When Demetri McCamey and Mikes Davis and Tisdale came in for the post game media conference on Saturday, they all had their heads down and looked somewhat disappointed. They looked like a kid who just got chewed out for not doing their homework.

When asked if he was a little rough on the players for their play down the stretch against the Broncos, he responded "I would say that's an understatement."

Bruce then made reference to the football game earlier in the day where the Illini crapped away their lead in the closing minutes and ended up losing to Fresno. But of course the Illini didn't even need to look outside of their own recent history of the Bradley and Utah games to see how a late lead can evaporate very quickly.

To their credit, the Illini did not let this one slip away, but it was clearly something that has been weighing heavily on Bruce's mind lately.

This year's team may have gotten too used to outscoring cupcakes into submission and then letting Bubba and co. clean up the dregs. Clemson could have been the aberration for the season, if the Illini were to fall into their bad habits again with Boise State.

Last year's team could take nothing for granted, it was a starting lineup of two guards who were never stars and three players who were unproven or unknown. They had to equalize the talent and scoring gap by locking down on defense, reducing turnovers and maximizing every possession.

Flash forward a year and the team now seemingly is flush with scorers, as all 5 of its players can conceivably go off for 20+ on any opponent. With the cushion of improved scoring though can come the slack of turnovers and defensive breakdowns. Whats worse, when the scoring isn't there for one reason or another, the Illini are very vulnerable. This is a lesson they have already learned twice, and Bruce doesn't need another learning opportunity.

This team it seems can score on just about anyone when Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson are on their game, but Bruce does not want to have to live game to game based on how his freshmen are shooting.  This team cannot afford even for a moment to lose its concentration and rest on its laurels.

The Illini are still feeling the sting of the Vegas losses. All in all, the early season schedule has been pretty cake, at least in terms of the RPI, with the one great exception being of course a top 25 Clemson. It has thus far resulted in an RPI of a none too exciting 130 according to the CBS Sportsline RPI rater. That all changes tonight though, when the Illini face Vanderbilt and its thick and meaty #6 RPI. Beat the Commodores and we will gain from their win loss record, and that of their opponents, and their opponents' opponents. A process I believe looks a lot like this:

 

I can't say for sure, I'm no John Gasaway.

Anyway, Vanderbilt, Missouri and Gonzaga are all coming down the chute, the big time RPI builders that will no doubt bring the Illini SOS out of its pretty poor 206 rating. We already missed out on playing legit RPI builder Oklahoma State, so as far as out of conference games go, these will make or break the Illini's NCAA case. Unless of course they go on a tear in the conference, then this is all more or less moot.

Game time is at 7:30 central on the good old Big Ten Network.