Illinois basketball fans

[InspiredLebowski]

Remember Jamar Smith? Wondering what happened to him?



Notice the left ankle. Alcohol monitoring bracelet.

[wang4three]

Seems like Jamar has put himeslf together. I wish him the best.

[ballinhun8]

Any of you guys think that the committee is going to seed us lower after yesterday's performance without Chester Frazier and if he's not available for the Big Dance?

He is our defensive catalyst and we clearly missed him yesterday. Currently Lunardi has us as a 6 seed in the South region (which is pretty nice because that gives us two games in Minny!!!).

[TheGame414]

Remember Jamar Smith? Wondering what happened to him?



Notice the left ankle. Alcohol monitoring bracelet.

Kind of old news, don't you think? There have been plenty of stories about him throughout the year.

[YAH trick YAH]

Remember Jamar Smith? Wondering what happened to him?



Notice the left ankle. Alcohol monitoring bracelet.

You'll see him in a year playing for the NBA

[InspiredLebowski]

Kind of old news, don't you think? There have been plenty of stories about him throughout the year.

Not that I knew of.

[HaNdLe ThE RoCk]

Can't even lie, I got illinois losing in an upset

[TheGame414]

Join the rest of the country.

It could happen, especially with Frazier out. But like I said in another thread, they're No. 168 in the nation in defensive efficiency and only play one guy taller than 6'5", so it should be a terrific matchup offensively for Davis and Tisdale. They love to shoot the three and our three-point defense is among the best in the country, with or without Chester.

Chester Frazier being out is the only reason I can see to pick this as the 5/12 upset. Otherwise, it's a pretty good matchup on paper for Illinois.

[Posterize246]

these guys representin Illinois and the Big-10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_olk-R3KYUc

[wang4three]

I remember seeing that.. Fun stuff.

[wang4three]

Praise Chester Frazier.

[TheGame414]

Oh well. We most likely weren't going to beat Gonzaga anyway.

All I wanted from this season was to lay a foundation for the next 2-3 years when the '09 and '10 recruits, and this season more than exceeded any reasonable expectations. Good season, but we obviously missed Chester last night. It didn't help that Mike Tisdale completely no-showed, but hopefully he'll use that as motivation to gain weight and get stronger so he can more consistently be the force he was at times this year.

The future has rarely been brighter.

[TheGame414]

Not that it's anything new, but my god, Jereme Richmond was tremendously impressive yet again last night in the 4A semis: 18 points, 11 boards, 4 blocks, 2 assists, 3/5 from three, in just three quarters. I think he also had 4 RBI, 104 receiving yards, 3 touchdowns and 38 saves, but I might be a bit off there.

The stats just don't tell the story with him, though. I think I've ran out of superlatives for now. Of all the great prospects to come out of the state of Illinois in the last 10-12 years, he's in that tippy-top tier with Derrick Rose, Shaun Livingston, Eddy Curry, Darius Miles, Frank Williams, Corey Maggette and Quentin Richardson.

And he's probably the best high school prospect Illinois has recruited since Nick Anderson and Marcus Liberty.

[TheGame414]

And this has nothing to do with Illinois basketball, but big-time congrats to my alma mater, Champaign Centennial, winning the class 3A state title this afternoon for the first basketball title in school history.

They finished 32-1 but it wasn't easy down the stretch with the last five wins coming by a total of 24 points, including 66-65 and 61-59 wins the last two days in games that both came down to the last play.

[IlliniFan]

Is Richmond playing tonight for the 4A championship?