I still like the old-school helmets…

On Thursday, the Big Ten released the 2013 conference football schedule. There will be eight conference games for each team,  with a brand-new division alignment. It will also be the first season that new Big Ten members Maryland and Rutgers join in on the fun.

Illinois will face West Division foes Purdue (Oct. 4), Minnesota (Oct. 25) and Iowa (Nov. 15) at home, and will travel to Nebraska (Sept. 27), Wisconsin (Oct. 11) and Northwestern (Nov. 29). The Fighting Illini’s two cross-division opponent are Ohio State (Nov. 1, away) and Penn State (Nov. 22, home).

Beginning in 2014, the Big Ten football division alignments will feature Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers in the East Division and Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin in the West Division. Each school will play the other six schools in its division plus two teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015, which will serve as transitional years in which the schools will still be playing eight-game schedules. Beginning in 2016, each school will play three teams from the other division as part of its nine-game schedule. The cross-division games will include one protected matchup on an annual basis between Indiana and Purdue.

We’ve also got the non-conference schedule in place, so go ahead and start planning your football plans for next year:

Nov. 22               Penn State                    Memorial Stadium
Nov. 29               at Northwestern          Evanston, Ill.
Dec. 6 at Big Ten Championship Game Indianapolis, Ind.

Welcome back to the Tournament Illini fans! Selection Sunday was very generous in handing us a 7-seed, but I will take it! On Friday around 3:40 pm Central, Illinois will play #10 Colorado in Austin, Texas.

This was an exciting year of college basketball, because so many unexpected things occurred. No one could hold on to the #1 seed, and Gonzaga finished with one of the best records (actually, THE best) record in college basketball. Just two teams beat those Bulldogs, and one of them plays in Champaign, Illinois.

Congrats to new head coach John Groce, who took virtually the same team with a losing overall record last year into this year’s field of 64 (68, whatever). There were some tough moments in the regular season, such as losing at home to Northwestern by a horrific margin, but the Illini righted themselves as the year wound down. They proved that when they’re hot, they can beat anyone. But, when they’re not, they stink. So that’s the problem: which team is going to show up on Friday?

Colorado has some scary beasts in Spencer Dinwiddie, a 6-6 guard who is averaging 15.6 points per game.  They’ve also go three guys taller than 6-10, so we’re not going to kill them necessarily in the height department. Another standout is Andre Roberson, a 6-7 forward averaging 10 points and 11 rebounds a game. The good news is, aside from Dinwiddie and Roberson, Colorado isn’t all that deep. I will admit I’ve only seen them play once this year, and that was when they were robbed of a win at Arizona thanks to some questionable calls by the refs. They ended up losing in OT. I have questioned how good AZ really is all season, so can’t say I’m THAT impressed that Colorado ended up beating them in the second meeting (and then losing in the PAC 12 Tourney).

Hey Brandon Paul, this is your LAST CHANCE; Photo by Cary Frye

The Buffaloes got smoked by Kansas, losing by nearly 40 points. They also lost to Oregon State at home and at Wyoming. They beat a ranked Baylor early in the season, but Baylor is now in the NIT. They also beat Oregon twice, and had that aforementioned win against Arizona. They haven’t faced a Big Ten opponent all season, and I’m hoping that it will be a rude awakening.

That being said, we haven’t faced a PAC 12 opponent, either. It’s going to take some finessing for the guys to understand that fouls are going to be called differently. I would be shocked if Nnanna Egwu DIDN’T foul out, and Sam McLaurin might suffer a similar fate. As long as the guys are productive during their minutes, I don’t care how much time they spend riding the bench.

So here’s what I’m hoping happens. Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson are set free by the absence of a Big Ten defense and make shot after shot. Tyler Griffey realizes it’s now or never and plops in a couple 3′s as well. Joseph Bertrand realizes that this is his team next year, and he’s got to put out a good showing before he’s the one in charge. Tracy Abrams finds his shot as well, and gets the ball in the right hands at the right time.

I believe what it really comes down to is Paul and Richardson understanding that this is it. They have only won one Tournament game in their entire careers at Illinois (UNLV in 2011). I’m not asking for a trip to the Final Four (well…), but let’s just get past one team. Illinois has played well on neutral sites, and started the season off as the Maui Invitational Champs. They’ve played a total of 15 games against nine teams that made this year’s NCAA Tournament, compiling a record of 6-9. Colorado, on the other hand, has played 9 games against 5 teams, with a record of 4-5.

Another X factor, of course, is Coach Groce. His patience turned Ohio into one of last year’s darlings, and let’s see if he can sprinkle that happiness over the Illini this year. I don’t like making picks when it comes to my guys, but I’m planning on watching them play again on Sunday.

The game will be on Friday, March 22 at 3:40 Central on TNT.

Senior DJ Richardson is going to want to finally beat Purdue this year; photo by Cary Frye

Football Saturday, non-conference schedule Wednesday and now the circle is complete with the release of the full B1G basketball schedule.

First thing’s first, the Illini will only play Penn State, Indiana, Iowa and Michigan State once.  Indiana and Penn State will come to the Assembly Hall, while Illinois will only have road games against Iowa and MSU. In a way, it evens out because that’s two tough teams and two easier teams (golly, guess which one is which), instead of only facing four cupcake teams once or the opposite.

It’s a shame to only have Michigan State on the road, because we’ve had some success at home against them the past couple of years, and with Indiana as a preseason No. 1 in some circles, it’ll be a coup to beat them at home or on the road. Penn State has also been challenging on the road for whatever reason, so having them only at home is probably for the best.

However, with John Groce now at the helm and no Meyers Leonard, this is going to be a completely different team than we have seen, so everything is really up in the air.

Illinois will star the season at Purdue on Jan. 2, and a win here would be doubtful but fantastic, because Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson are going into their senior seasons without even one win against the Boilermakers. Ohio State at home and then Minnesota at home will help the team ease into the conference schedule, before heading into Madison on Jan. 12.

Last year, Coach Bruce Weber got the guys off to a great start, but imploded in the end winning just two out of the last 14 games, including that loss to Iowa in the B1G Tournament. The end of the season will be tricky again with a game at Michigan, home against Nebraska, on the road against Iowa for the first meeting of the season and then closing the season on the road for Ohio State’s senior day. Let’s hope Groce is better at finishing out seasons than Weber.

So there you have it. Take a brief break from your football excitement for a moment and take a look of what’s to come on the basketball court this year:

Monday Oct. 22 Orange & Blue Scrimmage 7 p.m.
Saturday Oct. 27 Lewis (Exh.)
Sunday Nov. 4 West Chester (Exh.)

Friday Nov. 9 Colgate
Monday Nov. 12 St. Francis (N.Y.)
Friday Nov. 16 at Hawaii Honolulu, Hawaii
Monday Nov. 19 vs. USC in Lahaina, Hawaii 11 p.m. ESPN2
Tuesday Nov. 20 vs. Texas/Chaminade Lahaina, Hawaii 9:30 p.m./4 p.m. ESPN2
Wednesday Nov. 21 vs. ?? Lahaina, Hawaii
Sunday Nov. 25 Gardner Webb
Wednesday Nov. 28 Georgia Tech 8 p.m. ESPN2
Tuesday Dec. 4 Western Carolina
Saturday Dec. 8 at Gonzaga Spokane, Wash.
Tuesday Dec. 11 Norfolk State
Sunday Dec. 16 Eastern Kentucky
Saturday Dec. 22 vs. Missouri St. Louis (Scottrade Center)
Saturday Dec. 29 vs. Auburn Chicago (United Center)
Wednesday Jan. 2 at Purdue
Saturday Jan. 5 Ohio State
Wednesday Jan. 9 Minnesota
Saturday Jan. 12 at Wiscy
Thursday Jan. 17 Northwestern
Tuesday Jan. 22 at Nebraska
Sunday Jan. 27 Michigan
Thursday Jan. 31 at Michigan State
Sunday Feb. 3 Wisconsin
Thursday Feb. 7 Indiana
Sunday Feb. 10 at Minnesota
Wednesday Feb. 13 Purdue
Sunday Feb. 17 at Northwestern
Thursday Feb. 21 Penn State
Sunday Feb. 24 at Michigan
Saturday March 2 Nebraska
Tuesday March 5 at Iowa
Sunday March 10 at Ohio State
Thu.-Sun. March 14-17 Big Ten Tournament Chicago, Ill. (United Center)
Tue.-Wed. March 19-20 NCAA First Round Dayton, Ohio
Thu.-Sun. March 21-24 NCAA Second & Third Rounds TBA
Thu.-Sun. March 28-31 NCAA Regionals TBA
Sat. & Mon. April 6 & 8 NCAA Final Four Atlanta, Ga. (Georgia Dome)

Excitement is already mounting for the upcoming 2012-2013 season of Illini football under the tutelage of new HC Tim Beckman, and now we’ve been treated to the news that the 2015 and 2016 Big Ten schedules have been announced.

For the sixth straight season, the Horseshoe section of Memorial Stadium has sold out, and let’s just hope this year people actually show to fill those seats.

As for conference play in 2015 and 2016, Iowa is finally back on the schedule, but after one meeting with Nebraska in the 2013-2014 season, the Cornhuskers will fall off again for another two seasons. Minnesota and Michigan State are also off the books for these upcoming seasons. Here’s the full schedule:

2015

Oct. 3 at Penn State
Oct. 10 at Indiana
Oct. 17 Wisconsin
Oct. 24 Michigan
Oct. 31 at Iowa
Nov. 7 Bye
Nov. 14 Ohio State
Nov. 21 at Purdue
Nov. 28 Northwestern

2016

Oct. 1 Penn State
Oct. 8 Indiana
Oct. 15 at Wisconsin
Oct. 22 at Ohio State
Oct. 29 Iowa
Nov. 5 at Michigan
Nov. 12 Bye
Nov. 19 Purdue
Nov. 26 at Northwestern

Brandon Paul must be happy about being recognized; photo by Cary Frye

Finally, today the Illini got a little recognition for what happened last Tuesday, when Brandon Paul went nuts on Ohio State and scored 43 points in the unexpected 79-74 victory. Paul was honored as the B1G Player of the Week, and the Illini have popped back up onto the rankings at 22/25 in the AP/Coaches Polls.

It’s been a slow week for Illini basketball fans, as they haven’t played since that  OSU win, and won’t be playing again until Thursday night when they head to Penn State. I was worried that people would forget about that big win over Ohio State, considering since then Indiana fell to Minnesota, Northwestern beat Michigan State, and Iowa beat Michigan. While all of these are fantastic events, I have say that while Minneosta winning on the road was pretty exciting (or maybe it was the fact that Indiana lost at home), it’s important to note that Ohio State was the highest ranked team to fall. So there.

Despite Paul’s amazing heroics, no one seemed to have anything to say about that game last week. On ESPN College Gameday, there was nary a mention and somehow Paul was absent from the list of top 10 plays. Actually, he was missing from the top 10 plays that occurred that very night. I can see maybe they didn’t have time to get it together because it was a late game, but certainly he should’ve been recognized during Gameday! Perhaps there were so many wonderful moves they couldn’t pick one? My choice would happen in the first few seconds of this here clip below:

Luckily, the B1G Conference realized that no one came close to scoring 43 points, and thus Paul deserved to be named the Player of the Week. This was the first time he was named POTW, and it comes just a couple weeks after Meyers Leonard was named POTW on Jan. 2. Here are some more reasons he was recognized:

·         Had a career night against No. 5/5 Ohio State, scoring 43 points and adding eight rebounds and four blocks in the Fighting Illini’s 79-74 win

·         The 43 points marked a career high, the most by a Big Ten player since 1994 and the second most by any player in the country this season

·         Shot 73 percent from the field (11-15), including 80 percent from three-point range (8-10)

Though two Illini have earned B1G honors in January alone, Tom Dienhart doesn’t believe anyone on the team deserves to be on the list of top 15 players in the conference. Yeah, I’m a little salty today.

Since it seemed like everyone had forgotten that the game even occurred, I was surprised to discover this morning that Illinois earned a spot on both polls. In fact, I was a little shocked that the AP decided to launch them from nowhere to 22, when Ohio State just dropped one spot to No. 6. I am pleased with the recognition, but I don’t know that this is the recognition that was deserved. Paul had a historic game, but it could’ve been a fluke. My team could very well head up to Happy Valley and lose to one of the worst teams in the conference, or they could have a great game and finally win handily. While the game last week is now on my list of favorites, I can’t say that it is indicative of where Illinois will be at the end of the season.

Oh, and one last awesome thing that needs to be mentioned? Right now they are tied for first place in the Big Ten. This could end as soon as tomorrow when Michigan State heads to Ann Arbor, so let’s enjoy this seat at the top while we can.

Meyers Leonard blocks a Robert Sacre dunk; Photo by Cary Frye

For the first time this basketball season, the Illini are ranked in both the AP (24) and Coaches Polls (22). In past years, and Illini ranking instantly meant that the guys would falter and lose, so let’s hope that’s not the direction this team heads.

In addition to the ranking, an Illinois player was finally recognized by the Big Ten, as sophomore center Meyers Leonard was named co-player of the week for his efforts last week. Here’s all the neat stuff that he did to earn his first ever weekly honor:

·         Averaged 16.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while shooting 75 percent from the floor in a pair of Illinois wins last week

·         Recorded 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting with six boards and a game-high three blocks in the Illini’s 71-62 win on the road against Maryland in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, helping the Big Ten to its third straight victory in the event

·         Tallied a game-high 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting with six boards in an 82-75 victory against No. 19/18 Gonzaga.

Leonard has to share the honor with Keith Appling, a sophomore guard from Michigan State.

The last Illinois Player of the Week was Demetri McCamey, on Jan. 3, 2011.

Sullinger was chosen as the Preseason Big Ten Player of the Year.

Here I am at the Big Ten Basketball Media Day at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosemont, and the first news of the day comes as no surprise: Jared Sullinger was chosen as the Preseason Player of the Year by the Big Ten Media.

Considering the fact that Sullinger could have easily gone to the NBA last year as a top 10 (or top 5) pick, it’s no surprise that he was chosen to dominate the conference again this year. When you think about it, perhaps Sully was on to something by not ditching college for the NBA with this year’s lockout keeping everyone unsure of their futures.

With a player like Sullinger on your team, of course you’re going to be chosen as the conference favorite for the 2011-2012 season. We all knew that was coming as well, as the defending Big Ten Champions will look to repeat their success this season. They’re going to be hampered slightly with the absence of David Lighty and Jon Diebler, but they still have William Buford and last year’s other freshman phenom, Aaron Craft. But when you have a guy like Sullinger, you’re in pretty good shape to dominate.

The Buckeye forward averaged 17.2 points and 10.2 rebounds in his first season in Columbus. Along with earning Blue Ribbon Yearbook Preseason All-America honors, Sullinger is one of nine Big Ten players on the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list.

Joining Sullinger on the Preseason All-Big Ten team are Michigan State’s Draymond Green, Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe, Purdue’s Robbie Hummel and Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor. You’ll notice not one Illini has made the list, but that also comes as no surprise whatsoever. Green is one of those guys that feels like he’s been on the team forever, and Hummel has been playing for Purdue forever since last year was supposed to be the final year for him, but he was out due to injury. Mbakwe is the only player that anyone can name from Minnesota, and Taylor made Wisconsin what it was last year. Point is, all good picks. 

After OSU, Wisconsin was picked to finish second and Michigan State third. Again, you’ll notice no Illinois on that list either.

You’d think the powers that be might as well give us the whole kit and caboodle by now, but what better way to generate excitement than to sloooooooowly roll out the men’s basketball schedule one piece at a time?

We’ve already got the non-conference schedule locked down, and now we’re being treated to the CBS and ESPN TV schedules for the Big Ten Basketball Games. Word on the street is that the full schedule will be released tomorrow.

Here is the lowdown for Illinois:

Saturday Dec. 31 at Purdue   3 pm ESPN2
Tuesday Jan. 10 Ohio State  8 pm ESPN
Thursday Jan. 19 at Penn State 8 pm ESPN/ESPN2
Tuesday Jan. 31 Michigan State 6 pm ESPN
Sunday Feb. 12 at Michigan  Noon CBS
Tuesday Feb. 21 at Ohio State  6 pm ESPN
Thursday March 1 Michigan 6 pm ESPN/ESPN2
Sunday March 4 at Wisconsin  TBD TBD

Aside from that game at Penn State, it appears that ESPN made the right call in terms of which Illini games to highlight.  Although I’m guessing the Illini and Nittany Lions will probably land on ESPN 2.

Stay tuned for a complete schedule tomorrow, and then we can start talking about which games you need to insert into your calendar ASAP.

Overall, 44 Big Ten men’s basketball conference games will be televised on CBS Sports or an ESPN network, the conference office announced. CBS Sports will carry eight weekend games this season, while 36 contests will appear on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

If for some reason you’re interested in the games that don’t involve Illinois, click here for those schedules.

Apparently, the Big Ten is getting tired of everyone wanting to join the party. This statement was just sent out in regards to future expansion:

“In response to a number of recent media inquiries received by several Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors regarding the likelihood of further expansion by the Big Ten, the COP/C would like to reiterate that it will not be actively engaged in conference expansion at this time, or at any time in the foreseeable future, barring a significant shift in the current intercollegiate athletic landscape.”

The statement goes on to say that even though they’ve already made statements about being done with expansion, people are still asking.

The brief statement concludes with a quote from Big Ten Commisioner James E. Delaney:

We’re about as comfortable as we can be with where we are. We’ve said that we will continue to monitor the landscape, but we have closed down active expansion and have no plans to seek new members.

So there you have it. The Big Ten is pretty happy with the way things are, so kindly stop asking.

Wow, it’s tough to think about how the Illinois football season will shake down six years from now, but the Big Ten Conference is thinking WAY ahead.

Today, the Big Ten announced that conference football programs will move to a nine-game Big Ten schedule beginning with the 2017 season.

Three teams each from the Legends Division and Leaders Division will feature five conference home games during odd-numbered years, while the other three schools from each division will host five conference contests during even-numbered years. The 2017 schedule will include five conference home outings for Iowa, Michigan State and Nebraska from the Legends Division and Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State from the Leaders Division. The 2018 schedule will feature five Big Ten home games for Michigan, Minnesota and Northwestern of the Legends Division and Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin of the Leaders Division.

It’s a good thing they’re keeping things simple!

This is the first time the Big Ten has featured a full nine-game conference schedule since the 1983 and 1984 seasons. Eight of 10 conference schools played nine-game schedules during the 1981 and 1982 seasons, while two of 10 teams featured nine-game schedules from 1971-72 and 1977-80.