Your Home of the Oregon ILLINI. Oskee Wa Wa!

I know this won't go down as the greatest road victory in BIG-10 history. And, I would hardly call tonight's 64-52 victory over Minnesota a light at the end of the tunnel. We still have a long way to go to prove our worth as a team. But, at least for the moment, I did see a stray photon streak across my field of vision. There might just be an ounce of 'hope' for my struggling ILLINI B-BALL SQUAD this year. And, 14-6 is a lot better than 13-7. Trust me. Especially with Wisconsin up next inside the HALL. Hey Bernie, warm up the hearse. Here comes the casket for burial. And I mean, we have NO CHANCE this Saturday against the BADGERS and their #2 lofty national ranking. We're simply not worthy to even be on the same court as the crew from Madison.

Or are we? You know where you are. This is a biased blog for all things ILLINOIS - no matter what. I see things from blue & orange tinted spectacles. And rightly so. I was proud to see us protect another BIG lead down the stretch. We often get them, but rarely protect them. Seriously, instead of 14-6 we should be 17-3 and in the top-15 with additional wins over Maryland, Arizona, and Michigan State. Those three games really haunt me right now. Ugh! The BIG DANCE is all about BIG WINS - who'd you beat and where'd you beat them? Right now we only have the one quality win (Missouri). Tonight's road win in Minneapolis was nice, but hardly constitutes a 'good win' for the selection committee.

Carter had another good game (which he seems to do every now and then) with 17 points and 11 rebounds (2x 2x). We seem to 'own' Minnesota in basketball, winning our 16th in a row dating back to '98/'99. It was also good to see some life from Randall and Meachem (both had 12 points). And looky there, Mr. Rich McBride might just be realizing that this is his last year on the hardwood, hitting 12 of his last 26 three-point attempts. We'll need his leadership and scoring for the rest of conference play to make any hay in the conference. I hope we don't turn into one of those desperate tourney teams who thinks they can 'play their way into' the BIG DANCE with a desperate conference - tourney run. No time like the present to take charge of your own destiny. Lets build upon this one boys and bring it home on Saturday against Wisconsin. We are capable. We are talented (enough). But, do we want it?