When asked if he thought his team would accept an NIT bid, embattled Illinois coach Bruce Weber responded "I don't know, I don't know if we'll make the NIT to be honest." After falling to Iowa in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, all signs seem to be pointing to Weber's imminent departure from Champaign and the University of Illinois. In his post … [Read more...] about Illinois Falls To Iowa In Big Ten Tournament, Likely Bruce Weber’s Final Game
Bruce Weber
St. Louis Cardinals postseason inspiration for Illini NCAA Tournament hopes
The St. Louis Cardinals are huge in Champaign-Urbana. They compete with primarily the Chicago Cubs, but also the White Sox to be the favorite MLB team in the community dominated by the University of Illinois campus. The Cards do come first though, and perhaps Illini coach Bruce Weber knew that when he made his appeal to Illini Nation that his team's post-season chances aren't … [Read more...] about St. Louis Cardinals postseason inspiration for Illini NCAA Tournament hopes
Fighting Illini’s tournament hopes on life support, need win against Michigan
After a 1-9 stretch that included losses at Penn State, Minnesota, Nebraska, a torrent of criticism directed at Bruce Weber and a crying Meyers Leonard, Illinois managed to revive their at-large hopes with an 11-point win over Iowa on Sunday. It was their first double digit win since early in the preconference. Beating the Hawkeyes likely won’t matter to the selection … [Read more...] about Fighting Illini’s tournament hopes on life support, need win against Michigan
Embattled Illini avoid first winless February since 1907
The college basketball season is only five months long, so any time you're talking about a winless month, it's not a good sign. And in their seventh and final game of the year's shortest month, the Illini would not come up short. They picked up a 65-54 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes, avoiding the February donut, which hasn't happened to the program since 1907. The Illini also … [Read more...] about Embattled Illini avoid first winless February since 1907
Illini basketball season summarized in one photo
What can be said of the 2011-12 Illinois Fighting Illini? I've already talked about how the coach, Bruce Weber, is 99% gone at the end of the season, I've highlighted how the current college basketball collapse closely mirrors the college football cave-in during the exact same academic year. I've even mentioned how the current team has numerous stylistic and composition … [Read more...] about Illini basketball season summarized in one photo
Illini Coach Bruce Weber clarifies, apologies for defeatist comments last night
Illinois Coach Bruce Weber sounded like a dead man walking last night in his post game press conference. Following the Illini home loss to Purdue, which effectively killed his team's NCAA Tournament at-large chances, Weber sounded very defeatist when meeting the media. He called out some of his own players (Meyers Leonard, for his body language specifically), gushed over … [Read more...] about Illini Coach Bruce Weber clarifies, apologies for defeatist comments last night
Hoosiers Cody Zeller is Superior to Illini Meyers Leonard
In the Big Ten, there are two centers 0f attention that have separated themselves from the pack. And that makes sense as there are just fewer and fewer true centers these days; especially at the NBA level. And where would the NBA get such beings? When college basketball is seeing the decline of the big man too. The two main big men in the Big Ten are Cody Zeller at Indiana, … [Read more...] about Hoosiers Cody Zeller is Superior to Illini Meyers Leonard
Hoosiers’ rivalry with Illinois moving more towards Indiana’s Favor
Overshadowed this week by UNC-Duke, the best rivalry in college basketball and Syracuse-Georgetown, the greatest in the Big East, is Illini vs. Hoosiers, a great rivalry in itself. The all time series was tied at 83 entering tonight. However, Illinois was 5-1 in their last 6 versus IU. And that one loss in Bloomington last year was extremely fluky to say the least. After … [Read more...] about Hoosiers’ rivalry with Illinois moving more towards Indiana’s Favor