I don't normally watch the ESPN or Big 10 "classic" games on TV, but this weekend I watched the 1989 Illini battle the Michigan Wolverines coached by Steve Fisher. Probably the main reason for watching is that it's been tough to watch Illini basketball this season, so why not watch a really good Illini team. (I also have the 2005 team's game against Arizona in reserve.) This game was so long ago, my best recollection before reviewing it again was the outstanding shooting by Glen Rice (28 points to lead Michigan). But other things I noticed were:
1. Henson actually had Kenny Battle lead a full court press as part of the standard defensive package for this team. It even worked a few times in this final four game, leading to easy baskets. I never thought of Henson as an exciting basketball coach, but this made for some very interesting basketball.
2. This 1989 team started four guys who were guards or wing players: Bardo, Gill, Battle and Anderson. People considered Battle a frontcourt player because of his hops, and Anderson played as an undersized forward. But Anderson played 2 in the NBA, and Battle was more of a guard than a forward. The lone front line guy was Lowell Hamilton, who was listed at 6-7. So maybe that's what we will see in 2009 for the Illini, as the talented freshmen arrive on campus, a talented four guard offense.
3. Every starter for this team could score, even though they were not considered a good outside shooting team. Much of their success was in hitting the boards with their jumping ability. Even guys off the bench had scoring ability, like Larry Smith and Marcus Liberty. Compare that to this year's team, which has a bunch of defensive specialists like Chester Frazier and Brian Randle.
4. Kenny Battle had a really nice shooting touch in the lane. He was not a great outside shooter, but he had a great turnaround jumper on the blocks, and had some really nice shots in close with incredible touch. Battle was the leading scorer for the game with 29 points.
5. Michigan had a huge size advantage in the match-up with Illinois, and in the end it took a toll on the Illini. Loy Vaught was huge, as well as Sean Higgins, Mark Hughes and Terry Mills.
It's still amazing we lost this game and the National Championship that year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment