The Illini just can't shake the drama: Jeff Jordan says goodbye, and a little extra

Didn't basketball season end like a month ago? You might not know it given the frequency of headlines surrounding Bruce Weber and the Illini. The past month has had as many ups and downs as did the regular season; from the arrival of another class of high expectation freshmen to the return of two of the team's established stars, the car wreck and arrest of a former star, the commitment of yet another five star player, and the departure of the most famous walk on in America, it certainly has not been quiet.  Jeff "heir" Jordan left the team earlier this week, and to the surprise of me at least, actually requested a transfer for his last year of eligibility. Having already interned at Nike, and let's face it, standing to inherit more than enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life, I wont  criticize JJ for turning down a pretty great degree from the U of I. However it is also pretty clear that what I said last year about Jeff,  when he first decided to leave the team, is pretty much not the case.

 "Jeff has enough money to play basketball  at a Division 1 level for fun, and has decided that he wants to make a name for himself in something other than basketball. I respect that, and wish him well. In my book, he doesn't have to prove anything to anyone."

Taking a transfer, to sit a year, so that he can play just one more year, seems to me like he isn't "just playing for fun." But what reason could there be? From what I can tell, Illinois is a much higher profile program than any Jordan received scholarship offers from, and he even was given a scholly for the second half of last season. For possible reasons as to what the hell is going on here, I direct you to my friend Paul Schmidt's post in The Sports Bank.

"There has been a lot of tension surrounding the program — something that insiders really only knew about the specifics of before today. It was no secret that Jeff Jordan wasn’t happy, hence the transferring. It wasn’t a really BIG secret that Dominique Keller wasn’t thrilled with the program or his development in Champaign, hence many of the things he has said over the last 12 months.  Specifics, though, were hard to come by."

I recommend reading the entire post, but suffice to say, it came down to playing time, I guess.

Point is, after apparently putting all the demons behind them in the program, Bruce Weber  and the Illini are apparently being plagued once again by drama. Alex Legion, Brian Carlwell, Rodney Alexander, Jeff Jordan, Stan Simpson, it goes without saying that college basketball by definition is fairly competitive, and for whatever reason, all of these players have decided, (or were kindly persuaded)  to seek more playing time elsewhere. I'm not saying that the Jordan transfer is indicative of anything other than the fact that over last few seasons, the Illini have not met expectations in terms of winning and losing, and losing always brings drama.

There has been speculation that next year the Illini will get an injection of both monumental talent and a good amount of drama to go with it (two players that have either changed High Schools or been involved in off the court well, drama.) But I have a feeling, if this team streaks into the conference season ranked in the top 20, there wont be too terribly much drama going on for anyone, winning just smooths out all the wrinkles like that.