This quote from the illiniboard pretty much sums it up:
UI is having a nightmare year... football stinks, they want to take the Chief away, Self left, Livingston went elsewhere after teasing everyone wearing IL jerseys to school and hanging out with the team after the scrimmage and now this.



  ¶ 2:00 AM

  DVDgate 2003:

Here is the latest shocking (and really bad) news:
http://www.news-gazette.com/story.cfm?Number=14942


(Although it is all a must read) Here is the really interesting part:
The students originally told Piland they didn't want to press charges against Head or Spears, Brown said.
But in recent days, Brown said his son, whom he did not want to identify, and his roommates began to reconsider that decision. One of the reasons for that change, Brown said, was a published report Thursday in which Bo Delaney, Head's stepfather and high school coach at Chicago Manley, said the players were suspended for accepting stolen goods they weren't aware were stolen.
After reading that report, Brown's son and his roommates met again with Piland, Brown said.
"My son went and talked to the state's attorney again, and (Piland) said, 'You can still press charges,' " Brown said. "They read this thing in the Chicago (Tribune) about Head's (step)dad saying they received this, and it just makes them really mad."

Observations:
1. If Head's coach had just kept his big mouth shut then maybe this story would have never broke
2. If they did break into the apartment there is no way that they can stay on the team in my opinion
3. Bill Self would have been able to make this thing go away without breaking
4. Andy Crewell suggests that the "friends of the program" should have been paying this guy to shut up. While I agree with that in principle the fact remains that then if that somehow becomes public then we are talking reduced scholarships and no NCAA tournament for a couple years
5. I probably would have done the exact same thing this kid did, initially didn't say anything because he is a basketball fan and loves Illinois, then got pissed when I read the quotes from Head's high school coach, then went back to the police.
6. Aaron Spears is a huge guy, who does he think he is trying to break into apartments.
7. If Spears and Head really wanted all that stuff then they should have just asked boosters.
8. What is McBride's connection to this sordid affair?
9. This is not the way to start off a year.
10. We are really thin down low now. Nick can only play so much, Auggie will get in foul trouble, Ingram may or may not be a Big 10 caliber player, and Warren Carter weighs 130 pounds.
11. One of the worst parts is now we are no better then the likes of Iowa and Pierre Pierce, another reason why if they did break into the apartment they should not be allowed to stay on the team

That is all for now.
I know you have some comments on this huge story (how could you not) so leave a comment and maybe an intelligent discussion will begin.

  ¶ 1:42 PM

  So I just heard about the suspensions at U of I and like the comic book guy on the Simpsons, I was on the internet in moments to register my complaint. Here is the story for those of you that don't know:
llinois Head Coach Bruce Weber has announced a four game suspension for three Illinois players: Junior Luther Head, Redshirt Freshman Aaron Spears, and Freshman Richard McBride. Head and Spears suspensions are retroactive and include the two exhibition games they have already sat out. Rich McBride's suspension will start when he is cleared to play medically with his sore foot.
Now here is the unconfirmed rumors through the grapevine:
Someone broke into an apartment and stole stuff and then the players had DVDs that were stolen but they say that when they got them they didn't know they were stolen. Supposedly this story was first broke by Luther Head's high school coach
Now here are my thoughts:
obviously, I don't know the full (or probably even half) the story but, I think they should not be suspended unless they are being officially investigated by either the police or the university (and maybe they are for all I know). However, all the reports I've read say that they are not going to be charged. You have got to trust your players, if they say they didn't know that the DVDs were stolen, and so far there is no official evidence then they should be allowed to play. The fact that McBride's suspension isn't starting until he is healthy also sucks. This is big time college sports, it has nothing to do with being fair or morally right, you count every game that he misses as a suspended game no exceptions! So far Bruce Weber is off to a real bad start and he is going to need to prove himself RIGHT AWAY or he will be in a lot of trouble with Illinois fans. Weber's small-town stuff isn't working in this medium-sized town

On a separate note:
Andrew Bogut of Utah... he is awesome
  ¶ 5:48 PM

  Nothing But Crappy Games So Far -

The Preseason NIT is underway and so far none of the games have really been worth watching. Well, I take that back, I probably would have watched UConn just to see if they were worthy of the number one ranking but I was not around. They only ended up beating Yale by 10. On another UConn note, there are rumors circulating that Charlie is going to be suspended by the NCAA for some recruiting violations. Lets hope the suspensions are long. Tonight ESPN has Georgia Tech and the Ragin Cajuns of Louisiana Lafayette and then Texas Tech-Davidson. Yawn. My favorite name for a school Mount St. Mary (what is that some sort of suggestion?) is playing, but they are not on TV.

I did catch a decent game the other day in the second day of the Coaches vs. Cancer classic, St. Joe's and Gonzaga, a matchup of two ranked mid-major squads. St. Joe's controlled throughout and won the game. It really is too early in the year to take much from this game, obviously Gonzaga could still have a fine season and/or St. Joe's could end up not being great. However, one thing was apparent from this contest, Jameer Nelson is one of the premier players in college ball. Despite being only 6 feet he is big (190) and he dominated the game.

Tomorrow (or whenever I get to it): Big 10 Preview  ¶ 8:21 PM

  College Basketball is under way!

Yesterday was the Coaches vs. Cancer classic. Unfortunately Cancer defeated the Coaches again this year to run their winning streak to 46 consecutive years.

I caught some of the games and I must say that I'm already sick of Dukie V. He revealed his final four predictions; UConn, Duke, Mich. St. and Kansas. Whoa, way to go out on a limb there Dick!

Since we are on the subject here are my final four predictions:
Duke
Gonzaga
Louisville
Notre Dame

Duke is loaded and has a great coach, Gonzaga is ready to make the move into the bigtime, Louisville will be the #4 seed that peeks at the right time with Francisco Garcia leading the way, and Notre Dame will be carried to the Final Four on the back of Chris Thomas

Speaking of Chris Thomas, next up its the Sierack-Attack Pre-Season All-American Te-am:

1st Team
Emeka Okafor, UConn, Jr.*
Chris Thomas, Notre Dame, Jr.
Jameer Nelson, St. Joe's, Sr.
Ike Diogu, Arizona St., Soph.**
Rickey Paulding, Mizzou, Sr.

* - National Player of the Year
** - Should have gone to Illinois

2nd Team
Romain Sato, Xavier, Sr.
Luke Jackson, Oregon, Sr.
Ben Gordon, UConn, Jr.
Daniel Horton, Michigan, Soph.
Hakim Warrick, Syracuse, Jr.

3rd Team
Luis Flores, Manhattan, Sr.
Andre Emmett, Texas Tech, Sr.
J.J. Redick, Duke, Soph.
Dee Brown, Illinois, Soph.
Raymond Felton, North Carolina, Soph.

Peace I'm out of here  ¶ 1:21 PM

  I've been gone for a minute but I return with a quick look at the disappointing news:

Shaun Livingston commits to Duke:
I blame coach Weber. So does Livingston who flat out says, "I didn't have a good relationship with Coach Weber." Now just for the sake of could have been should have been lets looks at what our starting lineup would be next year if Coach Self were still around:
G Brown
G Livingston*
F Head/Randle
F Villeneuva
C Aaron Spears
* - Deron Williams leaves for the NBA after a breakout year
Weber has to prove himself and he has to do it soon. The players don't like him, the recruits don't like him, the fans aren't sure. He has to win this year and not be a boner during press conferences (like he was when he was introduced as coach). If not then he will be gone in 5 years and 28 year old rising assistant coach Sean Harrington will be the youngest new coach in the history of the Illini.

Coming soon:
A Big 10 Preview  ¶ 1:06 PM

  I am back after a brief hiatus.
First off I want to congratulate a Mr. Darren Madigan who was the only one to respond to my challenge. He thought that the team that I accidentally left out was either Pittsburgh or Florida. I made a conscious decision to leave out Pitt because of the loss of their excellent coach Ben Howland, who left for UCLA. Pitt also graduated 3 seniors from last years squad, including Brandon Knight and big Ontario Lett. I put them just outside the Top 25 (while somehow including UIC, crazy). That brings us to Florida. I made my Top 25 and for some reason forgot about them. So here is my Sierack-Attack Power Index revised:
9) Notre Dame
8.5) Florida (25-8): Tons of talent. Will this be the year that former Illini recruit David Lee explodes? Matt Walsh made a big impression last year as a freshmen as did more heralded recruit Anthony Roberson. Florida and Billy Donoven have established themselves as perennial powers.
8) Gonzaga

Livingston visits Illini Nation:
You Illini basketball fans don't need me telling you that Shaun Livingston visited this weekend. For a detailed report see illiniboard.com. I read that Shaun's dad said that if Bill Self were still here then Illinois would be the pick for sure. This is an interesting comment, and I think that it is more positive then it appears at first. The fact that Livingston is still considering Illinois (along with Duke and Arizona) shows that Illinois is really where he wanted to be all along. If not then he would have eliminated it much sooner after Self left. Whatever, all of this speculation is pointless. He is going to announce his decision November 1st, so we'll just wait until then.

Tomorrow is the start of the NBA season, certainly a good day for basketball fans. In honor of opening day, tomorrow I'm gonna enlighten you on why the college game is still better then the Association. See you then.   ¶ 5:45 PM