Iowa - Illinois Running Diary

I always wanted to try this, so I will give it a shot with tonight's game. Basically I will give you guys a little insight into what it is like to watch an Illini game with me, and of course I will add all of the random text messages I get from all of my friends. Although to be honest, the same people who read this are the same people I text the entire time. Oh well!!
The starting line-up is supposed to be McCamey, Richardson, Tisdale, Cole and Griffey. Here is hoping that this is finally the game where Mike Davis wakes up and plays the way he is capable of playing.

Wayne Laravee just said that under Bruce Weber, Illinois is the "11th winningest program" in the Nation, but most of you are right, we should fire him! (I used the quote there because I'm pretty sure winningest is not a word)

McCamey is already owning this game. I love when the bigs run the floor, and realistically Cole, Davis and Keller should get at least 10 points a game in transition because they are more athletic than every other big man in the conference. Iowa's first 3 shots have been 3 pointers, they have missed them all, but they have been open.

Now Matt Gatens has hit 2 open 3's. Illinois needs to eventually learn to close out on shooters, or not get beat off the dribble. Story of the season has already shown up in the first 4 minutes. Offense looks good with solid ball movement. Brandon Paul was in the game for 6 seconds before he drove, got stuck and put up a bullshit shot.

Holy Shit! Lickliter's son is in the game, and man he is not a Division 1 basketball player. It is also awesome to hear the Krush chanting AIRBALL at Cully Payne even though the game is in Iowa. Laravee has already mentioned 3 times that 160 Krush members made the trip to Iowa. For all of Paul's terrible decisions on offense, he is getting much better at defense. Dominque Keller on the other hand is getting much worse on defense.

Somebody get a god damn rebound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Iowa is shooting 35% yet they have hit 5 3's to stay in this game. Tisdale and Davis both look pretty active so far. They need to start owning the defensive glass though. The downside to having so many mid major coaches in the Big Ten now is that you know get mid major 3 point shooters. By that I mean a bunch of short white kids who only shoot from 25 feet away.

Not too many fouls called so far in this game, actually only 3 so far with 16 minutes gone in the first half. Just as I say that, McCamey picks up a foul against Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. I wonder what farm Lickliter found this hillbilly on?? I would like to see Demitri penetrate a little more in this game instead of settling for the 3, he is 1-4 right now, but he has 5 assists.

And as soon as I say it, McCamey starts getting in the lane and closes out the half on a great run. I will bet you anything that Iowa comes out and hits 2 3's to start the half and Illinois is only up by 2 before Bruce calls a timeout. Any takers?

Okay maybe I was wrong, Illinois is playing very hard to start the half. Shocking, but we need to make sure that there aren't any major lapses. Cully Payne with ANOTHER airball, dare I say he is rattled!! Lead is now 10.... Illinois really needs to push this to at least 15 and step on Iowa's throats, they have had too many damn games where they get a lead and then let a team back in. Northwestern springs to memory. On a lighter note, Chunk is back in the game for Iowa.

Now Illinois is going into their typical second half offense which consists of nobody screening, nobody posting, and then McCamey getting the ball with 10 seconds on the shot clock. McCamey just caught a hamhock from Chunk in the face....... I am really excited to see what type of player McCamey is when he is pissed off!!

For those of you who are wondering, Jeff Jordan is god damn terrible. It is funny to watch him play against Lil Lickliter, a battle of two people who are playing because of who their father is.

McCamey is on the bench, and nobody has scored for the last 3 hours. Actually Illinois hasn't scored for the last 7 minutes, and now it is a 5 point game. Back up to 9, Illinois runs nothing on offense, and then Jeff Jordan decides its his turn to airball a 3. Awesome!!

We need to just pound the ball inside. They are packing the lane against Tisdale, but the beauty of that is that Tisdale is never in the paint! He usually starts out posting there, but is pushed out by the 3 point line in about .4 seconds. Illinois has 12 points in 13+ minutes.

McCamey misses a dunk, Tisdale get s a foul, nothing about the way Illinois is playing is making me feel good, and right on cue, Payne hits a 3. Another Tisdale foul, and this game has just gotten a whole lot more interesting. We need McCamey right here.

Huge jumpshot by Griffey, that used to be the shot the was automatic for Mike Davis. Illinois up 5 with about 3 to play. Gotta love how Illinois can't put anyone away. Maybe they should just think that they are down by 10 and there is only :45 to play. Maybe then they will show a little fire.

Demitri McCamey made the worst play I have ever seen him make, even if it wasn't Bill Cole, nobody could have caught that ball. What the hell was he thinking?? Mike Davis with a huge jumper from the top of the key!! McCamey and Tisdale hit their free throws, and that is all she wrote folks. Pretty much exactly the same Illini game that we have become accustomed to watching. MSU on Saturday, that is going to be a damn dogfight!! I for one am praying that Kalin Lucas can't play because of his ankle, and then he comes back and destroys the rest of the Big Ten.