Illini at Michigan Preview: Just win this already.

This isn't going to be your standard preview. It will be a slight bit more emotionally driven.

Illini: we have had this game marked down as a win for months. We have taken for granted, along with Saturday's game against Minnesota, that these games would be games we would fly through. Now it is actually time to play them. So please, please win this game. If you play the Wolverines with the same intensity and poise that you did the Boilermakers, you will blow them out. D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul, if you two hit your threes like you did in West Lafayette, the zone that you will see in Ann Arbor will be busted. Mike Davis, if you find your spots and hit your base line jumpers again and become the dominant presence you know you can be, Sims will be no match for you. Demetri, if you pass like you did against Purdue or score the way you did against Wisconsin, no defense this team runs can take you out of the game.

Seriously guys, win this game and make all of us feel a lot better about March. Win and still stay technically alive for the Big Ten title race, win and do so in a fashion that leaves no doubt that you deserve your ticket to the dance, and maybe even a good seed.

Lose, and put yourselves in the position of having to beat Ohio State or Wisconsin again. That's it. I don't care about DeShawn Sims, or Manny Harris, because I know the Illini are a better team and if the play up to the level they can, winning at Michigan wont even be a problem.