What a way to christen a new blog. The Fighting Illini nearly crapped away a monstrous lead to an awful Hoosiers team in Indiana, had they lost it would have been only the second IU Big Ten victory and the first victory the Hoosiers would have had over a top 25 team.

Yes, Bruce's comments about Indiana suckitude this summer nearly came back to bite him in the ass. Luckily, reality is reality, and no matter how much Indiana "wanted it" Weber's words did indeed prove prophetic, Indiana does suck.

Sure I will give credit to Indiana for playing competitive, they pulled within 6 with plenty of time to go in the second half. Indy made the fans nervous, Bruce angry and me confused. As the first half demonstrated though the Illini did have a distinct advantage in talent and in depth. The Illini built a very large lead in the first half and looked to  coast in the second half, once again to IU's credit though, they did not roll over.

By far the strongest performances came from the Illini big men Mikes Davis and Tisdale. Davis had another double-double with 16pts and 10 boards, Tisdale also contributed 16pts along with his 5 fouls. Both also had 3 blocks. Against a team that cannot match the height of these two, these are the sorts of numbers I love to see.

On a sidenote, welcome to Hail to the Orange, hopefully your first stop for Illini basketball and football opinion and news. Like all of the rest of the SB Nation sites this site hopes to become a full fledged community, so please comment on the front page stories, use the fanshots, and write your own opinions on the Illini with the fanpost function. Most of all, join us for every game on the gamethreads which will feature live updates of my own opinions on the game. This blog will go as far as the fan base takes it. So I hope you take a look around and enjoy.