Brandon Paul with an in-tact jaw; photo by Cary Frye

Not a whole lot is really happening in the world of Illini basketball, seeing as how it’s the summer. After the whirlwind we experience during the coaching frenzy, I’m not complaining. However, a few tidbits have flown onto my radar that I’m happy to share.

BP3

First of all, Brandon Paul suffered a broken jaw last week in practice. He collided with Devin Langford as they went for a loose ball during practice. Nice to see them getting their full-force hustle on during the off-season, but a broken jaw is never good. He was supposed to go in for surgery Friday, and will be out of practice for at least two weeks. When he does return, he will have to avoid contact for a while longer.

Broken bones of any kind suck (my foot was broken four months ago and I’m still not at 100%), but thankfully this happened in June and not November. And, breaking a jaw must suck, but at least he should have no problem making a full recovery. For Derron Williams, the broken jaw led to serious weight loss and a complete turnaround in his junior season. However, Paul doesn’t need to lose any weight and it’s probably not going to help him turn the ball over any less.

Best of luck on a speedy recovery!

Jersey Numbers Set

The new Illini members have picked their jersey numbers, and they look a little something like this:

Sam McLaurin – 0
Rayvonte Rice – 24
Mike LaTulip – 10
(Kevin Berardini will change his # to 31)

It always takes a real man to wear 0 on his jersey, so McLaurin has to be hardcore. Twenty-four has inexplicably always been my favorite number, which I told Mike Davis once when I had the honor of meeting him. He was a freshman and I asked him to please do that number justice. I’m pretty pleased with his four-year response. This also means that I am expecting a lot from Rice, and it makes him instantly my favorite of the new players. LaTulip is 10, and I’m having a hard time finding someone else who had that number. Feel free to inform me in the comments.

Record Hired as Strength Coach

Lon Record has been hired as strength and conditioning coach and will be in charge of the Fighting Illini men’s and women’s basketball teams. Record has 13 years of experience in the profession and comes to Champaign after serving the last five seasons as strength and conditioning coach at Villanova, where he worked with both the men’s and women’s basketball squads.

Since we have a history of skinny guys that can’t put on weight (Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis) or bigger guys that can’t shave off the weight (Demetri McCamey), hiring a new strength coach seems like a fine idea to me.

Parham to Fill Coaching Hole

This one is hot off the presses. Paris Parham (name is almost as good as Maverick Morgan) from ISU will be joining the basketball staff as an assistant coach. Parham will replace the hole left by Isaac Chew’s abrupt exit one month on the job. Before ISU Parham was a Chicago Public League coach, which could be a huge boost for the Illini.

Welcome to the family, Parham!

Yesterday, I reported that new Illinois assistant coach Isaac Chew is heading to Marquette, and then today I get to inform my fair readers that 2014 PG commit Jalen James has decomitted and will reopen his search. The HS junior point guard from La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Ind., is the second recruit to leave the Illini, as HS senior point guard Michael Orris jumped ship pretty quickly after Bruce Weber left the building.

If you’re not keeping score, that’s two point guards that have decided not to come to Illinois. John Groce is supposedly a guy that loves to play a lot of guards, and now he’s really only got Tracy Abrams to help him out. Abrams was the only shining light last year (aside from that Brandon Paul 43-point game that I still dream about), but he’s going to need some help.

The news also stings a bit since Chew just ditched us yesterday. However, today’s article from Paul Klee kind of makes it seem like the break up was a mutual decision. It implies that perhaps James wasn’t the best fit for the “system.” That’s fine, but we’ve got plenty of open schollies since Orris is out and Meyers Leonard is heading to the draft. James was a good recruit so now seems like a strange time to be picky. Does this really have nothing to do with Chew or anything else? Hmmmmmmmmm.

Marquette is in the mix to nab James, in addition to SMU (Jerrance Howard’s new stomping grounds) and Colorado. Also I just saw a tweet that DePaul is in the mix, but that doesn’t seem likely. The addition of Rayvonte Rice from Drake is nice, but the kid isn’t a point guard.

As of now, 6’5″ shooting guard Malcolm Hill is apparently still planning to head to Champaign. But as we know that can always change.

It seems that the Illini basketball coaching drama isn’t over just yet. Barely a month after I reported that Isaac Chew was leaving Missouri to join John Groce and the rest of the Illini family, he has already jumped ship and will be heading to Marquette.

Apparently Chew and Marquette HC Buzz Williams are friends, and according to the Chicago Sun Times, Chew will be getting a big salary bump. The article also states that Chew originally turned down the position, but I guess for some reason he changed his mind?

Keep in mind that he must have already gotten a bump when he joined Illinois a month ago, which happened just a year after he joined the Missouri staff. Clearly this guy is both loyal and good at making decisions.

So now we have to wonder, is there something going on that we don’t know about? Does Chew have inside information and wanted to jump ship? Is he not getting along with Groce? Is he convinced this team is going nowhere and wanted to join a school that wasn’t in the midst of a huge overhaul? Sure, it’s easy to be an assistant at a program that is going up rather than one that is sort of stagnant, but like I said about a certain VCU coach if he doesn’t want a challenge then we don’t want him.

Let’s face it, I feel betrayed. Chew was supposed to be Groce’s inroads into the big bad mean scary jungle of the Chicago Public School system, and after spending a month on the road making friends and meeting recruits, he’s just going to pull up roots and head somewhere else? Were we essentially paying him to recruit for Marquette?

Thanks for wasting our time, buddy.  Not only is he making our program look bad (which we don’t need) but in my opinion he’s making himself look bad. Though I’m guessing our Marquette blogger Mary over at The Gold Rush probably wouldn’t agree.

This is an annoying turn of events, but it certainly isn’t THAT big of a deal. Chew spent just one year with Missouri, and if he’s the recruiting guy we really aren’t going to know if he’s any good for another few years since the great year the Tigers just finished had nothing to do with him. And, I see no reason not to blame him for the Missouri meltdown collapse in the first round of the Tournament.

We don’t really know what we lost so it isn’t that big a deal, but he certainly isn’t leaving behind a lot of friends in Champaign. On to the next one as we wait and see who Groce will pick to take his place. Then we’ll all be saying, “Isaac who?”

John Groce announced that Isaac Chew has been added to the basketball staff as an assistant coach. He will join Dustin Ford and Jamall Walker.

We’ve already addressed the fact that Jerrance Howard won’t be returning, and this latest addition makes it even more official. A Chicago native, let’s hope Chew will jump right in and fill the shoes that Howard is taking over to Southern Mississippi (he was hired this week to join their staff).

Chew spent last season on Frank Haith’s staff at Missouri, where he helped lead the Tigers to 30 wins, a Big 12 Tournament title and No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Chew previously spent four years as an assistant at Murray State under Billy Kennedy from 2008-11. While at Murray State he helped lead the Racers to a school-record 31 wins and NCAA Tournament round of 32 appearance in 2010 and 23 wins and NIT appearance in 2011, as well as back-to-back Ohio Valley titles. He also recruited and helped develop players such as Isacc Miles (three-time All-OVC, 2009-11) and Ivan Aska (OVC Freshman of the Year, 2009).

“We are fortunate to have one of the top assistants in the country join our program in Isaac Chew,” Groce said. “He has a tremendous reputation throughout the coaching community and it’s easy to see why when you look at the outstanding job he has done recruiting, developing and teaching players everywhere he’s been, most recently at Murray State and Missouri. Isaac shares our vision for the future of Fighting Illini basketball and will be a great fit with our staff.”

A native of Chicago, Chew was the 1994 Public League Blue-West Player of the Year at Wells High School. He then played at Iowa Lakes Community College, followed by Avila University in Kansas City. Chew earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Avila in 1999.

Chew entered the coaching ranks at his alma mater, serving as an assistant at Avila from 2000-01. He continued his education, meanwhile, earning an M.B.A. from Baker University in 2002. Chew also experienced the AAU circuit, coaching with Kansas City Pump ‘n’ Run and Kansas City Keys. He returned to Avila as an assistant from 2005-06 and then spent one year as an assistant at Indian Hills Community College, helping guide the Warriors to 34 wins and trip to the 2007 NJCAA DI Tournament.

“This is a great opportunity for me to come back to my home state and be part of one of the top programs in the country,” Chew said. “I know Coach Groce is committed to having a presence in Chicago, and I will work tirelessly in the city, as well as nationally, to recruit the very best players who can succeed here at the University of Illinois.”

Chew and his wife, Patrice, have four children, Deijah, Jada, Patrick and Caas.

The Illini Seniors having fun on Senior Day; Photo by Cary Frye

I’m a big fan of Bruce Weber. This is the first year I’ve ever even questioned what he is doing with the team. Over and over we hear all about the remarkable talent that the team possesses, but for some reason this year he wasn’t able to reign it in. No matter! This blog is a happy blog. One of the great things I admire about Coach Weber is that he is a no-nonsense kind of guy. Once the basketball season starts, the Illini players are banned from Twitter, which he hopes will help the guys focus and avoid distraction. I think it’s a great idea. In fact, I thought that every team would naturally do the same, but then I discovered Jared Sullinger tweeting away all season long. I guess if you’re not planning on staying at a school very long then focus isn’t a top priority .

So now that the season is over, one silver lining is that the boys are back filling up my Tweet Deck with insightful musings on the conflict in Libya, as well as providing links to delicious vegan recipes. OK, most of the Tweets make no sense and I have trouble understanding half of what these kids are saying. Regardless, I love being plugged in and trying to understand what on Earth it would be like to play D1 mens college basketball. Being 5’2″ (and female) that was never really an option for me.

Here are some nuggets that I’ve enjoyed since Illinois exited the Tourney:

Just today at 12:04, Meyers Leonard said: Dog n Subs w young welsh. #fire

At 10:55, Mike Davis said: I forgot how hard this first 50 Cent Album Get Rich Or Die Tryin goes got me feelin like a G lol

On a more serious note, yesterday, Demetri McCamey tweeted this to his fans: Just want to thank the illini nation for giving me this opportunity this will make me better and more hungry to reach my dreams thank u all

In addition to the Tweets, current Sophomore Tyler Griffey has returned to blogging. While he is no Mark Titus, who documented life on the edge of the Ohio State bench and tabulated the amount of post-game “one-armed” hugs he received bringing me hours of laughter while pretending to work, Griffey seems to be finding a voice of his own at Chew Softly.

Wanna follow the some Twitter-happy Illini? Here are their handles:

Demetri McCamey @Meechi32

Mike Davis @Illiniballa24

Brandon Paul @bpaul847 (just started this year)

Bill Cole @BuckWildBill33 (sadly locked)

Mike Tisdale @Tizzy54

Tyler Griffey @tylergriffey

D.J. Richardson @djrich32

Jereme Richmond@jrichmond22 (also protected)

Crandall Head @crandallhead (send request)

Meyers Leonard @Mleonard32

Sam Maniscalco @SamManiscalco (next year’s new sr. pg didn’t have to take a break)

And don’t forget Coach Weber! Although his last Tweet was November of 2009: @coachbruceweber.

That should get you started. I’m not quite ready to wrap up the season in one blog yet, as the pain is still fresh. So please be patient!

Welcome back to the land of social media, boys!