OT: College basketball
Illinois beat Iowa (ranked 24) tonight, at home, in overtime. This was their most severe test of the season. The Illini have their best team in years, but probably won't go undefeated in the Big Ten.
The last great Illini team, amongst many good ones, was the Ken Battle-Glen Bardo-Kendall Gill team, that lost to Michigan in the Final Four. The Battle team was all 6-ft-6 guys, fast as lightning, but not up to the bruisers. This year, the Illini are three guards and just two big guys, whose (bigger) replacements come off the bench. They are very quick and intelligent, and play like Duke -- lots of passing and assists, good defense, lots of rebounds.
Bruce Weber, the current Illini coach, was recruited from nearby Southern Illinois University, by the staff of his predecessor, Bill Self, now at Kansas. Now Weber's team is #1, Self is #2. (BTW, the Salukis at SIU are also having a pretty good year, and may make the NCAA Tournament.) Illinois basketball must be somewhat good, no? Perhaps in the same group as NC, NY, and CA?
Further OT: After Iowa-Illinois, I watched Depaul vs. Marquette. I had no idea there were so many young, strong Black Catholic men! Same realization as watching Temple -- there are far more Black 6' 8" Jewish men than I had imagined. I'm gonna catch up by seeing more ESPN, and hearing less NPR-:) |
