Monday, February 07, 2005

The Hoosier Zone

It really pained me to have to send an e-mail to my friends from Indiana halfway through the first half of yesterday's game and tell them they were down 18-3. They, like myself, probably realized that was the ballgame.

Of course, some will say that Mike Davis switching to a zone defense at the 10-minute mark slowed the Illini down. I offer to you that Illinois wasn't able to hit the broad side of a barn until then anyway. I don't think it was the zone defense as much as the zone mindset of "let's see...if this game keeps going like this we'll be up 36-6 at halftime. Ho-hum." Seriously, tell me that didn't go through the head of more than one player. (I'd guess it definately went through Nick Smith the brainiac's for sure.)

And just when Indiana would try and make things interesting Dee Brown would step up and slam the door...much like swatting away a fly that's being a nuisance. Witness: the two three pointers he hit in a row. He wasn't just behind the arc...he shot those from Mahomet and Mattoon, respectively!

Who would've thought beating the Hoosiers by 13 would be such a bore? And speaking of the Hoosiers, Mark Tupper has the latest scuttle on Mike Davis' future in his latest blog entry.

Illiniwonk has a nice piece on the Illini's latest tendancy to (dare I say it?) play better on the road than at home.

# posted by Chief : 6:49 PM


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