Previewing SIUE vs. Illinois

Last time I went to Assembly Hall, there was really not much hope. On the way down, I was on hold with 590 the fan for about 30 minutes hoping to get a word in to defend the Cougars as the St. Louis radio waves were nothing but Bruce Weber and Illinois' season opener against SIU(-)Edwardsville at Assembly Hall. I didn't get through. That's okay, because I would have probably sounded like an idiot following the 96-69 loss that night.

I have hated the University of Illinois' basketball team since middle school. I don't know if it was all of the 7th graders at my school wearing the orange shirts with AIM screennames like IlliniThug or what, I just couldn't stand them. The year Illinois won that amazing game against Arizona at Rosemont Arena as a No. 1 seed on their way to the Final Four in St. Louis, I think my Illini hatred was at its highest level. I even made a homemade T-shirt with "Anti-Illini" on the front of it with "The road to elimination" with the scores of each of their tournament games beginning with No. 16 Farleigh Dickinson on the back of it. Yeah, I guess I was sort of a rebel. Whenever I see someone with an Illinois shirt on the SIUE campus today, I want to punch them. Your parents didn't have the money to send you there. Sorry.

TJ with Bruce Weber

Anyways, truth be told, Illinois (or so we think) is one of the class institutions in the Big Ten and I have always had a great respect for Bruce Weber. Last time I was there with my former sports reporter at the Alestle TJ Cowell. TJ stopped to have his picture taken with Bruce, who agreed. I just sat there laughing and smirked "He's a true professional Bruce." He appreciated it. I was a fan of his Carbondale teams and called him a sell-out when he went to Illinois. Now, I'm sort of glad he left. Chris Lowery is a joke.

Assembly Hall is a different experience. The acoustics in the building are a little different. There will be 16,000 people there or whatever, but the atmosphere, at least to me last time is far from electric. I am sure for a Big Ten game it is a little different, but noise doesn't exactly bounce off the walls in the place. It is a cavern. Indiana's version provides a much better home court advantage. Any building with banners is substantially more intimidating than one without them. Assembly Hall has those. The best thing about a trip to Champaign? The media food. It was meat loaf, green beans, mashed potatoes and pineapple cake last time.

After the MacMurray game I asked Lennox, "so, first big upset Monday?" He kind of chuckled and said "That would be nice." So....umm...we will see.

Okay, let's finally talk about the game.

Here are highlights from Illinois' season opening 67-49 win over Loyola (IL) of the Horizon League.




The Illini have a few familiar names, namely Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson. (OVER-RATED!) Paul averaged 9 points last year and Richardson 8. Paul scored 14 in the opener against Loyola and Richardson had five. The Illini like to play like they are a guard-oriented team, but their real success comes down low. Illinois had this obsession with recruiting really tall dudes with no obvious talent outside of their ridiculous height. Meyers Leonard came off the bench and scored 15 points in 25 minutes, going 7-11 from the field including 1-1 from 3-point land for the Illini. He is 7'1 and is a stick figure.

Nnanna Egwu scored just four points as their starting center and Illinois out-rebounded Loyola by just one, which raises a flag.

Illinois forced 21 turnovers, and you can see a few of them in the highlights above. SIUE had 18 in their final exhibition game against MacMurray.

Let's talk keys to the game:

1. The Cougars are a more physical team than Illinois. Yes, I said it. You look at the body types on both teams and it is obvious. Illinois has a bunch of skill players. The Cougars are athletic, but much stronger. Derian Shaffer would win a fight against Leonard. Jerome Jones, Mark Yelovich, they both bring some physicality. I actually don't mind the Cougars match-up in the paint. You just have to avoid the turnovers.

2. Start fast. This is the duh key if there really is one. You are not going to upset anyone if you let them get out to an 8-2 lead. You might as well send everyone home. However, if you are up 8-2, it is still far from a guarantee, but at least you have a chance still.

3. Bring out the positives from exhibition games. If Jerome Jones scores 20 points and gets 10 rebounds and Mark Yelovich (who only had five last time in the hall) can do what he is capable of, Corey Wickware has a solid game and Shaffer looks good SIUE will be okay.

4. I already said it, but limit turnovers.

5. Don't let Leonard shoot the three. He is too tall for that. If he starts showboating after a dunk, feel free to take the technical foul and punch him. (just kidding.)

I don't make predictions anymore. Thanks Iowa. Is Illinois the better team? Yes. Can SIUE win if the stars align? Yes.

Carbondale lost by one to a DII school last night. #Rofl.

Live chat Monday here and on Alestlelive.com. We will be courtside and probably start around 7 p.m.

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