Big Ten ACC Challenge: Illinois Vs Maryland

So we have arrived at that time of year once again. The Big Ten ACC Challenge, one of the best early season barometers of conference strength. The Big Ten, and the Illini for that matter are riding a two game winning streak over the previously unbeaten Atlantic Coast, and now with the entrance of Nebraska into the Big Ten, we can see a full match up the entirety of both conferences.

This season's Challenge feels a bit odd for me though. And it isn't only the fact that Gary Williams wont be on Maryland's sideline. The Illini overall have a different feel to them, and that can only be a good thing. D.J. Richardson and Brandon Paul are the most significant returning players, and the only two that have any real connection to the last few years' emotional roller coaster.

For the first time since the car wreck have I sensed this sort of ease around basketball. Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis and Demetri McCamey dominated the personality of the team for three years, and had built up quite a bit of emotional baggage over that time. With the graduation of those three, and the exodus of Jereme Richmond, for the first time I don't know what to expect from the team, which is really refreshing.

This team is much younger than it has been in recent years, and it seems to have breathed some life into the excitement for the program.

Tonight will be the first road game for this team, and is a step up in the competition level, despite the Terps' two losses (granted, Iona is unforgivable.) I am looking forward to see how the team responds to this adversity, as well as watching the team develop as the season goes on.

These are the sort of optimistic, feel good stories I write when the team hasn't lost and feelings are good. We could just as easily be staring a trainwreck of a season in the face and not realize it, because there are still way too many unknowns to really tell if this team is any good or not.