Huge Week For Illinois

What many people thought was a must win for Illinois turned out to be a barn burner, and what many people thought was "no chance in hell" game turned out to be an unexpected great win. Let me start by saying that it doesn't matter to me that Kalin Lucas did not play for Michigan State, it is still a great win for Illinois. And let me also say that Dookie V is complete douche bag, but I will get to him later. All of the sudden Illinois went from fighting for their tournament life to fighting for a Big Ten championship. All of the sudden a much criticized Demitri McCamey is looking like a lock for Big Ten First Team, and finally playing like Bruce wanted him to play. Lets look at the first win.

First the Michigan State game:

I was in South Bend, Indiana for this game. I know what most of you are thinking: "Durty, don't you hate the state of Indiana? I thought the only school you hate more than Indiana is Notre Dame?" Before you start jumping to any rash conclusions, I was there for a wedding. Thank God the wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun, otherwise I might have cancelled the check before the Bride and Groom could cash it (not really). I wasn't the only person who was aching to watch this game, as pretty much every male under the age of 40 was huddled around my buddy Matt's IPhone watching the play by play while our wives/girlfriends danced by themselves. It was like a middle school dance and Matt brought a Gameboy. Alright, enough about my bullshit, lets get to the game.
From the get go you could tell the crowd was very amped/drunk! Just like the Krush used to be when I went to school. Bruce again went with the line-up of DMac, Tisdale, Griffey, DJ and Cole which I absolutley love to start games. I like it for two reason. The first is that it is a more stable line-up to start a game defensively. Cole knows that he is in the game to play defense and hustle. Tyler Griffey is the exact same way, he is out there to give solid minutes on the defensive end and rebound, something that Mike Davis and especially Dominique Keller were not doing. The second reason I like this line-up is because it allows Mike Tisdale to be the primary option on offense early. Illinois makes it a point to try to get him either posted up, or get him an easy pick and pop shot early. We all have seen how important it is to get Mike going early in games. When he is involved on offense, he is more likely to rebound on defense, and also less likely to commit stupid ticky tack fouls on defense. If your starting line-up included Davis and Paul instead of Cole and Griffey, then Tisdale becomes the 4th option, and possibly the 5th, and all of the sudden he is not getting shots until Illinois is down in the second half and Bruce is screaming at them to give him the ball. Having Tisdale be a fourth option means that you have to pray that Davis and Paul have a good game, and they are sporadic at best.
Illinois' first score came on a post up by Mike Tisdale, and then he kicked to Griffey for a jumper. Incidentally, Tisdale had more assists on that single play than Shaun Pruitt did in 4 years. Then the McCamey show started with a little Tisdale tip dunk in there somewhere. Illinois started the game 14-4, and they went for the Jugular very early by shooting 3 straight 3's with that lead. They missed all 3, and then Bruce called timeout. The reason Illinois jumped out to that lead wasn't so much their hot shooting as much as it was good defense. I don't think enough credit is being given to DJ Richardson for how hard he is working to defend the point. He caused 2 turnovers in the first 4 minutes. Bill Cole also caused another one, then had a block that led to Raymar Morgan shooting the ball off the side of the backboard on the rebound.

The next thing that I want to talk about is how we run the pick and roll with McCamey and Tisdale when the shot clock gets under 10 seconds. People do not understand how difficult it is to make the right read off of this. A perfect example was when Brandon Paul decided he would run it instead of McCamey. Paul ended up dribbling around for 7 seconds, then after spinning twice he finally gave the ball to Davis for a contested 19 footer. This not to bash Paul because I think he is starting to play much better than he has. Instead I mention this because McCamey has to handle this situation at least 10-12 times a game, and he maybe makes the wrong read on it 2 times. In the last 2 seasons, Demitri would use the pick in order to find space for a 3, or drive a little for a contested jumper. Now he not only reads the space for a 3, but he also reads when the defense is playing tight enough that he can get to the hoop. If the defense is rotating over to get a charge, he hits a floater in the lane. If the defense all collapses, then he hits Tisdale for an 18 footer, and if Tisdale dives, he is patient enough to wait for him to get a lay-in or a dunk. The next time you get upset when Illinois runs the offense down to 10 seconds and then McCamey pulls it out, think about how well he has ran this in the last 5 games. 5 straight games he has been great in the 2 man game, and now when someone else jumps it, you will have a jumpshooter (DJ Richardson) open in the corner. I don't know about you, but I feel pretty comfortable giving Demitri 6 different options when he has the ball in his hands.

Erin Andrews is Beautiful!!!

The rest of the first half consisted of really good basketball. DJ hit some big 3's and also continues to be clutch at line. Bill Cole proved to everyone that he can actually dunk, and Mike Davis finally hit some jumpers that used to be automatic for him. Illinois' defense finally showed up causing 11 turnover, and just like last season, they weere effecient and shared the basketball with 9 people scoring in the first half. The biggest moment of the second half occured with 13:30 left in the second half. That's when DMAC decided to go OFF!!

McCamey, with the shot clock winding down, ran a pick and roll, couldn't drive, so he created space and buried a 3 in Raymar Morgan/Brian Randle's face! As soon as he hit that 3, he got a little smirk on his face that basically said "You can try to guard me, but I will use the shit out of you!!" Then he comes down and buries another 3. Now give MSU a ton of credit because they hit a jumper in the lane and then 2 3's to match and actually take the lead, but McCamey was just getting started.

To get back to my Raymar Morgan/Brian Randle comparison, they are the exact same damn player. Both of them had a ton of potential coming out of high school, and they were supposed to be leaders that, by the time they were Seniors, should have been All-Big Ten players at the least. Both of them have been injury prone, and have under acheived. And the most glaring comparison is that both of them caved under the pressure of big games. The only difference is that while Illinois imploded during Randle's final season, MSU has way too much talent to allow that to happen this season. If anything, Morgan has been a bigger bust than Randle was. While Randle never averaged more than 9.4 points a game (his senior year), Morgan has averaged less his Junior and Senior year than he did as a Freshman (10.2, 10.6 vs. 11.7) During this game, he had only 8 points, and 4 of those were in the first 5 minutes. Don't get me started on him being a good defensive player, because McCamey buried 3 3's in his face, and foul trouble has plauged him his entire career. Vitale makes a crucial error like he always does by saying at the end of the game: "At least Morgan has been trying defensively, guarding McCamey!" Yep, Vitale is a fucking joke, and so is Raymar!

Had I watched the game live, I would have thought that the game was over with 9:00 left to play. Thats when Brandon Paul got a break away with a steal and dunked. Enough credit was not given to Paul for how amazing he played on defense in the second half. He had one terrible lapse when he let Summers hit a 3 at the end of the game, but you see flashes of how unbelievable he will be in the future. McCamey comes down and nails his 5th 3 of the game to make it a 62-57 game with 8 to play, and the Hall is going nuts!!! Then the best dunk I have seen all year happens.....

BP makes another great steal on the sideline and then he flips the ball ahead to DJ. DJ grabs the ball, plants, and takes off from an area on the court that a 6 foot guard should not take off from. The 2 handed dunk was reminescent of Luther Head taking off 5 years ago. It was amazing, and the Hall is going nuts!!!

For the first time all year, I started to see this team have fun!! Mike Davis hits a jumper and he starts pumping up the crowd, and then BP takes a charge, and Demitri stands for at least 10 seconds making the charge call for the officials and the crowd! When was the last time that Illinois did that at home??

Draymon Green had 12 points and 12 rebounds with 4 minutes left. He ended the game with 16 points and 17 rebounds. What a phenominal player!! I have to admit that I love everything about MSU (aside from Raymar Morgan.) They play basketball the way that everyone should play. No one ever gives them credit, yet Izzo has made made 5 Final Fours, 2 National Championship games, 1 National Championship, and he has taken MSU to the Sweet Sixteen 8 out of the last 12 years!!!! Are you kidding me??? Best coach in basketball, hands down!!!!! I will compare him to every other coach that the college basketball experts love to blow later.

Alright 3:30 left in the game, score is 66-65.... you wanna know who won this game for us?? Well I will tell you, it was MIKE DAVIS and BRANDON PAUL!! Mike hits 2 big free throws to give us a 3 point lead with 3 minutes to play. Then he jumps out on Summers and blocks his shot (Illinois ball with 2:47 left.) Game tied at 68 and BP makes a hell of a drive to the hoop (which normally is either blocked or defended) and he make the bucket but misses the free throw. Illinois 70-68. Next possesion, BP ties up....... Raymar Morgan!! And this is when I lost all love for Dookie V.

For the record, I really loved Vitale because he is one of the good guys in sports. All he wants to do is make money for the Jimmy V foundation for cancer research, and he usually hates everything that is dirty about college basketball (hence the reason he never talks about Calipari.) When you announce a game, you don't say the refs made a mistake. If you want to disagree with the refs, you better be right, especially when you have multiple angles in SLOW MOTION!!! Now I have watched the replay 35 million times, and Dickie only got to see it 4 times, yet he saw BP grabbing Morgan on the arm, yet there is nothing in ESPN's arsenal of camera's to back up his claim. So the only thing that we can assume from this is that Vitale and his 70 year old eyes, from 45 feet away, at an angle that a sharpshooter couldn't see from, is better than than the camera that ESPN had from 4 feet away. He needs to stop getting carried away because it has become a real turn off for fans, and probably already driven most fans away from liking him.

Back to the game..... McCamey buries another 3!!! Illinois hits some free throws by DJ, and then Mike Davis gets another block... the game is over, and DICK VITALE LOSES HIS MIND!!!

Now on to Dookie V. What a fucking hypocrite!! He loves to perpetuate a mad house, and crazy fans, but when 200 people rush the floor, he goes out of his mind. For the record if you watch the replay of the game, the people who rushed the floor didn't even encompass 2/3 of the court. And for the record, didn't Dookie V say that this was "A MUST WIN FOR ILLINOIS!!" So, Illinois has Gameday, the Orange Krush has been there for damn near 12 hours partying, but for them to run onto the floor to congragulate the team is somehow unsafe??? Get the fuck over yourself Vitale!! Here is another great fact... Vitale was doing a Big Ten game, which finally beat the ACC in the Big Ten Challenge, and you want to know how many times Vitale mentioned Duke and UNC? 7 Fucking times!!! Really you out of touch douche bag!!! During a Big Ten game, that was the focus of GAMEDAY on ESPN, Vitale talked about Duke and UNC 7 Fucking times. UNC isn't even going to make the NCAA this year, but Dookie V still has to love them, because they are the reason that he has a job. I pray for the day that he retires with Billy Packard in the college basketball hall of douchebags!! Up next, Wisconsin.