<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Does anyone know who got Gordon's scholarship? Is it one of the guards currently on the roster? If not, 4 scholarship guards (if you add back Jamar and Gordon), with no seniors among them, considering that you also have transfers in Holdren and Meacham, doesn't seem unreasonable to me. It's not an ideal situation, but losing someone like Gordon pretty much precludes you from being in an ideal situation. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree -- I just don't see how Bruce could have done more than he did in light of the situation. It's how he responds to it now that will determine his future here, IMHO.</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Here's an interesting question -- once it starts to become mathematically apparent that we're not going anywhere post-season, is it worth getting Jeff Jordan out there more? He's clearly got athleticism and drive to spare, but his skills are rough, and he seems to fluster very easily. Both of those things could improve with experience, and if you took playing time from, say, Meacham or Chester to get him on the floor more, it might be a risk worth taking. Thoughts? If nothing else, the exposure for the program couldn't hurt -- he'll get more media coverage on the floor than riding the bench...<BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">-- robert<BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">----- Original Message ----<BR>From: John Livengood <jdlive@yahoo.com><BR>To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee@heins.net><BR>Sent: Monday, January 7, 2008 4:29:02 PM<BR>Subject: Re: [Oskee] Can we beat Northwestern?<BR><BR>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">Robert, certainly Gordon's reneging hurt, but it only made a bad situation worse. With Jamar out, the only recruited guards we have from 4 recruiting classes are Frazier and McCamey (I consider Brock a forward). Chester plays hard, but he really should be at a low major program or coming off the bench. While having Gordon and Smith would make this team a lot better, we'd still be servicable with another decent guard or two.<BR><BR>What puzzles me is how well they looked playing in Maui and even vs Arizona. I guess they've just lost confidence, but I really thought that team looked like at least an NCAA bubble team at worst. As of now, I don't even think the NIT is going to happen unless they start playing a lot better. I don't see them beating anyone on the road, and if you've lost to PSU and Tennessee St at home....?<BR><BR>When does football season start?
;-)<BR><BR>JL<BR><BR>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">----- Original Message ----<BR>From: Robert Mingee <mingee@swbell.net><BR>To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee@heins.net><BR>Sent: Monday, January 7, 2008 10:42:12 AM<BR>Subject: Re: [Oskee] Can we beat Northwestern?<BR><BR>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">OK, I'll weigh in here as well. Let me start first with a question: what would this team look like right now if Jamar and He Who Must Not Be Named (HWMNBN) were on the floor? Is it really all Bruce's fault that Jamar imploded and HWMNBN doesn't understand the meaning of the word "commitment"? There's no doubt this team has major issues right now, lack of scoring primary among them, but I'm still having a hard time hanging all of the talent issue on Bruce -- it would have pretty tough to not only forsee this situation, but scramble to recover from it. McCamey and Tisdale look pretty good so far, and Davis for that matter, and I'm willing to give Bruce a couple more years to see how he recovers from the HWMNBN fiasco.</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">That's not to say there aren't plenty of things I am willing to hang on Bruce and his staff, and I've spouted off here at length about one of them -- our pathetic free throw shooting, which seems to be about the only thing actually improving in this train wreck of a season (though I haven't checked the stats -- that's just a gut feel). And the lack of heart and effort is another. We just plain got out-hustled and outplayed on the boards yesterday, and that's flat-out inexcusable. NO WAY should a team like PSU be beating us that bad on the boards, and it was all lack of effort and position.</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">And I have one suggestion to add to your playing time point -- make Brian Randle a nice comfy seat at the end of the bench and leave his sorry %$@#*& there the rest of the season. I'm not sure I've ever in my life seen such a pathetic waste of raw athletic ability. I think we can live without his constant fouling and missed free throws the rest of the season. I really hope for his sake he got a good education, because I can't imagine him making a living playing basketball anywhere -- he just plain doesn't get it. I think there's still some value in playing Pruitt some, because I think Tisdale can learn from him (so long as he doesn't pick up his bad habits :-).</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif">Like those that have already posted, I feel that the NIT is far from a given at this point. You never want to give up on a season, but playing the youth is different -- I'm not convinced they'll do any worse than the vets, and the program benefits from getting them experience.<BR><BR>-- robert</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: times new roman, new york, times, serif">----- Original Message ----<BR>From: Chris Goldenstein <cgoldens@yahoo.com><BR>To: Fighting Illini Sports Enthusiasts List <oskee@heins.net><BR>Sent: Monday, January 7, 2008 7:48:18 AM<BR>Subject: Re: [Oskee] Can we beat Northwestern?<BR><BR>I'm not sure we can win another game at this point, NU might be the only one, which is really sad. I think the confidence has been all but beaten out of this team and we have yet to hit rock bottom this year, IMO (although the TSU game sez otherwise).<BR><BR>I'm happy to hear that McCamey is getting the start @ WIS (yikes). I'd like to see major minutes at this point for McCamey, Tisdale, Cole, Davis, etc. If Bruce is gonna dig himself outta this, he should build for next year, IMO. NIT looks to be slim and none right now, but I guess things can change, but I don't see it.<BR><BR>signed,<BR><BR>A
VERY pessimistic fan :(<BR><BR>----- Original Message ----<BR>From: Keith Magnuson <<A href="mailto:magnuson99@comcast.net" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:magnuson99@comcast.net">magnuson99@comcast.net</A>><BR>To: <A href="mailto:oskee@heins.net" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:oskee@heins.net">oskee@heins.net</A><BR>Sent: Sunday, January 6, 2008 3:30:04 PM<BR>Subject: [Oskee] Can we beat Northwestern?<BR><BR>You have to really start to wonder if you can't beat Penn St. at home, can<BR>you even make the NIT? I've bit my tongue so far, must have been overcome<BR>with Rose Bowl joy....<BR><BR>For those of you that are not happy with people booing Chester, I would be<BR>happy to listen to ideas of how Bruce Weber can be booed.<BR><BR>There is no excuse for inheriting a team full of talent that he had for the<BR>Final Four run and then subsequently in three years, lose to Miami of Ohio,<BR>Tennessee St., and Penn State
consecutively at Assembly Hall. The Rose<BR>Bowl, which I thought was a blessing in disguise for the basketball program<BR>at one point is starting to make me wonder. Will the football success make<BR>this slide in basketball tolerable by our fan base? I sure hope not.<BR><BR>A short phone conversation with a friend of mine from Sprinfield summed up<BR>what our basketball team has become. Due to his coaching job for middle<BR>school basketball and Rose Bowl trip, my friend has only been able to attend<BR>one or two games this year and he sits in Section A. Today was the first<BR>day he was able to get someone to take his ticket, he has eaten every other<BR>ticket. And yes I said, take his ticket, they were willing to take his<BR>ticket, but would not go if they had to pay for it. That folks, sums it up<BR>right there.<BR><BR>This is ridiculous.<BR><BR>Keith
Magnuson<BR>"OrangeKrush99"<BR><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Oskee mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:Oskee@heins.net" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:Oskee@heins.net">Oskee@heins.net</A><BR><A href="http://mail.perusion.com/mailman/listinfo/oskee" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://mail.perusion.com/mailman/listinfo/oskee</A><BR><BR><BR> ____________________________________________________________________________________<BR>Looking for last minute shopping deals? <BR>Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. <A href="http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping</A><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Oskee mailing list<BR><A href="mailto:Oskee@heins.net" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:Oskee@heins.net">Oskee@heins.net</A><BR><A
href="http://mail.perusion.com/mailman/listinfo/oskee" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://mail.perusion.com/mailman/listinfo/oskee</A><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV><BR>
<HR SIZE=1>
Never miss a thing. <A href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs" target=_blank rel=nofollow>Make Yahoo your homepage.</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><BR></DIV></div></body></html>