So it has come to this. Gameday in Champaign. People getting excited, hoopla, and all that good stuff. But it struck me this morning that oh balls, the Illini have to play a really good Michigan State team.

It's not exactly going to be easy, but several people around the internet multiverse seem to think that this is game is one of the best chances the Illini will have of getting a resume crowning win down the stretch. To do so the Illini would have to beat a team that went to the NCAA championship last year, returned almost everyone, is generally dominant in conference and is coming off its first and most painful conference loss of the year. So yeah I think they are going to be prepared for this.

But there is a ray  of hope here friends, and that is Kalin Lucas fragile ankle tendons. Many people are hoping against hope that the All conference guard will have to sit Saturday night, or at the very least perhaps lose a step on his speed. I wouldn't say it would ensure an Illini win, but it would make it a hell of a lot more plausible.

The problem here is that the skills that Michigan State has do not match up against the skills  of the Illini well. Specifically they can rebound the hell out of the ball. They play up tempo and score lots and lots.  The Spartans turn the ball over a fair amount as well, but I fear the amount offensive rebounds they take down will more than make up for their giveaways. To say that the most important players for the Illini will be the big men, interchangeably Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, Dominique Keller and Tyler Griffey, is maybe too much to ask. With the possible exception of Mike Davis, the strength of all of these guys is their scoring, not their rebounding.

Tis will be important however because of his absurdly high field goal percentage. Last time out of course, Tis was once again a non factor due to his terrible foul trouble. He doesn't have the strength to hold his own underneath the basket against the beefy Spartans like Raymar Morgan and Delvon Roe. When he tries to guard them he has to be very forceful not to get pushed around, and that means fouls.

That also means that Demetri McCamey is going to have to save us once again. In the words of Martin Prince "Spring forth burly protector, and save me!" He is of course the only one we can really put our hope in to show up every game and deliver. If the Illini win this game it is going to be because he put on a show and went out there and did it himself. Somewhere along the way this season, people stopped asking Demetri to be Deron Williams and Frank Williams, and started being ecstatic that he is Demetri McCamey.

Well, lets sit back and enjoy the circus. tip off at 8pm on Saturday night, ESPN