Typically, you knew that guys like Jay Mariotti wouldn’t get it. Only one thing matters in tournament basketball and Jim Valvano said it best 20 years ago: “survive and advance”. This isn’t the Tour de France, you don’t have to haul your score from Thursdays games to Saturday. For Illinois, Notre Dame, Kansas and Duke only one thing mattered. They all have another game on Saturday.
The Illini did two things well in their five point win over Western Kentucky. They shut down Western Kentucky’s two “best” players, and they did a great job of letting the Hilltoppers back their offense up to the half court line and Deron Williams did a splendid job of repeatedly losing his dribble.
Sigh. Such is life under the NCAA Tourney microscope.
Columnists are saying that Brian Cook disappeared, but that’s just not fair. He scored 17 points and grabbed ten rebounds and three of his five fouls were absolute screw jobs by the officials. The biggest thing that took Cook out of the offense for long stretches was the ability of the Hilltoppers to push the Illini offense back with a confusing trap that made it tough to get the ball inside to Cook or Roger Powell.
The man who saved the day was, as we’re accustomed to, Dee Brown. Playing with an absolute absence of fear, Brown sliced and diced the Western Kentucky defense and did just enough to junk up their offense. In fact, other than Williams’ occasional “oops, there goes my dribble!” the three Illini freshman played very well. You’re not supposed to pick teams with freshman playing big roles. Well, screw that.
This was another game where Illini’s array of weaponry was on full display. Sean Harrington didn’t fit in the style of this game, and Nick Smith–after an impressive entrance into the game early–was too slow, too. Enter Luther Head, who gave the Illini a team just as fast as Western Kentucky, and reminded us just how much Illinois missed him during big stretches this year.
Steve Rosenbloom makes a passing reference to the value of Luther, today. He’s absolutely right, and CBS’ Len Elmore said, “Nobody in America has a 6’3 swingman who can do all of the things Luther Head can do.”
Head can take out the other team’s best perimeter threat, and force that guy to defend him on the other end. He’s also only a sophomore, but is clearly the coolest head on the floor at all times. Somebody on Notre Dame is about to learn more about Luther than they want to.
Speaking of the Irish, when I picked them to beat UW-Milwaukee I said that Milwaukee would have no answer for Chris Thomas. Not only didn’t they have an answer for him, they didn’t even know like they knew what the question was. Milwaukee had more raw talent at every spot but two. Point guard and pivot. Chris Thomas dominated at the point and Torin Francis was a beast underneath. If either Thomas for Francis hadn’t played well beyond his years, the Irish would be taking the slow bus ride back to South Bend this morning. They did, though.
The Irish cracked out the gold jerseys for the first time this year (nice) and everybody shaved his head for the game (not nice). Danny Miller with a shorn head looks a little too much like Ed Norton in “American History X” for my comfort.
As time wound down, Milwaukee looked like they would pull the upset. But then Francis scored on a put back with 32 seconds left and then, after Milwaukee’s Clay Tucker decided to run 25 seconds off the clock and then go one-on-one with Torrian Jones (one of the America’s most underrated defenders), Tucker had to give it up, but found Dylan Page for an easy lay up. One problem. The six foot tall Thomas went after the shot, got a piece and Page, stuck between a dunk and layup made neither.
Sweaty, John Feinstein look-a-like and all-around scumbag Bruce Pearl was sent packing. That’s good, though. Bruce can get an early start on his recruiting, and get that tape recorder fired up.
Am I still bitter? Nah.
So tomorrow it’s ND-Illinois for a berth in the Sweet Sixteen. Or, as we’re calling it in the Desipio news room, it’s Andy’s version of Sophie’s Choice. Dee Brown or Chris Thomas? Brian Cook or Matt Carroll? James Augustine or Torin Francis? Bill Self or Mike Brey? There are no good answers here.
If Digger was still around, you’d just root against him. Likewise if Lon Kruger were still at Illinois you’d figure on a guaranteed flame out.
But no. Two good teams. Two teams full of guys I’ve pulled for all year. One one hand I can’t win. On the other, I can’t lose.
If you look at it scientifically, the Illini are a pretty clear favorite. Thomas is great, but he plays out of control too often. Dee Brown plays fast, but under control. Matt Carroll has a bad ankle now. If Torin Francis gets in foul trouble it means big minutes for Tom Timmermans, a guy that Augustine, Smith and Cook will eat for lunch. Danny Miller is hard nosed, and a bad match up for the Illini, but on defense Roger Powell will turn him into a layup drill.
Which team has the better shot at beating Arizona in the next round? I think both could do it. Neither are likely to, but both can. Notre Dame could if Carroll’s ankle gets better and Thomas and Francis play like they did last night. Illinois is the better matchup, especially since Arizona can’t send Eugene Edgerson out to scare Cook anymore.
The best thing about day one of the tournament was the complete absence of Billy Packer. Alas, that will end early on today. But hey, it means no Billy tomorrow, either.
Proving that Desipio readers are among the smartest in the world, almost half of our entries in the ESPN Bracket Challenge had records of at least 12-4 yesterday. That means those of us who went 12-4 or better are in the top 23 percent of all of the brackets in the country. Why I picked San Diego…I still have no idea.
But, as Dick Jauron proved last year, you can follow 13-3 with 4-12, so be careful.
Dee, James and Deron gave us a glimpse at the Illini’s future.
If the freshmen were nervous, you couldn’t tell.
Chris Thomas was at home last night. Literally, he’s from Indianapolis.
It wasn’t easy, but Notre Dame and Illini survived.
Rosey on the Illini, the Salukis and more.
SIU got hosed. Plain and simple.
El Pulpo is riding a stationary bike. He’s too big for it to go anywhere.
John Jackson said it was good that CBS put the morning games on ESPN because he wouldn’t have been able to find TV Land on his cable system. Oh, shut up. It’s a TV it’s not that complicated.
Mariotti puts down the doughnut and proves that he’ll just never really get it.
Mark Bellhorn has made two errors this spring and Dusty Baker says “most of them have come on throws.” Most of two? Isn’t that two?
If you morons in Canada don’t behave we’re going to make you take back Celine Dion. And Alan Thicke.
Spanish-yes.com on “bald” Notre Dame’s close shave. Rimshot please!
Gee, you mean some of the big Hollywood stars want to make anti-war statements on the Oscars? Go figure.
Impeccable journalist Matt Drudge says that eyewitnesses saw a wounded Saddam being taken out on a gurney Wednesday night.
The Marines are starting to take down portaits of Saddam. One down, 1,237,342 to go. And that’s just the big ones.
Fun guy Uday Hussein is believed to be dead.
Liz Taylor is still bats.
America’s finest news source with the story of a Minnesota antique dealer who’s tired of appraising Smurf collections. Mmm, Smurfette….
It’s funny how you, Terry Boers, and the rest of the Illini Nation continue to bash Bruce Pearl. It doesn’t matter to the blind Illini fans who ignore the years of illegal activities by Lou Henson and his corrupt program. They’d rather blame the whistle-blower. Bruce Pearl may be a snitch, but the real scumbags are the ones who cheated (and got caught and punished) and the supporters who ignore the cheating.
You might want to go back and check your files, Dr. Tom. Bruce Pearl’s little tape recording incident not only violated Illinois state law (taping a phone conversation without the other party’s knowledge) but the reason he gave the tape to the NCAA was to report that Deon Thomas had been given a Chevy Blazer to pick Illinois over Iowa. In the NCAA’s report, no such Blazer ever existed.
But other than that, Bruce is a great guy. And incredibly sweaty. He also might have won last night had he actually coached the last 32 seconds, too.
If no violations were committed, why was Illinois sanctioned? And it still ignores the fact that the Illini had one of the most corrupt programs of the ’80s and early ’90s. Yeah, Bruce Pearl deserves to be publicly slandered more than Lou-Do, or Jimmy Collins, or any other of the Orange Slush.
How about a nice dinner guys? On me….
I would have gone to Illinois but my friend Ed Martin gave me a few thousand reasons to go blue.
The criminal law stands to the passion of revenge in much the same relation as marriage to the sexual appetite. by free online poker