To the extent that an often badly played game between two bad teams can be exciting, Illinois' 64-63 win over Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament was exciting.
How's that for a ringing endorsement?
Illinois' Chester Frazier hit a layup with seconds to go, and the buzzer-beating shot from Penn State's Talor Battle missed, allowing Illinois to win a game in which they blew a 62-52 lead, bumbling and stumbling around on the court while Penn State went on an 11-0 run in crunch time. It was reminiscent of the Illini's loss to Virginia Tech in last year's NCAA Tournament, except for the Frazier game-winner, which represented Illinois' only points of the last four minutes.
No, it wasn't pretty, but the ending was exciting enough to rouse the fans at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which had resembled a mausoleum for most of the game, and for the Michigan-Iowa game that preceded it. The game was live blogged at Deadspin, and the commentary there pretty well sums up how the game could be both ugly and exciting. For Penn State, the season is over; for Illinois, the season will end, one can only assume, with a loss tomorrow against Purdue.
Here's the way the crowd in Champaign greeted Indiana guard Eric Gordon Thursday night:
It got worse from there, with some rowdiness and some profanity, and the University of Illinois has released the following statement from Athletic Director Ron Guenther and basketball coach Bruce Weber:
"There was a great college basketball game played Thursday night between the University of Illinois and Indiana University, but the game has been somewhat diminished by inappropriate behavior by a number of fans in attendance. We value the enthusiastic support of the sellout crowds at the Assembly Hall, but above all we take very seriously the reputation of our basketball program and the University of Illinois. The profanity and behavior by a small segment of fans Thursday night is disappointing and intolerable, and for that we apologize to fans of both teams."
That's all well and good, but apologizing "to fans of both teams" is the wrong approach. If someone deserves an apology, it's Gordon, the guard who first committed to Illinois and then changed his mind and went to Indiana. Illinois fans were enraged, and he received the lion's share of the "inappropriate behavior" referenced in the statement, so he's the one who should be named in the apology.
As for Gordon himself, a brief thought: Although honoring one's commitments is an admirable quality that Gordon apparently lacks, he's far from the only high school athlete who commits to one school and then attends another. The Illinois football program's stellar recruiting in recent years has been fueled in large part by such players. Illinois fans weren't booing those guys when they got the Illini to the Rose Bowl.
Illinois basketball player Jamar Smith was booked into the Champaign County Satellite Jail today, and he'll spend the next two weeks behind bars after agreeing to a deal to plead guilty to drunk driving charges. In exchange for the drunk driving plea, prosecutors dropped charges of running away from an accident.
Two weeks in jail seems like an incredibly light sentence for a man who got very drunk, crashed his car, then ran into his home, leaving his unconscious passenger for dead. That passenger, teammate Brian Carlwell, suffered a severe concussion, and Smith did nothing to help him.
Illinois coach Bruce Weber released a statement saying, in part, "We will need time to examine the facts." That's an odd statement given that the facts have been clear for months. There's a growing public perception that Weber's program is out of control, and he needs to act swiftly to combat that perception.
Jeff Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan, has turned down scholarship offers to Loyola and Valparaiso and will walk on at Illinois, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.
Jordan is a 6-foot-2 guard who had nine points, two steals and one assist in the recent Brand Jordan All-American Classic high school all-star game. He's a decent player, but he wouldn't have been invited to that game if it weren't for his last name: There's a reason no Big Ten schools offered him a scholarship.
Still, as an Illinois alum I love this. It's good PR for the basketball team, which desperately needs some good PR right now. And it's a good sign that the Illini could land Jordan's younger son, sophomore Marcus, who is definitely good enough to earn a scholarship at a big-conference school. And don't feel bad about being a walk-on, Jeff. Your dad can afford the tuition.
The University of Illinois this year discontinued the longstanding tradition of having a student dress up as Chief Illiniwek, an American Indian mascot, and dance during halftime of football and basketball games.
But Chief Illiniwek was more than just a student mascot. It was also the logo you see here, which is extremely popular on clothing on the Illinois campus – we're talking millions of dollars in merchandise. Even though the University has washed its hands of the Chief, Illinois fans will continue to buy merchandise with the Chief logo on it. So who has the rights to that logo?
The University says it still has those rights, but the guy who created the logo disagrees. Jack Davis, a Champaign graphic artist, says when he designed the logo 27 years ago and allowed the school to use it free of charge, he did so with the understanding that the logo would be a permanent symbol of Illinois athletics. Now that it isn't, he wants the rights to it for himself.
I think it's a little bit hypocritical of the University to get rid of the Chief but still say it wants ownership of the Chief copyright – if the Chief symbol is offensive to American Indians, a university has no business trademarking it. But no matter how this plays out, someone is going to make money off the Chief logo.
The Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther found himself getting a little too riled up by the opening round Illinois-Virginia Tech game last week. He didn't do it in a private box or in his office. No, he did it near the action, specifically right next to the press box. Surprise, it became a story as Greg Doyel of CBS Sportsline.com was one of those seated closest to Guenther and detailed his behavior.
Guenther is a table-pounder, in good times and bad. Since there were very few good times Friday -- even when the Illini had a 10-point lead with less than 4 1/2 minutes to play, they looked awful -- Guenther did most of his pounding in anguish.
If only he left it at pounding. Alas, he did not. Guenther would on occasion rise and stare down an official, or rise and give coach Bruce Weber advice, generally something along the lines of, "Get Randle out of there!" And after one miserable play by Warren Carter -- which isn't nearly specific enough considering his vast array of miserable plays -- Guenther pounded the table, rose from his chair and screamed, "Warren -- you idiot!"
Schools received only 250 tickets to the game, but the Illini picked up 100 more that were returned by, ironically, Virginia Tech.
Did I really read that right? Virginia Tech was allotted 250 ducats to today's NCAA Tournament first-round game in Columbus, and they couldn't even find 250 people who wanted them? I wasn't expecting either team to have home-court advantage tonight (Blacksburg, Va. and Champaign, Ill., are both almost exactly 300 miles from Columbus), but if Illinois is getting some of the tickets that were supposed to go to Virginia Tech, that's a good sign for the Illini.
I complained yesterday about the empty seats in Winston-Salem, NC, but I refuse to believe schools like Illinois and Virginia Tech won't be able to fill an arena that's just five hours away from campus. If only the Illinois fans are showing up, a 12-5 upset is likely.
Conference: Big Ten Record: 23-11, 9-7 in conference RPI: 29 How They Got In: At large.
Mascot: They're called the Fighting Illini, but they have no mascot now that the university got rid of Chief Illiniwek. If they had known they were going to the NCAA tournament, the school probably wouldn't have gotten rid of the Chief -- they banned the Chief in large part because the NCAA wouldn't allow them to host an NIT game if they didn't, and the school thought it was going to the NIT.
Big Wins: No huge wins, but the Illini did beat Michigan State once and Indiana twice in the Big Ten, plus they beat Bradley in the nonconference portion of the schedule.
Notable Loss: A loss at Iowa in the season finale is the only particularly bad loss on the Illini's schedule. Iowa provided the worst loss for Indiana, Illinois and Michigan State. Player You Should Know: Senior Warren Carter is the Illini's best player, and he especially makes his presence felt on defense, where Illinois has been absolutely shutting down its opponents of late.
Outlook: As 12 seeds go, the Illini have a fairly favorable draw. It's not unthinkable that they could beat both Virginia Tech in the first round and Southern Illinois in the second. Illinois probably won't reach the Sweet 16, but don't rule it out.
How important are "signature victories" to a team's chances of making the NCAA Tournament? Extremely important. For evidence, just look at two Big Ten teams, Indiana and Illinois.
Everyone agrees that Indiana is a lock to make the tournament, while Illinois is on the bubble. But their resumes are strikingly similar:
RPI: Indiana 28th, Illinois 29th Record: Illinois went 23-11, Indiana went 20-10 Strength of schedule: Illinois 24th, Indiana 58th Conference record: Indiana 10-6, Illinois 9-7 Head-to-head: Illinois won two of three Non-conference RPI: Illinois 29th, Indiana 42nd Record against RPI Top 50: Indiana 5-8, Illinois 4-9 Record against RPI 100+: Illinois 15-0, Indiana 13-0 Record in last 10: Illinois 7-3, Indiana 5-5 Record in road/neutral games: Illinois 9-8, Indiana 5-10
So why is one a bubble team and one a sure thing? Because Indiana has two signature wins, having beaten both Wisconsin and Southern Illinois. The best wins the Illini had were the two against Indiana, plus a home game against Michigan State. So if you want to get into the tournament, be sure to beat a really good team at least once.
CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Billy Packer said late in Wisconsin's victory over Illinois that tomorrow's Big Ten tournament championship game (Wisconsin vs. Ohio State) will be for a No. 1 seed. Nantz helpfully added that finding out which team will get a 1 seed gives the viewers at home more reason to watch.
I don't buy it. Even though a victory by Wisconsin tomorrow would give the Badgers a 2-1 record against the Buckeyes this season, Ohio State has had a better season overall than Wisconsin, and I think the Buckeyes are a 1 seed and the Badgers are a 2 regardless of tomorrow's outcome.
And I also don't buy the comments from just about everyone (with the exception of ESPN's Hubert Davis) that Illinois is in the tournament. As an Illinois graduate I'm disappointed to say it, but I think there's a very good chance the Illini will play in the NIT. The Illini still don't have a signature win -- they're 0-5 against the RPI Top 20.
Prediction: Ohio State is a No. 1 and Wisconsin is a No. 2 no matter what happens, and the Illini are either the very last at-large team in the field or the best team in the NIT.
To the extent that an often badly played game between two bad teams can be exciting, Illinois' 64-63 win over Penn State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament was exciting.
Illinois basketball player Jamar Smith was 
Jeff Jordan, the son of Michael Jordan, has turned down scholarship offers to Loyola and Valparaiso and will walk on at Illinois, the 
The University of Illinois this year discontinued the longstanding tradition of having a student dress up as 
The Illinois Athletic Director Ron Guenther found himself getting a little too riled up by the opening round Illinois-Virginia Tech game last week. He didn't do it in a private box or in his office. No, he did it near the action, specifically right next to the press box. Surprise, it became a story as Greg Doyel of CBS Sportsline.com was one of those 
I hope I'm misunderstanding 
Conference: Big Ten
How important are "signature victories" to a team's chances of making the NCAA Tournament? Extremely important. For evidence, just look at two Big Ten teams, Indiana and Illinois. 
CBS announcers Jim Nantz and Billy Packer said late in Wisconsin's victory over Illinois that tomorrow's Big Ten tournament championship game (Wisconsin vs. Ohio State) will be for a No. 1 seed. Nantz helpfully added that finding out which team will get a 1 seed gives the viewers at home more reason to watch. 
