By Paul M. Banks

Before budding Chicago Bulls superstar Derrick Rose came to the NBA, he owned Chicago prep courts during his career at Simeon. Along the way, he befriended St. Joseph product and current Illinois sophomore Demetri McCamey, who leads the #19 Illini in scoring. McCamey a.k.a. “Cames” is also fifth in the Big Ten in assists at 5.0 apg. In Big Ten games only, McCamey leads the Big Ten in assists (6.0 apg) and assist/turnover ratio (4.0). Earlier this season, Illini Head Coach Bruce Weber gave McCamey a Sports Illustrated article about the work habits and development of Rose, the 2008 #1 overall NBA Draft pick.

“It talked about how he matured and some of the things he does before games and I took it to heart. It helped,” McCamey said. Cames mentioned how happy he was to see his friend Rose and how hard he wants to work being a “student of the game” to try and reach the league just like the Bulls’ point guard.

“That’s what all the great ones do, that’s how you get better- what Derrick said in the interview. The coaches gave him cards of what defense they play. They’re doing it in the pros and you gotta do it in college {in order} to get to the pros, so you just gotta keep working,” McCamey said.

Cames still has a LONG way to [More …]

By Paul M. Banks

I’d rather not bring up the score of Minnesota’s upset over #19 Illinois. This baffling outcome at Williams Arena marks the end of an era. Pour out a little liquor for the 20 game win streak by Illinois over Minnesota. I’ll miss ya buddy…it was fun while it lasted! With some help from the University of Illinois Sports Information Department, here are some fun facts about the Illini Reign of Terror over Goldy Gopher…(with some commentary by me of course)

Illinois leads the all-time series 113-61, but Minnesota owns a 44-41 advantage in games played in Minneapolis. (Sounds pretty dominating, right Andy, Pete, David?)

Illinois had won eight straight over Minnesota at Williams Arena, with the Gophers’ last home win coming in 1999. (“Livin La Vida Loca was really popular then…I was a junior at Champaign back then, Cory Bradford and Sergio McClain were the “stars” of that team which set a school record for losses) Last year’s Illini team broke that school record btw)

Illinois’ 20-game, 10-year streak began with the 1999 Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal. It is the Illini’s longest winning streak in school history over a conference opponent.

(I was a junior then, and it was a pre-Facebook, Myspace, Twitter world…I think we were on Web .05 back then)

Illinois’ 20-game winning streak over Minnesota spanned 10 years, seven head coaches (three at Illinois, four at Minnesota) and four cities (eight wins in Champaign, eight wins in Minneapolis, two wins in Indianapolis [More …]

By David K.

A weekly update of whose NBA Draft stock is rising and falling.

BUY:

Gerald Henderson, SG, Duke, Jr, 6-4

Henderson arrived at Duke with fairly high expectations coming out of high school. In his first two years with the Blue Devils, Henderson never fully lived up to his potential and was known more as the guy who bloodied Tyler Hansborough than an NBA prospect. Finally, over the past few weeks we have seen Henderson show us why he has lottery potential. He is averaging 21 points over his last five games while shooting 67% from the field, 77% from downtown. I still don’t think he will declare after this season, unless of course Duke wins a national title, but if he did, Henderson would be a mid-first round pick.

Craig Brackins, PF, Iowa State, So, 6-10

I am guessing that 95% of you have never heard of this guy. Well, listen up. Brackins blew up against Kansas going for 42 points and 14 rebounds. He already has games of 32/16, 28/17, and 38/14 this season. Brackins is second in the Big 12 in points behind some guy named Blake Griffin, is athletic for his size, and has decent range on his shot. Because he plays for a crappy team like the Cyclones, he could be tempted to turn pro after this season and would likely be a mid-first round talent.

Jodie Meeks, SG, Kentucky, Jr, 6-4

When you score 54 points in a single game, [More …]

By Peter Christian
thecallouts@gmail.com

ESPN Camera person at Australian Open

I’m sure most everyone has seen the footage of the Bosnian and Serbian fans exchanging “pleasantries” on the grounds at the Australian Open following the Novak Djokovic – Amer Delic 3rd round match. What you may or may not have noticed was the manner in which the ESPN camera looked to be retreating faster than anyone else on the grounds. As a former news/sports photographer there is a code of conduct among camera people that you do anything short of taking a bullet to get the best shot of whatever it is you are capturing. This camera person was initially in a great spot to get the rowdy fans tossing chairs at each other but quickly decided that a few flying plastic chairs was too dangerous and back pedaled so that the others that had gathered to watch would protect he or she from any potential harm. I know you don’t expect to be in harm while being sports photographer, but don’t be a pussy when the situation presents itself.

Michelle Obama

Ever since Michelle was on “Ellen” prior to the election the media has been falling over themselves to compliment her style and personality and support and so on and so on. However no one was quick to point out that the outfit she wore for the inauguration was hideous. I don’t mean to act like I work for E! but that dress looked like [More …]

By Peter Christian and Mark Kmiecik

With “the Cubification” of the Blackhawks now complete, it’s time to initiate a regular Blackhawks Exchange feature here at the Sports Bank.  The excellent play of the team and exciting atmosphere at the United Center has given Chicagoans plenty of motivation to leave their homes in single digit high temperatures to go see this team play. And this “marks” the debut (pun intended..hey hey!) of a new TSB contributor, who also happens to be this site’s official legal counsel. Here come the Hawks….exchange!

(PC) It sure is good to see the Blackhawks being mentioned among the league’s best again. One play-off appearance since 1998 is not good for one of the most storied franchises in the NHL. As a devoted fan of the Indian, the last decade must have been rough. How were you able to maintain your interest in a team that in large part gave up caring about you, the fan?

(MK) Well, I first became a fan of the team in the early 90’s right around the time of their Cup appearance against Pit when Stu Grimson and Mike Peluso were policing the Chicago Stadium Ice. I fell in love with the sport and the Hawks continued to do well into the mid 90’s. I’m not a person to abandon a team that I follow just because they’re doing badly. I guess I committed to the Indian from the get go. Let’s not dwell on the past, though. The Hawks [More …]

By Melissa S. Wollering

Is it just me or are you as baffled as I to see the Brewers now have 39 players on their 40-man roster?  It sure doesn’t feel like we’ve made that much progress in the off-season.

We’ve previously discussed the starting rotation situation in length. This month, Brian Anderson weighed in on whether the Crew needs another starter in his blog. Either way, Yovani Gallardo may step into the top spot in the rotation. Meantime, here’s a preview of what the Brewers’ bullpen may look like come spring

Closer: RHP Trevor Hoffman      RHP Carlos Villanueva       RHP David Riske
RHP Jorge Julio                        RHP Todd Coffey             LHP Mitch Stetter
RHP Eduardo Morlan (Rule 5 Pick)

Don’t count out Tim Dillard, Mark DiFelice, R.J. Swindle or Luis Pena.  They’re still in the running.

If you’ve seen the latest edition of Baseball in America , then you know some of the Brewers’ prospects are getting as much attention as the American Idol bikini girl; namely their cover boy Alcides Escobar. Tom Hardricourt is behind the Top 10 Prospects list each year for BA and he’s listing SS Escobar, 3B Mat Gamel and C Brett Lawrie as his top three within the Brewers organization.

Canadian prep player Lawrie was the Crew’s first-round pick in ’08.  He insisted on converting to that position full-time. The last time the Crew nurtured a catcher that made it to the big leagues may have been Mike [More …]

By Paul M. Banks

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell was the leading vote-getter among Western Conference blue-liners for the NHL All-Star game in Montreal. This will be his third all-star appearance, in 2007 he was the leading vote getter among Eastern Conference defensemen or “defencemen” as they would say in his native Strathroy, Ontario.

In 07-08 Brian led the league in games played as one of only two players to appear in 83 games, or one more than a team’s full schedule, as based on his trade to San Jose (the other being Jeff Halpern. On Canada Day, Campbell signed an 8 year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks for roughly 7.1 million dollars a year. Fox Chicago reported that Campbell chose to sign with the Blackhawks despite allegedly receiving better contract offers from other organizations.

After the final game of the first half of the season, “Soupy” spoke openly about All-Star experiences and his thoughts on the state of his current team

On partaking in the NHL All-Star Game experience…

“It’s exciting I played in the last two, and they were in Atlanta and Dallas, and they’re not the biggest hockey hotbeds…so Montreal is really something that I’m looking forward to. It’s always fun to spend with your parents, and my brother and sister-in-law are coming down, so it’ll be fun to enjoy that spend some time with four teammates as well and I’m going to try and take home that car”

What it means to get his family [More …]

By Paul M. Banks and Rikki Greenberg

Orlando “Tubby” Smith is currently the men’s basketball head coach at the University of Minnesota. Smith previously served in the same role at the University of Tulsa, the University of Georgia, and most recently, University of Kentucky. Smith’s coaching has had an immediate impact on the previously inept Gophers squad. The team went from 8–22 in 2006-2007 to 20–14 in 2007-2008.

Smith also led his Golden Gophers to the Big Ten Tournament semi-finals after defeating 2nd seeded Indiana. Coach Smith also harvested a top 25 recruiting class, the best in years for the program. In 2008, Smith had the highest salary of any employee of the State of Minnesota.

The legendary coach’s resume includes a national title, 5 SEC Championships, and three coach of the year awards. My apprentice Rikki and I asked him a few questions after his team got upset by Northwestern.

Coming off an emotional win at Wisconsin, his team displayed a lack of energy at Northwestern, especially in the second half. Tubby talked about why they possibly had a (please excuse the horrible cliché) “trap” game.

“You got to be able to match the level of intensity and if you don’t, you’re not going to win. I think the guys tried and we went to a line up, we tried a lot of different defensive adjustments and changing our defensive ability. I know we played hard and with energy. We’re a good team, but we don’t [More …]

By Paul M. Banks & Paul Schmidt

We continue our exchange from behind the scorers’ table watching the #24th ranked Illinois Fighting Illini play on Tuesday night.

(PMB) Your boy Meacham is still scoreless. Luckily “Nique” has stepped up. And Dr. Frazier FOR THREE I think OSU is more losing this game than Illinois is winning it. I knew the Bucks were overrated when they they were in the top 20.

(PS) Yeah, I thought the same, but I agree with their game plan of leaving Dr. Frazier open for three, because if he’s going to be the guy that kills you, then so be it.

On the flip side, Illinois has been able to shoot their way out of the zone when OSU switches to it.  That’s been one of the biggest things that I’ve seen in the game so far- against the man to man, Illinois has had some success down low with Keller, Davis and Tisdale (he scored 7 points early in the second half against straight man coverage…and guys who aren’t named B.J. Mullens it should be noted), and when they’ve gone to the zone, Cames and Frazier have been able to get some outside scoring.

As for OSU losing it…the turnovers are mounting.  How do you feel about the lineup out there now – Davis, Frazier, Jordan, Keller and Legion?

(PMB) I’d like to see Keller, Legion, and McCamey play together as much as possible, because the three are really close [More …]

By Paul M. Banks & Paul Schmidt

Schmidt and I covered an ESPN televised (with the Dream Team of Erin Andrews, Steve Lavin and Brent Musburgher) game between the 24th ranked Illinois Fighting Illini and Ohio State Buckeyes…Sitting next to each other here’s the conversation we had.
(PS) And that’s Dr. Chester Frazier to you!  You have to love that as an actual nickname, it really makes him sound intelligent….

(PMB) What would Mike Tisdale’s nickname be…”efense “ as in no d? Erin Andrews nickname? When you see her this up close, even her arm hair looks sexy.

(PS) She is not overrated in the least.  She’s as hot as advertised every single time. I sort of wish her nickname would be “Frigid Bitch”, but I don’t think that’s true, like how you would nickname a fat guy “Slim.”  And she’s wearing a Fossil watch!!  Those are affordable!

(PMB) Although clipboards and notepads arte some of the un-sexiest things in this world, when those mundane office supplies rest on her lap, they’re just plain arousing. Although if you had no prior knowledge of either person, and someone told you that you were going to see “Dallas Lauderdale” and Erin Andrews, you’d likely be more excited to see the person with the stripper name.

(PS) You would be, and the funny part, is that Dallas Lauderdale would most likely leave you disappointed.  Or maybe not if that’s how you roll.

(PMB) Not my thing…not that there’s anything wrong [More …]