let's try image for uploading

So we want to see if the text will wrap around the photo. I think it will but I'm going to make the fonta little bigger to make this easier to try out. The picture is a little bit on the large side so I need tow write a fair amount of text to get it to wrap. What I'm not understand is how the photo sizes compared to the actual blog with. My blog appears in a fairly narrow column. But of course this is a bit different because we are trying this out in a blog I don't user very often and really is mostly for Illini basketball. Is this the appropriate picture to use for the demo? I'm no really sure. It might be right for the day after the Illini lost in the NCAA tournament or for when my son Ben starts telling some of his very pad puns. And, of course, I got him started on this. He now seems addicted to the punning and his sense of taste is worse than mine, so he has no filter on the puns that he comes up with. And then he explains them to everyone. Geez.

Take a lesson from Lou

I've been through 25 years of being an Illini basketball fan. In spite of recent success, and no doubt the wins first over Gonzaga and then Wake Forest a year and a half ago leading to almost a full season as #1 was quite enjoyable, my favorite season was and still is 198383-84 when Steve Alford was a freshman and we pounded his Indiana team at home by 20. It was the first year I went to see and NCAA tournament game. I was there with the Larboy at Rupp Arena in Lexington Kentucky for that fabled game in the Elite Eight, where Dicky Beal did the famous two-step and Hank (you make the call) Nichols swallowed his whistle and then inexplicably made the the foul call on us that of course made the 20,000 Kentucky fans in the stands delirious with joy but also showed that justice being served is not what college basketball is about. They changed the rules of the NCAA tournament after that - teams couldn't play games at their home arena - not much of a reward for us, but that wasn't the point.

While the 2004-05 season was anticipated based ont the strong showing the previous year, the 1983-84 season was improbable. Derek Harper turned pro so the returning team was young immature and without an obvious leader. But the team blossomed and all the pieces fit together. I think it might be an exemplar for us next season, so consider this little exercise.

Match the current players with their prior generation counterparts:

2006-07 probable starting lineup
a) Jamar Smith, b) Brian Randle, c) Rich McBride, d) Shaun Pruitt, and e) Chester Frazier

1983-84 starting lineup
1) George Montgomery, 2) Doug Altenberger, 3) Ephrem Winters, 4) Bruce Douglas, and 5) Quinn Richardson

Here's the way they match up.

Brian Randle and Ephrem Winters - This is the most important one and the critical one to get right. This past year we had Brian trying to do too many different things, so he occassionally flashed brilliance, but he had no bread and butter play. He needs on and the obvious thing is to return to the alley-oop. Randle needs to average about 4 dunks off the pass per game, and I mean that in the half-court offense not on the break. That we he is an offensive threat. Play him at the 4, and let him watch films of the E-Man against Villanova getting 16 boards. That's what he needs to do. Forget playing him at the wing. We've got othere players for htat.

Shaun Pruit and George Montgomery

George was fun to watch but kind of a joke as Freshman and then again as a sophomore. He got serious as a junior. How did he do it? He got in shape and rand and ran and ran all summer long breathing the beautiful aromas of the south farms. Shaun, that's what you'e got to do. Run. You should be able to play a full half without being substituted. Get in shape. And get tough like George.

Rich McBride and Doug Altenberger

We lucked out tremendously when Anthony Welch went down and Altenberger got put at the small forward spot. Anthony was fun to watch but he was soft defensively. Altenberger was a shooting guard, not a forward, but we didn't need a forward with George and Ephrem - meaning we didn't need another rebounder. We needed a tough defender and somebody who scored consistently from the outside. This is you Rich. Sometimes you'll have to guard guys who are 5 inches taller than you. You can do it. Be tough. And stay in the game.

Jamar Smith and Quinn Richardson

Let's start with the fact that nobody thought Quinn was good enough to be a starter and sometimes his ball handling was a little suspect. But he shot 59% from the floor. And he made them under pressure, when it was needed. Jamar, we need the consistency. Don't try to be an All American. Be somebody who off the pass can make the shot at a very high rate. Also you hae to toughen up on defense. Don't expect your teammates to cover up your shortcomings.

Chester Frazier and Bruce Douglas

This one is the most unfair because Bruce was the star of the team and a starter the previous year. He had a feel for the alley oop pass and for forcing turnovers. He wasn't a guard in high school and that physicality in his play really helped him. Chester doesn't have those advantages. But Bruce is is abetter model than Dee, no matter how much fun Dee was to watch. Bruce was very strong with the dribble. Nobody took the ball away from him. He could break the press on his one. Chester has to be able to keep his dribble through the double team and he has to understand how to control tempo. Chester's been out of control as a freshman, but Bruce was too. Chester has to learn to score even if he is not a great shooter. He can't get assists if he is not a threat. But his main role is to set the table. Bruce was great at that. Chester can be good too.

Meta Lessons

That 83-84 team really controlled tempo. This past year we did some things like a good transition team and some things like a good slow down team, but the combination meant we had a split personality. Next year's clup has to be a possession team. It must be efficient in the half court. And for that it must have a real inside presence. Pruitt can't be that. It has to be Randle on the alley-oop. Because he'd mobile he'll occupy multiple defenders. That will allow penetration by the guards for the kick out three pointer.

Let the starters play a lot of minutes and shorten the bench. This means conditioning, not getting into foul trouble, and a slower pace to the game. This past year we were really weak in stopping dribble penetration. With Augustine no longer here, the trap is not going to work for us like it did in the past. So pack it in more. If we don't go to an overt zone, which in my opinion we should try for variety, do a lot more switching and double teaming inside. We won't be as athletic across the board as we've been in the past. So we need to adjust and be smart about it.

Coach Weber, our current players will be looking to the recent past for the model. But better to look further back, when shorts were short, there was no shot clock or three point line, and Dickie V had yet to invent the Lou Doo.

Any questions?

We have one. Did Rowinski really do it just by hard work or did he take steroids?

This is a test of an email to blog with pen annotation in the message. 

 

 

 

ILL INI

I'm finding it interesting that CBS can determined time of game for the NCAA Tournament. In the Big Ten Tournament time of game was determined purely by seeding, We're the late game tonight. Assuming we win, that is usually a disadvantage in the next round - less time to rest up for it. So I wonder about the time of Saturday's game, again assuming we win tonight. I haven't seen those times posted.

So we win the Big Ten --- Again

The unbeaten season thing now has to become the only motivation for the Illini until the NCAA. There is nothing left to prove. We will be the #1 seed in the Big Ten tournament for sure, which means we know that the Friday game interferes with some work related things (thank you TIVO) and almost certainly they will be the #1 seed for the entire NCAA tournament, which means they get to play the winner of the #64-#65 game. After that cupcake, however, they'll have real games to play and will be challenged.

I do hope they go unbeaten because that will keep the edge on. It is hard to imagine, however, that they will look good in their gmes. The motivation is weak.

Hiatus

It is not the weekend but the Illini don't play till mid-week against Purdue. I'll miss that but will get to see that last season game against OSU. Assuming the team gets past Purdue, the incentives start to get weaker. They have proven they are the best team and will have the outright Big Ten Championship. So it will be interesting if they go undefeated right through or if they lose. It is weird to be in such a position, distancing themselves from the rest of the field.

In tennis Andy Roddick sometimes seems that way in the early rounds of a major, but he is not #1 in the world and he doesn't have that many majors to his credit. Of course we pounded Wake in the pre-conference season. So that is a little different. I guess we'll have to wait and see, that is all there is to it.

Calm before the storm

It's no longer news when the team wins, so now we're into they psychology of their preparedness. It has to be attitude and commitment that gets it done, right. And Weber, I thought he was a baffoon last year, has to to be genius as a motivator. I hope he does get national coach of the year. But I wonder how much of this is all coincidence. I also look at last year and the adversity. People will point to Luther's problems off the court, but Dee was having confidence problems on the court. Deron has had some of those this year. They didn't fail big time, in the sense of not making the tournament, but there was an extended stretch where they didn't meet expectations. That part shouldn't be forgotten. It probably was necessary for this team.