“Indiana pulls off tough win against Ill-annoy”

If you are an Illini fan, you may not want to read this post.  LWN watched the second half of last night’s game and he has plenty of venom and bile to spit towards Champaign.  Debate all you want about seedy recruiting practices, Eric Gordon is still in Bloomington (until the basketball season is over).  I understand that Cham-banans may be upset over losing Gordon, having a losing record, and getting eaten alive in conference play.

I get the fact that you are pissed because Shaun Pruitt is your marquee player and can’t hit free throws.  I know you are upset that Champaign isn’t nearly as cool as Bloomington.  I get it, wearing that ugly orange color bothers you.  I comprehend that you miss the Chief dearly, but there is no excuse for your behavior last night.  This goes out to the fans, students, coaches, the athletic department and the players.  The numerous classless acts I witnessed last night on television were the worst I have ever seen outside of the old Vet in Philadelphia.

Point 1-  Karma is a bitch isn’t it Chester Frazier.  While you did a good job of acting like you merely bumped into Gordon during introductions, it’s quite obvious that you stopped short of form tackling the Freshman phenom.  Late in the game you rolled your ankle and couldn’t defend anyone effectively.  Too bad you won’t be remembered as Willis Reed.

Point 2-  The tossing of beads, cups, ice, etc.  I will give some credit to the Illinois faithful here.  For 85% of the game, you were revved up, relatively creative with your chants, and almost very nearly took Gordon and IU out of the game.  This clearly disrupted their offensive rhythm.  Sadly, there is no excuse for launching projectiles at a family.  There were children there.  What if someone was hurt?  Remember when an NFL referee threw a flag that hit Cleveland Brown Orlando Brown in the eye essentially ending his career?  Grow up losers.

Point 3-  Why is it that Gordon is a turncoat while Demetri McCamey gets a free pass?  Remember McCamey renegged on his commitment to IU.  McCamey had an all-world game last night scoring 31.  But that’s not what I will remember from last night.  After scoring a big three point basket, ESPN cut to a commercial break.  McCamey walked up to DJ White and purposely slammed him in the chest.  This punk assumed no one saw it.  Well none of the zebras saw it, but you sir, and I use the term “sir” loosley were captured on camera.   

Point 4-  When a player is injured, or appears injured there is no excuse for booing.  When Gordon hit the floor hard, the fans applauded loudly in favor of the injury.  This is as classy as Jets fans booing an injured Chad Pennington this season, and Eagles fans who boo Santa Claus and pelt him with ice balls.

Point 5-  Bruce Belichick…. I mean Weber.  You need to grow up too.  Guess what, Eric Gordon is not on your team, quit whining about it and move on.  If you think Sampson has no class, you might want to look in the mirror.  How about some sportsmanship and a decent handshake after the game instead of leaning over to barely touch the opposing coach’s hand.  Your team left it all out on the court and lost.  There is no shame in that, just deal with it.

The game play was quite intense.  IU got away with some walks, and Illinois got away with some charges and blocking calls that went their way, so the officiating was pretty good considering emotions were running high.

The game could have gone Illinois way a number of times.  Instead, they looked like the talentless team they are in the end.  With the game clock under 30 seconds, for whatever reason IU was content playing for the three ball instead of scoring quickly and fouling.  I consider this a huge mistake, but Gordon’s bank somehow found the nylons. 

So the game is now tied.  Illinois takes their time looking for an open shot, then it is blocked, a scramble ensues and Gordon is whistled for a foul on Shaun Pruitt.  Pruitt may now be known as the worst free throw shooter in America after his putrid performance when the game was on the line. 

In OT after missing the first, Illinois called a time out to bring 55 to the sidelines and everyone on the bench and I mean E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E gave him their opinions on how to release the ball.  Pruitt of course missed the shot, DJ White attempted a heave-ho, was mugged by Pruitt who wanted to show he is a two tool guy (missing free throws and making fouls 75 feet from the basket) but the refs let it go.

Also in OT, Jordan Crawford hit back to back threes on consecutive possessions giving IU the lead before some late heroics left the game tied again. 

In double OT, IU proved to be too much for the weakened Illini.  Chester Frazier was gimping around the court, Brian Randle had fouled out, and Shaun Pruitt was mentally fractured.  Even a lazy play 10 second violation by Eric Gordon was not enough to let Illinois back into the game.  On the ensuing possession, Demetri McCamey dribbled the ball off his knee, giving possession back to IU.  A couple of Bassett free-throws later the game was over. 

Final Notes-

1.  Dee Brown was in attendance last night.  Shouldn’t he be working on his game since he plays in Turkey?  From Dee Brown’s official webpage- 

“Everyone know I have notebooks of lyrics, stories, goals, expectations, dreams, all written down, so you know a lot of writing is being done. I have so many things to talk about and I want my fans, family, friends to read and watch some of the things I experience in my young life.”

Dee, maybe you can write a song and share your feelings about the loss you witnessed last night!

2.  A storyline missed-  Who does Michael Jordon pull for?  His son Jeff, or his son from Spacejam, Eric Gordon?  We all know MJ likes a winner so I guess that is an easy question to answer.

So long Illini, maybe you can rally for an NIT berth.  See you on the flipside.