It's amazing how much better a basketball coach can become overnight. Illinois hoops coach Bruce Weber inherited a drawerful of NBA talent (Deron Williams, Luther Head) from Bill Self when he left for Kansas in 2003. With his pass-first offense, Weber won almost every coaching award imaginable as he led Illinois through a nearly perfect (37-2) 2004-05 campaign, losing the national crown narrowly to North Carolina. Yet with lesser players, during the last two years, Illinois fans occasionally grumbled: why is this offense so inefficient? Can't the coaching staff get the players shooting free throws any better than that? Fickle fans even asking: without superstar talent, how good of a coach is Bruce Weber?
One brisk 6-0 start later, with a road win at Vanderbilt, neutral site wins over MAC power Kent State and Tulsa (with NBA-bound 7-footer Jerome Jordan), and a close loss to Clemson in the Big 10/ACC Challenge, the answer is damn good. This team lacks an obvious NBA standout, but should be ranked if it wins through the Missouri game. The Vandy, Kent, and Tulsa wins were RPI gold (Illinois' RPI is ten pre-Clemson), and suggest that if Illinois takes care of business in conference, it will be rewarded by a high NCAA seed.
The Tulsa win revealed an Illinois team endearingly like those pesky no-name Purdue teams of Gene Keady that won more Big 10 titles and games than any other rival over two decades, much of it with Weber as an assistant. Led by senior Chester Frazier, the gutty personification of Weber on the floor, the team scraps on defense, honors its assignments to a man. When Frazier stole the just-rebounded ball among three Hurricanes under the Tulsa basket and converted the layup, the points were purely willed. Illinois' solid defense held Tulsa to 35% shooting for the first fifteen minutes, building an early 16-8 lead. Blanking Tulsa for the first five minutes of the second half to extend back to 32-25. Showing that Weber again has coachable players, the team is past first, from soft-handed sophomore bigs Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis, to the three guard backcourt of senior point guard Chester Frazier, sophomore lead guard Demetri McCamey, and steady senior Trent Meacham. Like those Purdue teams, the possessions are long and methodical, screen after screen, cut after cut, with points distributed randomly among five selfless players looking for the open man, grinding on in Keadylike purpose.
The Kent State and Vanderbilt wins revealed an Illinois team endearingly unlike those come-from ahead to lose heartbreakers of the last two campaigns. Unlike those squads, this one actually makes its free throws, and if it hadn't, it would not have won either game. The teams of the last two seasons scrapped, but committed dumb fouls, slow-out-of-position-defender fouls, and after putting other teams in the bonus early, failed to make their own free throws. Illinois' last tourney exit, the loss to Virginia Tech in '07, fit that script perfectly, as did two years of irritating regular-season losses to Arizona. Gone are bricklayers Brian Randle and Shawn Pruitt, replaced by more able hands at the line. Free throw follies no more.
The Clemson game looked for a time like a true coming out party. Oliver Purnell's Clemson program is surging. Packed with good athletes, Clemson presses on each inbounds, and then plays aggressive, in-your-shirt defense. Shoots well. Trevor Booker and Raymond Sykes in the low post are monsters. A win would be impressive, and seemed in the cards. First, Demetri McCamey showed up tonight. A pair of threes to open the scoring, then a give and go layup. McCamey 8, Clemson 5. At the 12:46 mark, McCamey with 10, Illinois up 16-14, then McCamey with a steal drawing the foul in the open court. Then Chester Frazier made a series of smart plays -- a steal, heady passes, and his dish to the trailing Mike Davis for a two-handed slam at 26-23 meant Illinois had made 12 of its first 20 shots: this is so not last year's Illini. Who is this Dominique Keller? In ninety second, two quick buckets, good post defense, and one board later, it's 32-27. Nice to meet you, 'Nique. Four minutes of excellent ball movement later, it's Illinois 40-32 at the half.
The second half started with more of the same. Clemson raised its intensity further, pulling to within three, but Mike Davis scored the first twelve of the second frame -- layups, running banks, then a turnaround -- and the game felt like one of those step forward games that you look back on later in the year. Like, during that second half of the Clemson game, you just knew Mike Davis was special. Knew the season could really be something. But Clemson's pressure wore down the Illini. Booker went to work on the low blocks. The crisp cuts and ball movement that fed the lead evaporated. Turnovers mounted. McCamey made some boneheaded plays, none more costly than ignoring Trent Meacham open for a long three with seconds remaining. A 76-74 loss, yes, but to a good team.
Bottom line: less efficient, less coachable players are gone. Bruce Weber is still Bruce Weber. Illinois still has a nice RPI. And in four more games, five-star transfer Alex Legion, a better candidate to take that game-ending shot than either McCamey or Meacham, hits the floor. More on him later. But the clunk and thump of the Pruitt-Randle era is over. Illinois is back.
If you liked this, please check out my recurring Illini hoops column at dagblog, including my December 6 column about the Georgia game and United Center memories.
