gezemice

In an uplifiting ending to a pathetic season, my Illini sent the seniors off with a win against Minnesota.  Chris Hicks fired up the crowd with a three at the buzzer.  The Chief made a brief appearance during the half time chiefless chief dance - entered at one side of the hall, raised his arms up during the Chief dance music and while the crowd sang 'Hail to the orange,hail to the blue', walked down the balcony and exited.  The crowd was thrilled to see him one more time.

The seniors all got emotional and made a speech at the end. Randle was fighting back tears, reflecting on the years and the season. Pruitt made a reference to the Indiana game and thanked the people who stuck with him anyway.  And Chris Hicks, the walk-on, said it was his dream come true to wear the Illinois uniform and practice with these guys.

It was an emotional ending to a frustrating season.  It made us realize what these are college kids, and what really matters is that we got to play and watch basketball together, that we were sharing the experience of a life time with these players.

Thank you, seniors, you did work your heart out for this team, things just didn't go our way this season.  Thank you for the memories, good or bad.... we were in it together.

Good night, and good luck in the Big Ten tourney!

No, that is not the score.  Those are the free throw percentages from last night’s game. 

The point score was 59 – 51, an eight point margin.  Four of those came within the last 30 seconds when Illinois was fouling and the Spartans were making their free throws. The Illini missed 10 from the charity stripe – Michigan State missed one.

This is the story of this game, the story of Illinois’ season.

I used to think that free throw shooting only mattered in close games and you shouldn’t let the games that close.  I also assumed that bad free throw shooting in Division 1 is temporary, it varies from game to game, and when you are a scholarship player, it will come, you just have to practice and relax.

Wrong.  This year was lost at the charity stripe. Three losses came in overtime, six other losses within six points, and only three losses had a margin outside of the number of missed free throws.  If we have been shooting free throws around a respectable 65-70%, we would have 7 to 8 more wins this year.  

My Illini have played their hearts out in many close games, only to see it slip away at the free throw line.  You can only lose so many close ones before it starts wearing on your confidence.  Every time you leave it on the floor and lose, it becomes more difficult to play hard in the next game.

Losing an entire season on free throws is inexcusable.  If you can play some of the best teams in the country close enough that free throws matter, you are good enough to become one of them. 

When you shoot free throws, there is no defender in front of you.  You don’t need to chuck up a shot in the nick of time, you don’t need to catch and shoot.  The spot, the distance is standard, the basket is always orange and the net is always white.  It should be routine, no thought involved, something ingrained you have practiced so often.  If you are playing Division 1 basketball on a scholarship, you better do whatever it takes to get there. 

F is the grade for this season.  F for failing. F for free throws. Effin eff for frustration. And F for still being a fan in foul weather.

So you have given us blogs.   Another way to waste our time and distract us from important activities, such as posting on the boards and spanking all sorts of things and people, especially weak squads and Chicago107.

I can't promise that I will be writing a continuous blog, but I figured I will post an entry just so all of you who have me on your favorites list can scroll a little bit longer to find your favorites. 

CBS has been trying new things like a little girl who has just been presented with a big box of dress-up clothes. (Guess what grandma got for my kids for Christmas).   So it is nice to see that some fit and some don't and generally, everything is just a little bit too big or too funky.  But the overall effect is still pleasant.... just don't leave the mess around.

CBS, I Blog Ya.