Wait til next Season

As a Cubs fan, I'm used to saying this optimistically, "wait til next year." But being realistic for a minute, the Illini might have a tough year next season. As a matter of fact, Illini fans should expect this and bet on it, unless they want to be disappointed. Why am I so pessimistic?

Next season the Illini lose Shaun Pruitt, their leading scorer and Brian Randle, their best defender. These two seniors have had their ups and downs this year, but typically have played solid defense and rebounded well. It's hard to imagine our front line being better next season without these two players. People are expecting Tisdale to start as well as Alexander or Davis.

The guard situation should be better, with Jamar Smith returning to the line-up, and Alex Legion joining in the second half of the season, when he is eligible after his transfer. McCamey, Smith and Legion could be an exciting trio to watch playing for the Illini. But let's keep in mind we could easily be watching a line-up of Frazier, Meacham and Brock at guard next year, and that group is offensively challenged.

But it's not certain they will be better overall, because we are basically a similar team to this year, with more experience on our freshmen class from this past fall. Here's my quick summary of expectations of next year on a comparative basis:

Shooting- Improved
Defense- Weaker
Rebounding- Weaker
FT Shooting- Stronger
Turnovers- ?

Overall, I think it's as likely that we are better as we are worse than the current season. Let's hope I'm wrong.