Illini lose to Wisconsin in BTT final, shades of 1999

Well, they must have run out of gas mentally or physically, because that offensively-challenged team showed up again. Weber's three guard offense looked very weak against a bigger Wisconsin line-up. At one point, Chester Frazier was being guarded by Greg Stiemsma, who is 6-11 and 260 pounds. The advantage goes to Wisconsin on that match-up, because Stiemsma is a better outside shooter than Frazier.

Shaun Pruitt played well for the Illini, and Calvin Brock had a nice game as well. The rest of the team looked ragged out there, including McCamey, Frazier, Randle and Meacham. Toward the end of the game, Jordan, Holdren and Hicks hit outside shots, making some of us wonder what they were doing on the bench all year if they can actually shoot the basketball.

Anyway, it was a nice run in the Big Ten Tourney for our Fighting Illini. The NCAA berths are being announced, and though I will fill out some brackets, I just don't feel like watching CBS after this poor game by the Illini. Or maybe it's the fact that we did not make the NCAAs for the first time since 1999.

Will the Illini make the NIT tourney or the new CBI tourney? Hopefully they get invited to one of those, since we really need the practice for next season. I wish you could play your entire roster for the "fun" tournaments like the NIT and CBI. It would be nice to take a look at next season's team, with Alex Legion and Jamar Smith on the floor.

Illini go to Big 10 Championship Game against Wisconsin

The Illini won their third tourney game today with a 54-50 victory over Minnesota, extending their winning streak over Minnesota to an amazing 20 straight games. This was a plodding type of game for both teams, who seemed tired from playing three games in three days. Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle came up big for the Illini in this game, and our defense was very solid, holding Minnesota to 39% shooting for the game. Box Score

I can't say I'm that surprised about the Illini going to the Big 10 Tourney finals. I've been speculating about this possibility for some time now, and I'm still amazed that it's happened. If the Illini can find some way to upset the Badgers tomorrow, they basically will steal a ticket to the dance from one of the many bubble teams out there. There will be much whining from certain CBS announcers about automatic bids being unfair to other teams. I still don't think we will win the game, since Wisconsin is always so tough to beat, and is well coached and has very smart players. They looked so tough coming back against Michigan State today when they seemed destined to lose.

Either way, win or lose tomorrow, the Weber hating crowd has vanished for a few days, and the Illini basically are looking at a play-in game against the powerful Wisconsin team. Go Illini!