Part Two of the assessment of the 2009/2010 Illini Basketball season, where we look back at the expectations of each part of the team, and whether or not they met those expectations. Monday we looked at the returning bench players we will also be looking at the returning starters and the coaching staff. Trust me, I am going to try and spread the blame where it is needed.

I know that of this freshmen class, only three players really contributed, with Joseph Bertrand red-shirting, but as  titles go, the three freshmen who made an impact just isn't as snappy.

Since we are playing the expectations game, how much I expected from three players who were completely new to the college game is as much my fault as anything. It has been a few years since the Illini have had a really good recruiting class, and I think I got a bit overexcited about the prospect of having the best players in Illinois come to play in Champaign. This is something we should all keep in the back of our minds as we look to the #4 ranked recruiting class that is coming in this year, these are all projections, not guarantees.

I was, I will admit overoptimistic about what this pack of recruits would mean for the Illini's prospects this season, an optimism that was that was only encouraged when I saw that Brandon Paul and D. J. Richardson would be starting the first several games of the year.

And could you blame Bruce for starting them? Just look at their stat lines from the first few games, Brandon Paul scored 20 plus in his first two games and looked like he would lead the team in scoring, DJ on the other hand scored 10 plus points in seven of his first ten games. These two freshmen looked like they were ready to lead the Illini to the promised land this year. Scrub teams, however, make a lot of players look pretty good.

The problem is, of course, these two were freshmen, going up against teams that had no scouting report on them, and did not play particularly tight perimeter defense. The result? Two players that took too many three pointers. When these guys were hot and open from the arc they could put up big numbers. By the time the Illini went out to Las Vegas, however, the scouting report was in on them. Don't give them an open look from three and they wont hurt you. In the key preconference losses the Illini suffered,  BP and DJ had their worst nights. Where as before the pair could rely on hot shooting and up tempo play to run the other team out of the gym, these games  took the two freshmen out of their comfort zone. Against Utah and Bradley BP's score totaled only 12 points, with a combined 1-6 from range. In those same games DJ totaled only8 points, going 1-7 for three. To give you some perspective, DJ was 9-12 from three in the two games immediately before Las Vegas.Take also for example also Georgia, 3-13 shooting from anywhere on the floor.

DJ Richardson becoming one dimensional proved to be a problem, because when he was hitting his shots the offense really opened up it possibilities. When he wasn't, it became Demetri vs the world. He finished the season hitting right around 40% from three, but the percentage of his shots taken from range was a way too high 57%. Paul's, by contrast was 45%, Demetri's 39%. There is nothing wrong with having a good three point shot, but D.J would eventually be starting games with Bill Cole, who did not take many shots, and of those 61% were from three. One of the reasons we had the reputation of being a jump shooting team who lived and died by the three was because at any given moment we had two guards who simply could not go inside. DJ's reputation in HS was as a slasher with  a good jumper to compliment his driving ability. We only saw half of an offensive game from D.J. and that is something that is going to have to change going forward. Maybe I am asking too much from the  Big Ten FOY, but it could mean the difference between being Evan Diebler or Frank Williams. What I don't want to change, at all, is his commitment to defense, he became the primary defender this year, on a team with generally weak perimeter defense. All other things being equal,the team will likely have the same defensive liabilities next year, so he will be leaned on even more. DJ could be this team's Robbie Hummel the way he plays the game, and that is exactly what we need.

Brandon Paul had an entirely different problem, that is the freshmen wall (the only man immune is the eponymous John) Paul possesses a ridiculous amount of raw talent, but for the majority of the season he was plagued by simple and thankfully fixable mistakes. Turnovers, offensive fouls and an inconsistent scoring output. At the Missouri game he was routinely taken advantage of on the perimeter, as he has trouble getting to his man in time in transition.  Through the heart of the Big Ten season, Brandon was not as effective as many had hoped, going 2-16 through a three game swing of the worst three teams in the Big Ten.  As down an assessment as this would have been if we stopped recording stats at the end of the regular season we have seen hopefully a hint of the type of player BP will be. He was crashing the boards unlike any of the other guards down the stretch, looking to go inside more and create with his athleticism and even getting into the assist game. If he improves in all of these areas, and learns to create his own shot, watch out. I mean seriously, have you seen this guy dunk?

Tyler Griffey, the heretofore not mentioned freshmen, has seen his minutes go up and up as the year went along. He surpassed Dominique Keller and Richard Semrau as option #1 to spell the big men. He is still, however pretty far down comparatively in his development, his best game late in the season was easily the Ohio State game in the BTT, where he snagged 5 boards and 13 points in 28 minutes of play.  He is a post player that can shoot the ball, and let's face it, Bruce will always have minutes for guys like that. I don't really know what to expect from Griffey, having seen only a small amount of his play and rarely seeing him as the primary option for scoring down low. One thing I do know though, he needs to work on his post defense. When Tisdale fouled out, opponents went right after Tyler and usually got their points. Defense is teachable, and I think there is a lot left to be written on his career. By the time he is a junior, he will have the primary forward position all to himself and I have no doubt will have benefited from his time playing off the bench as a freshman.

So those are the freshmen, players I don't really blame for the position because of their youth and inexperience. What is more problematic, however, is the reliance on them for so many minutes. This could either be seen as an indictment of the coaching staff for overestimating their talent out of the gate, or on the players around them for not bearing enough of the load, forcing the coaches to play the freshmen so much before they were ready. I don't have an answer for this yet. What is at the very least promising about this group is A) they all seem to be multi year players who will only get better with experience and B) with the right coaching their games have a lot of upside.