Illinois nearly papered over its season-long frustrations with a terrific run at the Big Ten tournament. But when the 10th-seeded Illini dropped the conference title game by a 61-48 count to top-seeded Wisconsin -- closing out their bid to win four games in four days and qualify for the NCAA Tournament -- everyone could refocus on the team's body of work.
Considering the Illini set a school record for losses (19) and didn't make the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years, that body of work was one of the ugliest seen in Champaign-Urbana in a long while.
What didn't look right for the Illini? It's a long list.
--Seniors Brian Randle and Shaun Pruitt didn't lead like coach Bruce Weber hoped. Pruitt, a preseason all-Big Ten pick that wound up a third-teamer accordingly only to the media, even served a one-game suspension midway through the Big Ten slate as a collective punishment for a list of conduct unhelpful to the team.
--Junior Jamar Smith, the program's best shooter, had to sit out a redshirt year as part of his punishment for the one-car accident in February 2007 that sent teammate Brian Carlwell to the hospital for nearly a week -- and sent Smith to jail for two weeks for his felonious DUI.
--Without Smith on the floor, the Illini didn't have nearly enough good shooters and finished 10th in the league in 3-point accuracy (32.1 percent) and last in free-throw accuracy (61.0 percent).
--Without enough shooters, it became absurd how frequently Illinois built up halftime leads only to fritter them away because it didn't have anyone who create a basket when necessary.
--Almost everybody on the team got injured at least once. Junior Calvin Brock and freshmen Demetri McCamey and Mike Tisdale were the only Illini to appear in all 35 games. Freshmen Mike Davis and (walk-on) Jeff Jordan were the only other squad members who could have appeared in every game.
But to focus solely on the negative wouldn't be fair to a team that did win five of its seven games to build some momentum going into the offseason.
--Illinois found its new on-court leader in freshman point guard Demetri McCamey (8.2 ppg, 3.2 apg). Though he and Weber battled much of the season over his indifferent practice habits and lack of defensive desire, McCamey showcased highly prized abilities to get to the basket as well as to find open teammates with his clever passes. He also trotted out an improved 3-point touch as the season bumped along.
--Fellow freshmen Mike Davis and Mike Tisdale offered enough flashes to suggest they can be building blocks once they add at least 15 pounds of muscle. Both went from gaunt to slender during their rookie seasons, but they need more strength to hang in the Big Ten.
--Freshman shooting guard Alex Legion, a Top 40 recruit in the Class of 2007, transferred in from Kentucky during the semester break. He'll be eligible after first-semester grades are posted. When coupled with Smith, who'll be eligible to return in the fall, and top returning scorer Trent Meacham (10.1 ppg, 74 3-pointers), the Illini figure to have much more perimeter firepower next year. They'll also retain senior-to-be Chester Frazier to serve as the defensive sparkplug and senior swingman Calvin Brock to serve as the athletic leaper who can change games with his hustle.
That leaves Illinois to figure out ways to replace Pruitt (12.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Randle (9.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg) in the frontcourt. The 7-foot-1 Tisdale figures to start at center, but Davis figures to battle incoming junior-college forward Dominique Keller for the starting power forward job. Or can redshirt freshman Rich Semrau, current freshman Bill Cole or incoming freshman Stan Simpson find a way to help?
If the Illini don't at least get back to the NCAA Tournament borderline, then fans will start howling even louder about Weber's job security. He bought himself some insurance this season with several big recruiting coups in the 2009 and 2010 classes. Now he needs to find more wins until the reinforcements arrive.
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