HTTO You know I am sure that last year's Illini team could be go through some major scoring droughts last year, do you see that problem being fixed this year, with the addition of freshmen D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul or should Illini brace themselves for more Minnesota style slug fests?

BTG. Last year?  That watching-paint-dry offense has been around since Dee Brown left town. Still, Illinois' offense was a sort of marvel of mediocrity.  The team didn't shoot 3s, didn't get to the free throw line, and they didn't get any offensive rebounds.  Hard to score a lot of points that way.  Yet the team was still good enough to win 24 games.  

As for this season, the team will almost certainly get better at getting to the free throw line, simply because there's nowhere else to go but up.  As for the contributions of the freshmen, I certainly think there's the potential for them to add better 3-point shooting and an ability to get to the line.  But it will likely come with the cost of turnovers, a relative strength for Illinois last season.  So the offense might be more exciting, but probably a bit more frustrating as well.  

BTG He shot 24% on 3s, and 34% on 2s.  I'd say he was a disappointment!  Like the free throw situation, there's nowhere to go here but up.  And frankly, there's a lot of potential.  Yes, Legion was a highly ranked recruit, but there are also encouraging signs in his stat line (if you squint really hard).  When Legion was on the floor last season, he shot the ball a ton.  Now, that likely means one of two things.  One, he's an incredibly selfish player.  Two, he's actually pretty good, and he's used to taking (and making) a lot of shots in practice.  Turning around a high shot-volume player tends to have a pretty big impact on the team, too. For instance, perhaps the biggest reason for Michigan's resurgence was the fact that DeShawn Sims started making his shots.  Frankly, there might be no player more important to the Illini's season than Alex Legion. 

HTTO: What do you think about Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis, big guys who shoot but not rebound. Can this team keep winning without the benefits of offensive rebounds?

BTG.  Teams can be effective without a lot of offensive rebounding (take the 04-05 Illini, for instance).  It's just that usually such a team is heavy on the three pointers.  I'm not sure that the Illini's mid-range jumpshot offense will work again this season -- it was very reliant on seniors who took care of the ball -- so something has to change for them to maintain their success.  I think it's more likely that the freshmen and Legion add to the perimeter attack than it is that Davis and Tisdale suddenly become beasts on the offensive boards, but both are certainly possible.