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Around SBN: College Football Preseason Top 25 Rankings

Welcome back to the home court advantage, Illini survive Penn State 54-53

That headline is a bit misleading, it should say, Mike Tisdale and Demetri McCamey beat Penn State, because seriously those two players were the only reason the Illini were able to keep the game close at the end, let alone come out with the win. Both had 37 minutes, and combined for 41 of the team's 54 points, and for long stretches of the game had to take the game into their own hands and keep the team alive.

Demetri especially deserves all of the credit in the world for this win, He took two of the biggest shots of the year down the stretch of this game, and fully justified himself getting back into the starting lineup tonight. His 25 points were a game high, and if you ask me there should be no doubt who the best player on the court was tonight.

Just a few more points for tonight, I will probably have a more well thought out post tomorrow.

  • Mike Tisdale had an awesome overall night with a near triple double with 16pts, 13 boards and 7 blocks, none bigger than the game winning denial against Talor Battle in the final seconds of the game.
  • As I mentioned earlier, no player other than Demetri and Tisdale made more than 2 shots. Wonder why those two had to play for 37 minutes each?
  • Special shout out to Bill Cole, (effort)  who only took two shots, but made a huge 3 at a key moment. The big complement that Bruce had for the human ball of matto points was "he is solid." Right on, Bruce, right on.
  • Talor Battle did all he could for his team, playing 38 minutes and scoring 9 points. When he took the ball down with 17 seconds left, I had a horrible feeling about what the outcome would be. (Hint: it happened last year, with Mike Davis at the line)
  • Speaking of Mike Davis, this is a very disappointing game for the star forward scoring only 2 points and grabbing only 3 boards.
  • Bruce mentioned that he put in a play specifically for the end of today's game, to make sure Tis would be taking that fated last second free throws. Of course the result didn't seem to change. (except on the defensive end.)

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Calling MD a star "guard" . . .

is about right. He used to go to the glass, and I guess he doesn’t do that anymore. Hope that changes as the season goes along.

Anyway. Nice for the Illini to get over the PSU hump. Such as it was. It just had to happen.

Oh, and we’re 4-0 in the Big Ten. Who cares if 3 of the 4 wins were to terrible teams? I don’t.

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
The Blue Note Zone - BY Blues fans, FOR Blues fans!

by Donut King on Jan 12, 2010 10:31 PM CST reply actions  

LOL

Thanks dude.

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday." -- Don Marquis
The Blue Note Zone - BY Blues fans, FOR Blues fans!

by Donut King on Jan 13, 2010 9:24 AM CST up reply actions  

That last drive by Battle gave me a sick feeling in my stomach.

And then I nearly but a hole in my coffee table when Tis blocked it.

Fantastic effort by Dmac. It just feels awesome to see how much he has grown since last season.

Todd Kalas wants to murder that furry green shit
by Albertrayon on Jul 23, 2009 1:17 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

by Cruiser on Jan 13, 2010 1:57 PM CST reply actions  

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