Durty Is Back!!

Durty is back from my Sebatical in India. I have taken the last week to absorb what has happened to the Illini over the last month and I finally have an answer for all of you. I know all of you want to know who to blame. Most of you would like to blame Bruce Weber, and you might be correct, he has done a terrible job working with this team. However, I think the blame can be placed more on the players than anyone. Let's dispell some myths before we delve further into why Illinois has played terrible this season, and make no mistake, this team should be 17-4 instead of 13-8.

Myth 1) Illinois needs to play more zone
I hate when people assume that a team can just switch up defenses. If you assume that when you don't play man well, you will play zone well, you are an idiot!! It is so much easier to get open shots against a zone defense than it is against man to man. Just think about the principles of each defense and you can figure this out. I heard a ton of people saying that the reason we lost to Northwestern was because we didn't play zone. If Illinois had played zone, Northwestern would have started burying 3's much sooner than 6:00 left in the game. The reason Illinois lost that game was because they scored 3 points in 10 minutes of play. Think about that!! 3 god damn points from 14:00 left in the game to 4:00 left in the game. In those 10 minutes they had 7 turnovers, and they missed 6 shots. When you have more turnovers than shots in a TEN MINUTE STRETCH then you will lose. Defense had nothing to do with it. The same can be said when Illinois played like shit to start the second half against Purdue. Sure Purdue came out and played really well, but did you really expect anything less from a veteran team like Purdue. Illinois scored 7 points in the first 9 minutes of the second half, in that time, Illinois missed 9 shots, had only 2 turnovers, and missed 3 of 6 free throws. Thats how you go from up 2 to down 9.
So whats my point? My point is that you lose games to Utah, Bradley, Georgia, Purdue, Northwestern because you get careless and don't play 40 minutes, and also because you are not mentally tough enough to fight back when things start going bad.

Myth 2) The Freshman need to play more
I love the upside that Griffey, Paul and Richardson bring to this program. That being said, only Richardson has proven that he deserves to start and play extended minutes. Brandon Paul shows flashes of being amazing, yet he still takes terrible shots, misses assignments on defense, and can't handle the ball at all. Griffey is really raw right now. Having Griffey play 10-15 minutes a game would be perfect. This is what should be expected of him if Mike Davis could be consistant and Dominique Keller could stop making stupid mistakes. If Illinois was consistantly good on defense like they have been in the past, then Weber would have the luxury of playing the Freshman more minutes because each offensive possesion would not be so crucial. Since they don't play any defense, you can't sit around and wait for the Freshman to start hitting shots.

Myth 3) Bruce Weber needs to stop bitching about his players and take the blame.
You can blame Weber all you want for not recruiting well after the Final Four season. There is no way you can argue against the fact that he did not use the momentum from that to season for recruiting. You can also make the claim the Bruce is not very good with post players, but how much blame can he take for the play on the floor? People bitch about the offense like Bruce is running some unorthodox never heard of scheme. The motion offense has been in existance well before Bruce Weber started coaching. It's not his fault that people don't screen well, and that Tisdale and Davis can't hold a post position.
What I blame Weber for right now is the fact that he has called out Demitri McCamey for 3 years trying to get him to be a better player, yet everyone else in that class has gotten a pass. I don't give a shit if Tisdale and Davis don't respond to criticism like McCamey can. They are Big Ten basketball players, if they can't handle the pressure or criticism then go play in the MAC. The theory was that if you coddle these players, then by the time they are upperclassmen, they will be consistant players. Well neither Davis or Tisdale are, and now after 3 years, Davis is finally catching some flack, and he isn't responding at all. Maybe last year was just a fluke, and Davis has peaked, or maybe Davis hasn't been pushed as hard as McCamey because of his fragile mind set, and now he isn't capable of taking his game to the next level. I alluded to this before with mental toughness. Whenever Illinois blows an early lead and are trailing in the second half, the entire team with the exception of DJ Richardson stand around and wait for Demitri to do something.

Now that I am done with telling uneducated Illini fans why they need to quit bitching about crap they obviously know nothing about, lets look forward.

In order to make the NCAA tounament, Illinois needs to finish in the top 5 in the Big Ten, and they have to steal at least one game from Michigan State or Purdue. This is their remaining schedule: @ Iowa, MSU, @ Wisconsin, OSU, @ Purdue, @ Michigan, Minnesota, @ OSU, and the end with Wisconsin at home.
Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota are must wins!!! I hate playing at Michigan because they can get hot at home, and realistically we have no one who can guard Manny Harris. If Beilein's bullshit offense actually works in that game, then we will be screwed because they will shoot us out of the gym. Minnesota at home shouldn't be too difficult, but with this team, everything is difficult. So after Iowa, I think the Illini need to go at the very least 4-4 to get in. That would mean a split with Wisco and OSU and wins against Minny and Michigan.
Right now their RPI is 80, but that is also because their strenght of schedule is 78th. That will change as soon as they play the rest of the Big Ten. Illinois has actually fallen in the RPI after wins against Penn State and Indiana. If they can win out at home, that will be wins against MSU, OSU, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, then they should be a lock. It is not impossible for this to happen. Illinois' only loss at home this season was against Purdue, and that was a very close game. MSU will probably beat us, which means we will need to steal a road win. Hang on, because the season isn't over just yet.