Illinitalk

The Chicago Sun-Times has an excellent article today title "The Line of Succession" in the paper and "Righting Illini" on their website. The article talks about how the Illini have been able to keep winning and withstand 3 coaching changes within the past 8 years thanks to solid recruiting and outstanding facilities. It also gives some insight on the transition from Henson to Kruger to Self to Weber. It is a great article on how the Illini have managed to be successful despite the changes in coaches.

Random:
--If you want to learn more about the Illini's motion offense, check out the Chicago Tribune's article titled, "Poetry in Motion."

--Go vote on ESPN for Luther Head as college basketball's most improved player. As of this posting, he is second at 19.6% behind Wake Forest's Eric Williams at 20.9%.

--Tough game against Wisconsin tomorrow but it is a home game and the Illini have something to prove after less than stellar performances against Indiana and Michigan (not that we're complaining--a win is a win). And as we have noted before, the Illini and Badgers really don't like each other so there is no way the Illini want to let the Badgers beat them at home. See the game notes here.

--I didn't have a chance to post yesterday so I missed out on commenting on Wednesday night's games. However, here were the general comments I emailed to Chief:
1) Terrible loss by Minnesota at home to Northwestern. Could come back to haunt them on selection Sunday.
2) Great effort by Iowa against Wisconsin. Although Iowa couldn't quite pull off the upset, it appears that Illinois' victory at the Kohl Center may have rattled Wisconsin. They lost in the game after Illinois beat them to Ohio State and then almost lost their second consecutive home game.
3) Duke/North Carolina was a great game even though I can't stand either of them. NC now has 3 losses. Hopefully that puts an end to the "Even though Illinois is ranked number 1 and undefeated, I think NC is better" nonsense. Biggest difference between the Illini and the Tar Heels (hint: It's not talent): HEART

Enough said.