Illinois basketball fans

[TheGame414]

Mikel Leshoure has to be the happiest person in the Big Ten right now. Dude's gonna get 20+ touches a game and emerge as the best running back in the league.

[TheGame414]

Getting back to hoops (not that we can't talk about football, feel free; I just had another brief hoops point to make), the start to this season goes to show what we've known, or at least should've, all along. Weber doesn't prefer to play grind-out-the-clock, slow, boring basketball. It was simply the only way Illinois could go in recent years.

With the talent and firepower seemingly in place, the talk of pushing the pace and running more hasn't been empty talk like in other years; Illinois is averaging 70.6 possessions per game this year, compared to 64.0 last year. Even if you want to compare it to the first 10 games of last year, we were averaging 66.2 through 10 games last year; those extra 4-6 possessions per game is a massive increase.

For comparison's sake, the 2005 team averaged 65.1 possessions per game. But that wasn't really a running team. As great as they were they thrived on halfcourt execution, great passing/cutting/shooting, and running when it was there. This team has more athleticism off the bench and has guys who are more suited toward a full-court style. Not that one's better or worse, necessarily, but the last six national champions have averaged exactly 70 possessions per game, with a range of 66.8 to 73.9. So with the talent already here and coming in over the next couple years, it certainly looks like Illinois is getting to a pace and style of play that can compete for a national championship in the near future.

[Posterize246]

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/ne...e=NCFHeadlines

Illinois junior wide receiver Arrelious Benn will declare later Wednesday that he is entering the NFL draft, sources briefed on the player's decision told ESPN's Joe Schad.

Benn is the third-ranked receiver by Todd McShay of Scouts Inc., behind Oklahoma State's Dez Bryant and Notre Dame's Golden Tate. Benn is ranked No. 33 overall on Scouts' list of draft prospects.

Benn 38 catches for 490 yards and two touchdowns this season and 159 catches for 2,221 yards and seven touchdowns for his career.

[emsteez forreal]

wait, wtf happened to my posts?

[Posterize246]

Just got home and about to check out Richmond. It's halftime already though.

[TheGame414]

wait, wtf happened to my posts?

I deleted them because this forum isn't for personal gossip. I don't care that Jereme Richmond's mad at you and this isn't the venue to discuss why that may be.

Anyway, I think I know why Waukegan runs so many backdoor lobs for Richmond: it's the only set play they operate worth a crap with everyone besides Richmond being mostly one-on-one players.

[TheGame414]

Tough one for Waukegan tonight. As great as Richmond is, Barnes is just another level up from probably everyone in the country. No shame in that; it's the difference between a lottery pick-caliber player (Richmond) and a potential No. 1 overall pick (Barnes). They've played each other before in the summer and Richmond's more than held his own. Ames is infinitely better-coached and to have a guy like McDermott as well? That's a great high school team.

[wang4three]

I came out of that game only thinking, "man Harrison Barnes is really good."

Tough night for Jereme, they seem to just seemed to double team him all night. Kinda wished he was more aggressive, but oh well.

[TheGame414]

He can be frustrating with that at times but I think that's due in large part to having me-first, shot-chucking guards who aren't reigned in by their terrible coach to get JRich the f-cking ball. Watch how much that changes next year when he's playing with Demetri, D.J. and Brandon.

Plus that's the rare high school team that has that much size- and really talented size at that- to throw body after body at Richmond. Not only did they have Harrison Barnes on him but were also throwing two, three other guys at him.

[emsteez forreal]

what do you think we're screming all game? "GET JEREME THE BALL." ashlaw is a first year coach and jereme and him really plays the role of lebron and mike brown on that team from what i hear from the team.

[TheGame414]

This is Ashlaw's third year at Waukegan.

[Da KO King]

I'm liking Jereme Richmond so far. You guys got a good one.

[wang4three]

We decided we wanted to win that game way too late into it. Georgia simply played harder than us for 40 minutes. These are the types of game I miss Chester, because he would've never let the team slump through it like we did.

[IlliniFan]

We decided we wanted to win that game way too late into it. Georgia simply played harder than us for 40 minutes. These are the types of game I miss Chester, because he would've never let the team slump through it like we did.

Really disappointing effort from the team tonight. They are so up and down. Starting to wonder if this is a tournament team.

[wang4three]

Argh, finished watching the tivo of the game last night... What a pitiful display. All those turnovers and poor decisions.. I don't even know what to think at this point. Memories of the 07-08 season are flashing back.