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.