So let's get to it shall we.....

I watched pretty much the entire Bulls game last night and it was well worth it. I almost crapped myself when Brad Miller hit what I thought was a game winner with .3 seconds left in the game. Unfortunately, he didn't get it off in time. I was talking to Yerk after the game because he is one of 3 people I know that watches the Bull religiously and we had these thoughts.

- Yerk loves the way that Deng is rebounding. So how about a small line-up with him at the 4 for some minutes? I like the idea. With a PG like Derrick Rose, you can run the hell out of teams, it could work for 4 or so minutes a half. Basically the Knicks, but with talent.

- I am already tired of John Salmons. After today's game, he is now 34 for 111 shooting so far this season. If my math is correct, that is about Stop Shooting%. Although the trade off between him and Ben Gordon might be even, because even though he is in a slump, at least he can defend. Having Gordon defending was like having your mom make you let your little brother play with you and your friends.

- Joakim Noah is playing out of his mind!! He was on pace for 40 rebounds after the first quarter yesterday. And Taj Gibson might actually be a pretty decent big man. Sorry Aaron Gray.

ESPN's 30 for 30 is fantastic. I implore everyone of you to watch it on Tuesday nights. If you know nothing about sports, it will automatically make you seem like a sports savant. Believe me, if you can casually drop names like Jimmy the Greek and Len Bias into some sports conversation, you gain instant legitimacy. The only problem I have had with them is that they are so damn depressing. I like the fact that not everything in sports is Championships and groupies, but Jesus!! In 3 weeks I am either going to stop watching sports all together for fear of the worst, or I'm gonna start praying for a Brett Farve documentary.

I finally met someone who likes Chris Berman and thinks that he is hilarious. It made me question every conversation this person has ever had with me, and whether or not I should ask him another question..... ever! I automatically like them less.

I understand that giving George Lopez a late night talk show was geared towards gaining viewership from the Latino community, but is he ever going to have a show without a Latino on it? Don't be surprised in 2 months when he runs out of famous Latino people and Julio Lugo is his first guest. He had Larry David on, but that was after he had Eva Longoria and Marc Anthony. I think Lopez is really funny, and I would like to see him interview famous funny people like Larry David. Even Jennifer Lopez doesn't care about Marc Anthony.

I want to come up with a list of under rated actors who steal scenes in movies. My favorite right now is J.K. Simmons. Who is he you ask? Exactly. He is the dad in Juno, the boss in Spider-Man, the boss in Thank You For Smoking, and the C.I.A. Supervisor in Burn After Reading. Besides Spider Man, he is by far the best part of each of those movies, without trying, or having many scenes. Here is the best part of Juno, hands down. (he is not the best part of Spider Man because there are no good parts of Spider Man)

Breaking The News Movies & TV SPIKE.com

After the fallout of the Eric Gordon fiasco at Illinois, everyone and their Grandma were bashing Bruce Weber. Then he landed a high school Freshman by the name of Jereme Richmond that was basically a Top 10 player. Pretty much everyone said that it didn't matter because once the Coach K's and Bill Self's came calling, Richmond would bail. Well he didn't and today he along with Crandell Head and Meyers Leonard signed with Illinois. For those of you keeping score, this class is ranked in the top 5 nationally. It always amazes me how quick people are to bash someone when things are going bad, but when things are going great, you never hear about it. When Gordon decommitted and went to Hell instead, it was pretty much all over the place, but now Weber has back to back great classes and no one cares. Well I remember the assholes who jumped off the bandwagon and told me "see if he gets them to sign". Suck it d-bags.

Trailers are basically one of my favorite things in the whole world, so here are a couple that I think look really good.

I have been waiting for this damn movie for over a year, and I think it is finally about to come out. If you didn't like Super Troopers or Beerfest, then you are a pompous jackass who has no sense of humor. Sometimes it is a lot of fun to just laugh at weird outlandish comedy. Would any of this stuff ever happen, no, but who cares, he punches a damn swordfish!!

Here are 2 more cool trailers:

Avatar



Green Zone



Try to do a list of your Top Ten movies of the decade. It is actually a lot harder than it seems. Movies like Shawshank and The Big Lebowski would be out. If you can come up with 5 movies from the this decade that you would put in your Top Ten All-Time I would be surprised. Was it really that bad of a decade for movies. I personally think that there were some great movies, but all of them have flaws. And yes, Dark Knight is in my Top Ten All-Time. The problem with this decade was that it was dominated by 4 franchises. Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Spider Man and Batman. If you want to include Transformers, Shrek and Star Wars, you can. Basically it seemed like everyone was trying to make movies from cartoons and comic books, and no one was trying to make really good movies. I think the best franchise besides Batman wasn the Bourne movies, they were fantastic, from start to finish. Here is a short list of movies that I loved in the past few years, but I'm not sure any of them make the Top 10 All Time.

The Departed, There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, The Wrestler, Sideways, The Aviator, Lost in Translation, Gangs of New York, Road to Predition, Ali, A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Most of these movies were up for Best Picture, but do any of them really make your list. As far as comedies go, Maybe Old School. I'm not really an enormous fan of Jud Apatow movies because he basically flooded the market with the same movie, over and over again. Does The Hangover make it? Compile your list for the decade and All-Time and send them to us at
durtybutter@gmail.com I would like to see what you guys are thinking.

Weekly Pick'em

Well color me shocked!! I went 1-4 last week, but it is okay because I did pick the upset of Iowa. Now we can all breath a sigh of relief that Iowa won't get murdered in the Rose Bowl and make the Big Ten look worse than it already looks. Everyone can say that losing Ricky Stanzi is the reason that Iowa lost, and maybe that is true. Or maybe the fact that Iowa isn't very good and they were riding a wave of unbelievable luck is true. Either way, without Stanzi, look for Iowa to lose their next 2 games and finish in a tie for third in the Big Ten.

I still can't believe that Oklahoma's offense is this terrible without Sam Bradford. It's not like he was playing for a MAC school, this is Oklahoma for god's sake. They are always in the top 10 in recruiting, and really they should be much better than this. Either way, stay away from them for the rest of the season.

Gotta love losing by a half a point 2 weeks ago, and then Houston not covering by a point this week. Their offense didn't disappoint, I just gave their defense way too much credit.

Ohio State exposed the same flaw that Iowa did against Penn State.... their offensive line. Just like the previous loss to Iowa, Penn State could not get a running game going, and then Daryl Clark looked like a very average QB. Terrell Pryor is finally doing what he did last season by sitting in the pocket for about .3 seconds and then out running everyone to the first down marker. I have never seen a QB run like him. Mike Vick was just plain fast and electrifying, and Vince Young picked his spots well, but Pryor is so smooth that he seems like he is floating. It is fun to watch when he is not doing it to Illini defenders. I have yet to see a defender take a correct pursuit angle when they are attempting to run him down.

The definition of crazy is doing the same thing you have done before, yet you expect a different outcome (not really, but it is my definition.) Well I am crazy, because I keep talking myself into picks based on how bad an opponent is. Colorado is terrible, and they have been for years now. Somehow, I thought that because Texas A&M had 2 good games, that there was not a chance in hell that the Buffs could beat them. Well that was crazy.

Oh well, I could have bet my unborn children on last weeks games, lost them, and I would still be happy. Want to know why? It is because we got the trifecta this weekend!! Notre Dame, Michigan, and Iowa all lost!!! I kept reminding myself of the Iowa and Michigan losses as I was watching Illinois self-destruct against Minnesota in the second half. I have not done a recap of the last two Illinois games and they have won, so I am not going to do it this week. You will all have to wait for my thoughts on Jacob Charest, but rest assured that I have plenty.

On to this weeks picks!!!

Wisconsin -8 vs. Michigan

Michigan is on the verge of not going to a bowl game for Back-to-Back seasons. Until last season, they had been to over 30 straight bowl games!! Wisconsin showed that they could still run the ball even without John Clay who was hurt in the second half of their game last week. Michigan continues to prove that they can't stop the run every week. I like the fact that Wisconsin will just pound the hell out of them until they crumble.

After watching the entire nation fall in love with Tate Forcier after only 2 games, it is nice to see him come back down to earth, and then proceed to dig himself half way to China. Everyone was enamored with the fact that he could run, the only problem is that he doesn't do it with the ball because he already fumbled it. This team is pretty much about to fold. It is a well known fact that many players can't stand Dick Rod, so I really don't see many of them rallying around him in order to save his job.

On a side note, many people blame Rich Rodriguez for Michigan's failure, and that is completely understandable, but what about the AD and the hire in the first place?? Lloyd Carr did not leave him with a bare team by any stretch of the imagination!! Sure he lost his QB, tailback and All-American tackle, but they had a fantastic freshman QB in Ryan Mallet, and still had a good defense, and solid recruits. Right now Mallet has 2500 yards and 18 touchdowns vs 3 INTs for Arkansas versus much stiffer competition in the SEC. Michigan had just come off of a great bowl win against Florida, and things seemed good. Instead of finding someone who could continue the success, they got Dick Rod, who wanted nothing but to run his system.

If I hear another commentator say that Dick Rod just doesn't have the athletes he wants in order to run his system I am gonna choke someone!!! No one other than USC, Florida, Texas and a handful of others have all the players they want. Quit making excuses for this guy. Don't try to make me feel sorry for this guy because he doesn't have Pat White and Steve Slaton at Michigan.

So now if you are Michigan you are completely screwed, and they deserve it!!! If you fire Dick Rod, you have 2 options: First is to find another person to run the spread with the players that he has recruited. This is completely out of the question, because as much as I hate him, Rich is the best spread coach in the country. He basically invented it at West Virginia. The second option is to go back to a coach who wants to run a pro-style offense, which means that you are another 2-3 years away from a decent season. If you think that either Forcier or Denard Robinson can become a pocket passer, than you might be crazier than I am. Either way, buckle in for at least 3 more years of a mediocre Michigan team.

Michigan State -3 @ Purdue

This should be a pretty even game. Both teams need this game to become bowl eligible, and honestly, I think that Michigan State has way more talent and are better coached than Purdue. Also, you can add Danny Hope to your list of asshole coaches. Apparently he blames Rich Rodriguez for getting one of his offensive linemen suspended earlier this season, so to rub in his victory a little more, he brought the offensive lineman with him to the post game hand shake. Not sure what was said, but they were definitely bitching at each other. Bing it. At the end of seasons, the better team usually wins in match-ups like this. College football has a way of weeding out the bad teams, and believe me, Purdue should not go to a bowl over MSU. I know their isn't much logic to this, its just a gut feeling.

Miami -3 @ North Carolina

This should be a really fun game to watch, because UNC has a great defense, and Miami has a really fun offense to watch. I think the difference in this game will be Miami's defense vs. a very average UNC offense. While Miami hasn't really shut anyone down, UNC just doesn't score. You can only rely on your defense to win you games for so long, and Miami has the ability to not only score on big plays, but their special teams can also put up points. If Miami can contain UNC's pass rush, they should win this by a touchdown. UNC does step up in big games, like their win against Virginia Tech, but they lost to an FSU team that is a shadow of what they used to be. They also lost to a terrible Virgina team and Georgia Tech, and in those games, they only scored 10 points. I always hate teams that take weaker opponents for granted, and they did that against Virginia and also a bad win against Duke. Hoping a team will show up doesn't bode well for betting on them. Never bet on a team when you talk yourself into it by saying "They could win if.."

Ohio State -17 vs. Iowa

In OSU's last 3 games they have given up 14 points. The defense is coming up big, and that was really surprising to me. Even before Ricky Stanzi got hurt, Iowa's offense was average, and they were able to overcome turnovers because their defense got stops. Now with no offense to speak of, do you really think that Iowa's defense can pitch a shutout against OSU? Yeah me neither. Even if the defense puts in a fantastic game like they did against Penn State, where are the points going to come from? Tressell is notorious for playing a very conservative game. He is going to wear down Iowa's defense and not allow Pryor to make any mistakes. Eventually OSU will impose their will and crush Iowa. Also lately he has been breaking out some trick plays, so look out for that against Iowa if the offense is failing to move the ball. The last thing is that they have a solid punt returner, and Iowa will punt a TON!!! It will come down to field position, and OSU will be on Iowa's side a lot with chances to score.

Louisville -7 vs. Syracuse

I can't believe that I haven't mentioned Syracuse yet!! They have one of my favorite college athletes to hate....... Greg Paulus!!! It was bad enough to watch him play point for Duke for 4 years, carrying out the legacy of Wojo by pounding the floor on defense and flopping on every other possession so that out-dated announcers could talk about how much of a warrior he was. Now we have to watch him scramble around and launch 6 yard bombs with his noodle arm. Make no mistake, him being terrible is probably the worst thing that has happened to ESPN in 15 years. The only thing that I can imagine that would be more frustrating for them would be if Brett Farve actually stayed retired!! There is thousands of hours of high school footage and in-depth garbage analysis of this beat off that is just wasting away at ESPN, and I love it. Paulus has thrown for 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns vs. 13 INT's this season. His terrible play begs a much larger question.... What the shit is going on at Syracuse where they have to play a basketball player who hasn't thrown a pass in a game for 4 years?? Is your recruiting that bad to where you can't find one QB who can be better than him?? It's not like Paulus gets 3 more years after this, and you are mortgaging your future on him. He only gets one shot!! You don't have another QB that you think could maybe help your program next year by playing this season over a All-American bench warmer in BASKETBALL!! Their coach should have been fired during summer camp!!

It has gotten so bad at Syracuse, that their best player who happened to be a receiver decided to leave the team in the middle of the season because he felt that NOT playing with Paulus and this garbage team might help his draft status!! That's like leaving medical school because you think watching House and reruns of Doogie Howser M.D. will give him a better chance of being a doctor.

Based solely on the fact that they are biggest joke in college sports right now is reason enough for me to bet against them!!

Have a good weekend, and don't forget that Illinois' first regular season basketball game is Friday.

Illini Basketball: The Freshmen and More

The Illini basketball season is just around the corner with the first regular season game on Friday. After watching the Freshman play in the Orange and Blue scrimmage and also 2 exhibition games, you can see a little bit of the type of skills that each one of them bring to the table. Have no doubt that this Illini team will be much different from the teams that they have fielded the past 3 years.

The first thing that you everyone needs to do is to temper their expectations. I was just like everyone else, and couldn't wait for this recruiting class to get here because of their athleticism and high school ranking, but there Freshman are very raw. You see flashes from each on of them, but with the good, you also get a lot of bad.

Like I stated before, we are going to miss Chester Frazier and Trent Meacham more than anyone thought. The fact that Chester did a phenomenal job of not allowing opposing point guards to get their team into their offense was lost on a lot of people. His ball pressure defense was amazing. Be prepared to never see a ball-handler get a 5 second call against him with this team. Also dribble penetration is going to drive you crazy. 2 things are occurring right now that need to be rectified in a hurry. First, obviously is that ball handlers are getting way to deep into the Illini defense allowing open shots. Second, the post players for the Illini got a little spoiled with the guard defense last season, because right now they are not helping correctly. Either they are sitting back waiting for a backside block which isn't going to occur because the initial defender is not getting back into position, or they are too quick to help and they are leaving people wide open for easy jump shots. I think Bruce will get this worked out, but it will take some time.

Also this team is so young that they don't quite grasp where open shots are in the motion, and they are not patient enough to let the offense run. Pretty much every guard jacked up the first open 3 that they got. Many times this occurred on the first pass off of a screen during a possession. I think there will be a little leniency early on, but eventually if Legion, Paul and Richardson continue to throw up the first shot they get, you will see a lot of Jeff Jordan and Bill Cole. It took almost 6 minutes for Illinois to get the ball into the post on Sunday, but in those 6 minutes, they took 6 3's and hit only 1.

Here are 3 things to expect from the offense:

1) Illinois will throw up a ton of 3's - Legion, Paul and McCamey all love to shoot 3's. Richardson can shoot them and will, but so far I haven't seen him take a really bad one. Keller still thinks he is a guard, and will put up at least 2 a game, and the only thing I have ever seen Bill Cole do is shoot 3's. On a side note, I just don't understand why everyone feels the need for Bill Cole to play? In all the time I have followed Illinois basketball, I have never seen fans get behind a player this much. In 29 games here are his stats. 20 FG made in 46 attempts, 6 of 16 from 3, 30 rebounds, 6 assists, 9 turnovers, 5 steals, and 9 blocks. He has only played 157 minutes. He can't play defense, and he isn't a good rebounder. He hit a couple of 3's in games that we were really behind last season, that's about it. In over 2 years, I have never seen him on the floor and thought "Why the hell is Bruce not playing him more?" Yet for some reason everyone who is an Illini fan wants Bruce to change his coaching philosophy, and everyone else on the team to learn how to play zone so Cole can play. What the shit am I missing??? On the other hand, everyone is ready to crucify Alex Legion after he only played 1/2 of a season. If anything Legion has shown you that he can score in big games.

2) Illinois will look to run - Believe me, if Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson are in the game, then on every rebound, Illinois will look to get easy baskets. They both know how to finish, and they are fast. Illinois honestly has not had guards this athletic since 2004-2005. Along with the guards you have Davis and Keller who can also run, and their should be many more easy baskets.

3) Tisdale and Davis have to get the ball inside - It is amazing how much more smoothly Illinois' offense runs when these two get touches inside. Both of them are even better in the post than they were last season. The only problem will be if the guards get too jump shot happy. In the past, if Tisdale and Davis did not get off to good shots, they can disappear. It is imperative that McCamey gets them the ball early. Getting them scoring will only help the guards. Bruce Weber knows this, and even though the guards had their fun the last 2 games, Bruce knows that you dance with the one that brought you, and that is Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale.

Now on to the Freshman:

DJ Richardson:

Richardson has basically been the most consistent performer in the exhibition season. He can score from outside, and he can also get to the hoop and finish. Out of all of the Illini guards with the exception of McCamey, he is the most rounded. The only knock I have on him is that he isn't as good of a ball handler as I thought he was going to be. Sometimes he picks the ball up before he should, and pressure can get to him. Beyond that, everything else he does is in the flow of the offense, and he really waits for his shots to come to him. He is a much better outside shooter than I expected, but as I said before, he doesn't take bad 3's so he should shoot a really good percentage. I know a lot of you have read that he will be a great defender just like Chester Frazier, well I think that those predictions are very premature. He has the ability, he still gets beat off the dribble. Give it a little time.

Brandon Paul:

Paul is going to be Bruce Weber's new whipping boy. Demetri McCamey is now off the hook because a lot of what McCamey used to do is what I am now seeing from Paul. All of the potential and talent is there, but Paul takes a lot of ill advised shots, and that is probably Weber's biggest pet peeve. 4 of Illinois' first 8 shots were from Paul, and 2 of them were bad 3's. The fact that Paul has so much potential means that Weber is going to harp on everything he does. As soon as his shot selection gets better, he could be a force. As far as all the guards go, Paul is the worst ball handler, and he isn't great on the defensive end. He is amazing at getting to the hoop, he finishes really well, and he will get to the free throw line more than anyone else on the team. Write it down. I think Paul probably has the most potential out of the Freshman, but he is going to have to work hard at it. Be prepared for him to be a little inconsistent.

Joseph Bertrand:

Even though he didn't play in the last exhibition game, I was really impressed with the one game I did see him play. Shockingly I thought he handled the point best against full court pressure. He could end up being the one legitimate point guard out of this class, and that would be awesome because he is 6'5". He is the most raw out of the guards, but actually I think that if he will be healthy for a major part of the season, then he shouldn't red shirt. The only thing that I am afraid of with Bertrand is that if falls behind because of an injury, he will not get the playing time he will need to progress. As much as Bruce Weber says that his bench will be longer this season, I still don't believe it. Now with Jeff Jordan back, Bertrand is basically going to end up being the 5th guard, and that means little to no minutes.

Tyler Griffey:

To me it is much harder to evaluate post players than it is guards. I feel that way because so much of a post player depends on his size, and in a motion offense, post players can get lost in the mix. Griffey has shown that he has good range, he can hit baseline jumpers which are always abundant for post players in the motion, and he also moves well without the ball. I feel that he can be just like a James Augustine, but maybe a little bit bigger. I have yet to see post moves from Griffey, but as a Freshman, he does seem like he can give this team a few good minutes off the bench. Just like every other post player though, his time on the floor is tied to how well he defends and rebounds. He will most likely be a better scorer than Rich Semrau this season, but scoring shouldn't really be a problem this season, so he is going to have to do all the little things to see the floor. In my opinion, he is not going to start, and at best he will be the second post player off the bench after Keller. However, like I stated before, if somehow Cole or Semrau is able to defend and rebound better than him, he won't get many minutes. I really doubt that either of them beat him out, but stranger things have happened. The one thing that I have seen, is that Griffey seems much more comfortable in the offense than many Freshmen post players have at Illinois. He has no problem having the ball in his hands 20 feet away from the basket, and he can also put the ball on the deck for a couple dribbles if needed.

That it is, look for a Big Ten preview/prediction post later this week, along with our weekly pick'em. We are also working on a post about the most hated women in television or movie history. It will be up soon.

Weekly Pick'em

We are back this week with another set of picks for you guys. Last week I was 2-3, but I still stand by my picks, because they were really good. Let's recap real fast before we move on to this week.

Oregon crushed USC and like I said their defense and offense were average, and their Freshman QB couldn't handle playing at Autzen. I would love for USC to lose one more game just so the dirtiest program in the NCAA might become a little less untouchable, but that will never happen. As long as there is not an NFL team in Los Angeles, USC will reign supreme, and be able to do whatever they want.

Michigan State absolutely screwed me!! I don't understand how Adam Weber can go from being the worst QB in the Big Ten, lose his best receiver, and then go out and have a career day!! It was just a terrible effort on the part of MSU's secondary.

Indiana was not only covering, but they were making me look like a genius for the first 3 quarters of the game, and then they realized that they were Indiana, and forgot how to play defense. I really wonder if a team has ever gotten 4 interceptions in a quarter and only gotten 3 points out of it? In their defense, the replay officials did mess up one of the 2 touchdown receptions that were reviewed, but blowing a 10 point lead a week after you blow a 25 point lead is atrocious!! Especially when Ricky Stanzi is turning the ball over basically every time he drops back to pass. Gotta love getting 17.5 points and losing by 18!

Cal was up 14-0 early, and it looked like they were going to roll against ASU, but give the Sun Devils credit, they somehow convinced Cal that Jahvid Best should only carry the ball 16 times. Like I have always been told, never bet based on how bad you think a team will be, because shitty teams with nothing to lose are the ones that get overlooked by opponents.

At least Illinois covered and more importantly won!! I have now watched that game as many times as I watched Illinois upset Ohio State in 2007. The best part of watching that game again is seeing Dick Rod self-implode on the sidelines all game long!! If you get the opportunity watch it again and keep a close eye on Rodriguez, you can basically see his career unfold after each 3 and out and subsequent touchdown by Illinois.

Alright, on to this weeks picks!!

Northwestern +16 @ Iowa -

Iowa is terrible!! They should be 4-5 right now, but they are getting lucky and also getting SEC treatment from the replay officials. This bet is contingent on Mike Kafka playing QB for Northwestern. After watching Iowa try and fail at running the ball last week, and Ricky Stanzi remembering that he is Ricky Stanzi by throwing 5 picks, I can't in good conscious bet Iowa. They are bound to lose one of these games that they are winning by the grace of God. Indiana was able to score on Iowa last week by spreading the defense and attacking one on one match-ups and also by running the ball with the QB. Northwestern is capable of doing both of those. Iowa will probably win this game, because Northwestern isn't very good, but again, I don't think they will be able to cover this spread.

Oklahoma -5 @ Nebraska -

I can't believe this line is so small. Absolutely nothing that Nebraska has done this season has been impressive. Their wins are against Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State, Louisiana LaFayette, Mizzou and Baylor. Losing to Texas Tech and Iowa State at home is not happy either. Even without Sam Bradford Oklahoma has more talent than pretty much 99% of the country, and I think now that they have gotten over the fact that Bradford isn't coming back, it should help them move forward. If Oklahoma wins by less than 10 I will be shocked.

Texas A&M -3 @ Colorado -

Texas A&M has actually been playing really well lately. They have back to back big wins against Iowa State and Texas Tech, so basically they are the opposite of Nebraska. Colorado on the other hand has little to no talent. When a head coach starts his son at QB and then has to bench him because he sucks that bad, you know your program is in trouble. Colorado is basically Illinois, but they don't have as much talent as the Illini. Tell me that isn't the perfect equation for betting against a team. It's like Vegas is trying to just give me money!!

Houston -2 @ Tulsa -

I am really surprised that people aren't lobbying more for Case Keenum as a Heisman candidate. Usually ESPN and every other major sports media outlet loves to be the "first" to jump on a bandwagon. How often have you seen a segment on TV where somebody is telling you about "someone you don't know, but you should"? Well Case Keenum is this guy this season. He has thrown for 3300 yards and 25 touchdowns with only 5 interceptions. He also is playing on a team that is ranked #13 in the country. Basically what is happening here is everyone has spent the last 4 years talking about how amazing Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are. Is it beyond the realm of understanding that these players have peaked, or perhaps they are just having an off season. If you think coaches in sports have a hard time admitting that they were wrong, try to find a reporter or broadcaster who has ever admitted it.

Anyways, Houston has an offense that can't be stopped, so all Tulsa can hope for is to keep up like Southern Miss did last week. Tulsa however hasn't scored more than 27 points in the last month. Meanwhile, Houston has only scored less than 40 points 3 times in 8 games this year. The under of 67.5 points might also be a safe bet in this game. Take Houston and watch the fireworks.

Penn State -5 vs. Ohio State -

Both of these teams are very comparable, but the only problem for Ohio State is, is that Penn State is pretty much better in every area. Daryll Clark is much better than Tyrell Pryor right now at running the spread. Penn State is much better at running the football than Ohio State is, and Penn State's defense is much better than Ohio State's at pretty much everything. Realistically, Penn State is still in the running to get back to the Rose Bowl this season. Basically I don't see Ohio State being able to do anything on offense and their linebackers will be able to keep the running game under wraps, and Pryor is not a very good passer. Clark isn't exceptional, but he manages a game very well. I just think that PSU is better in every aspect. Also take into account that Ohio State's kicker is out for the season, and now they have a soccer player kicking field goals for them. Last week, they were 1 for 5 with a long of 29 yards. In a game that means a lot, either Tressel is going to have to take his chances with 2 bad kickers, or go for it on 4th down a lot. This bodes well for Penn State's defense.

See you Saturday!!

Illini Basketball Preview

Many of you out there are anxiously awaiting the 2009-2010 Illini Basketball season like a 5 year old awaits Santa on Christmas morning. After watching the football team plod and plunder to a horrible 2-6 record, this season can't come soon enough.

Most people have anxiously waited for the arrival of Bruce Weber's best recruiting class yet at Illinois. We have all dreamed of what it would be like to have the athletes that other top tier programs have had the good fortune of seeing walk through their doors year after year. After waiting for 2 years, they are finally here. Brandon Paul, DJ Richardson, Joseph Bertrand and Tyler Griffey played their first game for the Illini last friday.

Like most of you, I thought that having these players would transform the Illini into a Big Ten contender overnight. Just like what happened in football, we all listened to how great these recruits were, and how well they have practiced in the off-season. Just like in football, we all drank the vodka laced Kool-aide, and got drunk off of the Illini recruiting hype machine. After watching them play (albeit one game) here is my honest opinion on how well they will hold up to an easy Non-conference schedule, and a brutal Big Ten conference season this year.

Right now I will breakdown the returning players for Illinios, after a couple games, we will look at the Freshman.

Centers

Mike Tisdale - Mike Tisdale made an enormous leap last year as far as productivity. The only player that was more surprising than Tisdale was Mike Davis. Tisdale averaged just over 10 points a game last season, but only 4 rebounds. We all now how many calories that Mike had to eat last season, and lets all collectively pray that we won't have to hear about it anymore. The problem is, is that Tisdale won't put on anymore weight. Based on his size and skill set, it is almost impossible to hope that he will make another giant leap this season. What we need to hope for is that his conditioning is better so that he can fight inside more for points and rebounds. McCamey caught a lot of flack last season for his inconsistant play, well Tisdale should have been right there with him. Tisdale was shut out twice last season, and scored less than 10 points 17 times!!! That cannot happen this season. Hopefully with an extra season to work on his post moves, he will be able to score inside more often, and also get to the free throw line where he is one of the better shooters on the Illini.

Richard Semrau- Semrau played pretty well in the non-conference last season coming off the bench. He gave the Illini what they lacked in Tisdale. Rich was able to body up bigger post players on defense, and also was pretty good at screening and rebounding. Even though he came into Illinois as a very good offensive player with a good mid-range shot, he has lost his confidence on the offensive end. Don't look for him to be a scoring threat, but with a team that will obviously be lacking on defense and on the glass, if he plays hard, he should get some productive minutes off the bench.

Stan Simpson - Stan is still a long way away from playing good minutes for the Illini. He is probably the most athletic out of the big men, but the motion offense that the Illini play is more conducive to post players who can shoot. Think of the difference between James Augustine, Captain Jack Ingram and Shaun Pruitt. In order to play, Simpson needs to be able to move and pass well. He could still become a great player for the Illini, but it probably won't be this season.

Forwards

Mike Davis - Mike Davis was the biggest surprise that the Illini have had since Warren Carter learned to shoot his senior season. His mid-range jumper is indefensible because of his athletic ability and the fact that he has a quick release from weird angles. Now that teams are aware of his ability from 10-18 feet, it is going to be harder for him to space to get his shot off. In the off-season he was working on his ball-handling, but that was side-tracked when he injured his leg. The biggest thing that the Illini need from Davis is offensive rebounds. With his athletic ability and skinny frame, he should be able to slide in and get some tip-ins this season. Although along with Tisdale, it all boils down to intensity inside with Davis. You can't expect him to shoot his jumpshot better than last season, but we need him to get more easy baskets.

Dominique Keller - In my eyes, Keller is probably the most important player for the Illini. He brings a level of intensity and aggresiveness that most of the other returning players don't have. Does he put up horrible shots? Absolutely, but he also does all of the little things on the floor. Keller is the spark off the bench that the Illini will need this season. He is going to fight for offensive rebounds, he is going to run the floor in transition, and he going to throw up playground junk that will somehow go in. Keller is the type of player that will get the crowd into the game with one crazy 3-pointer. Also, Keller understands that in order to play extensive minutes, he is going to have to defend and rebound. Make no mistake about it, even though he is a Junior College transfer and has only been in the system one year, Keller wants to be the leader of this team, and he wants to start. I think early in the season, Keller will probably play the best out of the Illini because he wants to earn his playing time.


Bill Cole - Many people have been calling for Cole to play more minutes since he first arrived at Illinois. If it weren't for an injury early in his Freshman year, Cole might have actually been in Mike Davis' place right now. Unfortulately for Cole, the make-up of the Illini does not bode well for his chances to become a standout player. Cole's biggest problems are his size and athleticism. Size wise, Cole would have to defend a power forward, yet he is not big enough to do that, nor can he rebound well because he lacks the jumping ability to make up for his skinny frame. He can't defend a 3, but this wouldn't be a major problem if he had other people on the team who help hide his lack of speed. There is just no way that he can play major minutes on this team without sacrificing scoring by the opposition. His offense will be welcomed off of the bench, but it will only happen in short spurts.

Guards

Demitri McCamey - McCamey has shown flashes his first 2 seasons of being another great guard in the Illini's long list of great guards. He and Bruce Weber have clashed so many times in the past that it seemed like he would probably fold instead of accepting the challenge and become an elite player. We this off season he lost weight, and has looked great. It has gone so far that Bruce is now praising his work ethic. Demitri is going to play a huge role in the Illini season this year, not because they will need him to score, but because he is the only real ball-handler coming back. McCamey will have to play more than 30 minutes a game this year, and in some games, many more minutes. Also he won't have luxury of taking plays off and allow Chester Frazier and Trent Meacham to handle the point. It is a blessing that he worked so hard in the off-season, because his conditioning needs to be amazing for him to play close to 40 minutes of basketball with little to no breaks. In the first game, he looked fantastic. Not only was he faster, but he did a much better job of letting the game come to him, and being patient. It will help him greatly to have so many scorers around him, but he will also need to penetrate more in order to himself some easy buckets.

Alex Legion - Legion is not a good ball handler, and really can't create shots for himself like the Freshman can. Legion's season will boil down to whether or not he can defend, and whether or not he can hit open jumpers when he gets them. Everyone has claimed that he is one of, if the not the hardest worker on the team. He probably practices his jumper more than anyone on the team, as it is said that he is the last one to leave the gym usually. The one bright spot to look at was the fact that his 3 best games last season came in road games at Purdue, Michigan and Michigan State. Look for Weber to be very patient with Legion because like it or not, he is going to have to play major minutes for this team because they are very thin at the guard spot. It will also help him to play in the non-conference this season because he will be able to carve out a niche for himself. If he shows that he can grasp the offense, and not be a liabilty on defense, he could have an unbelievable season. The Illini the past 3 seasons have lacked a spot up shooter. To see how well a catch and shoot player can be in this offense, all you have to do is look at how well Jamar Smith was his Freshman season. He average 8 points a game by strictly being a shooter, and with so many screens and movement in the motion offense, Legion will have open looks.

Jeff Jordan - Jordan chose the absolute worst time possible to take a 6 month break from basketball. In my opinion Jordan saw the talent that the Freshman class had a guard and decided that he would probably not play very much. Well if Jordan hadn't left, he would probably play at least 15-20 minutes a game early on, because the Illini desperatly need a guard who can defend and also handle the basketball. In my opinion, Jordan has just as much talent as Chester Frazier had. Now with a team that will obviously lack on the defensive end, they need Jordan more than ever. Taking time off will not help him at all, and instead of playing, look for Bruce to push the Freshman along even faster.

Now here is what you can expect from the Illini this season:



1) They will score much more than last season.
There are 3 reasons that the Illini will score more this season. First many of the teams in the Big Ten are guard heavy which should help out our post players scoring inside. Besides Minnesota, Illinois has the best front line in the conference. Next the freshman class will try to get to the hoop as much as possible, where as the last 2 seasons, we only had Chester Frazier, and he did not do it very well. Between Richardson, Paul and McCamey, you know have 3 guards who will look to penetrate. Finally to go along with attacking the basket, Illinois should shoot many more free throws than last season because all of the guards will look to attack. Also let's face it, Tisdale and Davis will get to the line much more. Now that they are upper-classmen, refs like Ed Hightower will give them the benefit of the doubt inside. Think about all of the times that Tisdale went up for a shot only to have it blocked. If you are 7 feet tall, a Junior or a Senior, and you go up relativly strong, Ed will bail you out. By the way, even though it was an exhibition game on Friday, Ed was in mid-season form. There were 52 fouls called during the game Friday night. Ed just wanted to make sure that we didn't forget about him during the off-season.

2) The Illini will be much worse on defense.
Bruce Weber is known as a defensive coach, so don't expect to see a horrible drop off from last season. Plain and simple, if you don't defend, then you don't play for Bruce Weber. The only problem is that for the first time in the Bruce Weber era, there is not a defensive stopper on this team. DJ Richardson will be a shut down defender eventually, but it is way to early to expect him to do it. The defense will have to rely heavily on the post players inside for help. Hopefully Tisdale and Davis can send back some shots this season, because a lot of guards will penetrate against us. The Big Ten is stacked with great guards this season, and in my opinion it is much harder to stop a good guard than it is to stop a good post player. Doubling a post player, or denying him the ball on the block is much easier than doubling a ball-handler or denying him the ball 30 feet away from the hoop. Don't be shocked when Evan Turner and Talor Battle drop 30 on us.

3) The Illini will try to press.
The beauty of having pretty much 10 players who can play significant minutes on this team is that it allows you the luxury of playing a pressure style defense. The Illini will not press much, but Mike Davis leading a 1-2-2 full court trap is a scary thing. It worked amazingly against Northwestern and Western Kentucky last season. I don't think you will see it unless Illinois is down late in a game this season, but it is something that they are capable of doing. Another thing to look for is Illinois using Davis or Keller to run and jump a guard bringing the ball up. They both have the athleticism to do it and then recover to their man.

4) The Illini will not play much zone.
Bruce said they might try it, and they will occasionally against mediocre teams that they will play in the non-conference, but it si much harder than people think to coach man to man, and then install a zone. If you can't play it effectivly, then there is no point in playing it. The thing that Weber hates most is uncontested shots, and that happens a ton in a poorly played zone. Also add to this the fact that it is much harder to rebound while playing a zone, and Illinois is not going to be a great rebounding team.

5) Illinois will terrible in a couple of games that they should easily handle.
There is no consistant player coming back for the Illini. McCamey, Tisdale, Davis, and Legion all have good games, and then also have terrible games. Unless they can all be consistant, Illinois will have some hiccups along the way. Another major problem is that there is only one true ball handler on this team. Look for teams that pressure a lot like Mizzou and Clemson to pose a ton of problems for the Illini. The Freshman guards will be a major factor in the success of this team because one of them will have to show that they can handle the ball without turning it over.

6) Illinois will run a lot more.
Chester Frazier tried to run at times, and so did Demitri. Trent Meacham was not a guard that could push the ball, but the new Freshman are very comfortable doing this. Also Illinois now has guards who are atheltic enough to finish. Tisdale is not great at running the floor, but Davis and Keller are. It helps a ton when you have fast post players that can beat opposing defenders down court.

7) Bruce will play a ton of people in the Non-conference, and then settle on a 8-9 man rotation.
Every year Bruce says that he will play more people, and then he settles on 8. This season he will be more patient early, but with a Big Ten conference that is so stacked at the top, he will not be willing to put up with mistakes when one loss can hurt your standings so much. These 7 people will play every game: McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, Keller, Legion, Richardson, and Paul. After that, Jordan, Cole, Semrau, Griffey, and Bertrand will pretty much fight it out for the next 2 spots. Don't be surprised if Cole and Semrau are the odd men out when the Big Ten season rolls around.

8) There will be some sort of adversity this season.
Last year, and the Final Four season, the Illini were blessed with little to no injuries or off the court problems (except for Chester's injury at the end of the season.) Cole and Semrau have been injured in the past, but that hasn't really mattered. If any one of the guards gets injured early, the Illini might be in trouble. In order to have a great season, you need to be really good, but you also have to be really lucky. Look at Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State and Purdue last season. Ohio State lost Lightey who is solid, Iowa lost damn near their entire team, MSU lost Raymar Morgan for a long stretch, and Purdue started 0-2 in the Big Ten because Robbie Hummel was hurt. OSU and Iowa did not have enough talent to overcome the injuries and have the season they had expected, where as Purdue and MSU did. Does Illinois have the talent do withstand an injury to McCamey, Davis or Tisdale? If any of them are out for an extended period of time, Illinois could be in a little bit of trouble.

9) Alex Legion will have a good season.
I'm not gonna go crazy and say that he will live up to his All-American status coming out of High School, but I do believe that Legion will surprise some people this year. In a system that allowed an average athelete like Trent Meacham shoot at least 3 wide open 3's a game, Legion should get plenty of good looks. Like Meacham, Legion is a streaky shooter, but unlike Meacham, Legion has the size and ability to shoot mid-range jumpers. If he gets hot, strap in and enjoy the ride because he will hit shots from all over the gym. Good shooters can't be kept under wraps for too long, and now that he has had basically 2 years of working the motion offense, Legion should now understand how to get open. Also it will help that McCamey has a great grasp of the offense and will know when and where Legion will be open.

10) Demitri McCamey will start at least 15 games with a three.
This was one of my favorite things about last season. It is so fun that it should be a prop bet in Vegas. In more games than not, Demitri took the first shot of the game and it was a 3. This didn't change on Friday as McCamey jacked up the first semi-open look he got. I actually love it, because McCamey is the one player that we need to have a good start. Think about how well he came out against Missouri last season. If Demetri can get going early, then every part of his game comes together. He defends okay, he looks for his teammates, and he attacks on every possesion. Also look for McCamey to be among the leaders in assists this year in the Big Ten. He looked so smooth on Friday, and he has more offensive weapons around him this season.

Well, there it is. After the game on Sunday I will post about what I saw from the Freshman, and maybe even do a running blog about the game. Enjoy the Minnesota game on Saturday, hopefully the Fighting Zookers can give us more than just one weekend of smiles!!