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New Blog: Along The Olentangy for Ohio State Fans!

Illini beat Penn State, not out of the woods yet.

Sure the Illini beat the last place team in the Big Ten last night, but it was a win the Illini needed terribly. With their 12 losses Penn State certainly wont be helping out in the RPI department much, but after hitting a 3 game losing streak, the Illini will take the wins when they can get them. Here are some quick thoughts on last night's game.

  • Bill Cole stepped up for the official Bill Cole night here at HTTO, scoring 12 points off of four 3 pointers. Much more than just the usual effort from the new team captain
  • Demetri McCamey had 9 assists, and relatively few points. On nights when everyone is open to take their own shots, DMAC will find them, and that generally means good things are going on. When he doesn't have to carry the entire load himself this team is better.
  • Mike Davis was benched tonight in favor of Tyler Griffey. He answered with 11 points and 8 rebounds. I will take these stats every night, provided he can be consistent with it.
  • Team leading scorer D.J. Richardson has officially turned the corner on his freshmen year. 20 points on the road is a good sign that he can create his own shot, and that is something the perimeter was sorely missing during his and BP's funk.
  • Talor Battle did all he can, and he nearly crushed my dreams last night. His three 3 pointers seemed to come consecutively, and when he gets hot it is a terrifying sight to see. How many more years of eligibility does this kid have? Graduation can't come fast enough.
  • Indiana is coming to town on Saturday, and that is another cannot lose game for the Illini, hopefully they can build on this one.

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BILL COLE! EFFORT! OFF . . . Offense?

OFFENSE!

A win is a win, and when you win, you win.

"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 28, 2010 10:31 AM CST reply actions  

little room for error

i think at this point the illini need to go 7-3 the rest of the regular season and win a big 10 tourney game to get in

if they go just 6-4 (even though its 11-7 in the Big 10), they’ll be at 19-12 with bad losses to Northwestern, Bradley, Utah, and Georgia. They’d need a big run in the big 10 tourney to get in

This means at least 2 more conference road wins and the road games left are: Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Purdue, Ohio State

Winning at Iowa and at Michigan would do the trick, but this would mean they’d have to hold serve against MSU, OSU, MINN, and WISC

really tough road ahead to avoid the NIT

follow me on twitter for fantasy sports analysis @http://twitter.com/DrewDinkmeyer or get the full analysis at www.fantistics.com

by DartmouthCubsFan on Jan 28, 2010 3:41 PM CST reply actions  

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