Things just keep getting better for the Illini this season. On Tuesday night they had to travel to Ohio State where they would be without their leading scorer and rebounder, Shaun Pruitt, after he was benched by Bruce Weber before the game. As you might expect would happen, the Illini weren't able to pull off a victory in Columbus, despite a late charge, with the Buckeyes holding on for a 64-58 win.As for why Weber felt the need to bench his senior, the frazzled coach was a bit vague.
"As for Shaun Pruitt, it's a team matter, a family matter. It's being handled internally. We hope he has a positive attitude and we get him back involved with us. That's what we're hoping he'll do the rest of the week.Since Weber wouldn't say what Shaun did, I'm pretty sure that gives me license to completely make something up, so I'll just say Shaun was either dogging it in practice, or maybe he mouthed off to a coach. I'll let you pick which one works best for you.
"It's how he reacts to everything. If he comes to practice and works his butt off, he'll be fine," said Weber, who indicated that Pruitt has not missed any practice time.
I'm leaning more towards dogging it myself, because when watching this Illini team right now, I see a team that looks like they've already given up on their season. If that's truly the case, Weber can't allow Pruitt, a senior, to get away with it. If Weber doesn't discipline him for it, he risks losing his entire team.
The suspension also cost Pruitt his streak of 87 consecutive starts.
