'Immaturity' has Illinois on its knees

CHAMPAIGN – From a courtside seat, one of the high school prospects who might help lead Illinois back to national relevance teased a future that appears bright.

But Crandall Head, a Rich South sophomore who lists the UI as the leader in his recruitment, wouldn't be on campus for good until 2010 if he does, in fact, commit to Illinois. Others, like UI recruits Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson and Joseph Bertrand, can't lend saving grace until 2009.

The current Illinois squad has given little indication it will be a smooth transition between now and then after the program's first five-loss nonconference season since the 1997-98 season. The latest black eye was a 60-58 loss to Tennessee State, which had beaten one Division I opponent before stunning the Illini on Sunday at the Assembly Hall.

"When it comes down to it, it's my fault. We lost; it's my fault," coach Bruce Weber said. "I didn't get them prepared, I didn't get them ready. That's the most important thing. That's my job. That's our staff's job. The seniors (Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle) can help the situation and make it better for all of us if we get better leadership and better concentration."

Similar to a loss to Miami (Ohio) before Christmas, Illinois fell behind a salty visiting team before showing any sense of urgency. The Illini almost erased a 14-point second-half deficit and had a three-pointer to win as the game clock expired. But Mike Tisdale's jumper bounced off the back of the rim, giving Illinois (8-5) two home losses before New Year's Day for the first time since 1979.

"Our biggest problem I think is immaturity," Weber said. "I've talked about this before. We played pretty good against Loyola (Md.) the other day. But you should play pretty good against Loyola. You should win at home.

"It's the mental preparation and coming to practice and taking that as a step and not (be) worried about, 'Coach, I played 20 minutes last night, and I probably need to rest a little bit. I don't know how hard I can go today.' It's very disappointing, that maturity level and understanding that anyone can beat anybody."

Coach Cy Alexander, whose team beat Eastern Illinois for its other D-I win, called it the biggest victory in four-plus years at Tennessee State (4-7). It certainly was the most distressing, if not surprising, defeats of Weber's four-plus seasons at Illinois.

"We've got to come up with a whole new attitude and a whole new focus. We're humble right now," said Trent Meacham, who led Illinois with 24 points. "We're down. But we've got to stay together. There's a lot of basketball left. There's only two ways to go. I think we can pull together and, you know, make a run for this."

Comments

Add a Comment