+ Chris Korman writes that signing day went off without much excitement in Bloomington. (The Hoosier Scoop)

+ Tom Izzo is excited about his four man class — Adrien Payne, Keith Appling, Russell Byrd and Alex Gauna — in East Lansing (Detroit Free Press)

+ Michigan signee Evan Smotrycz penned the first entry in his diary at our favorite Michigan hoops site. (UM Hoops)

+ Matt Painter calls his recruiting class “great for our needs.” (Purdue Official Site)

+ Bruce Weber received Letters of Intent from three top 100 recruits in Champaign. (Chicago Tribune)

+ Ohio State’s class is being touted as No. 1 nationally and it’s headlined by Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas. (Ohio State Official Site)

+ Adam Hoge writes that as the Big Ten gets stronger, Bo Ryan’s recruiting is putting Wisconsin in a hole. (Bucky’s 5th Quarter)

+ Jody Demling wrapped up the first day of the early signing period with a live blog. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

+ Dave Telep breaks down signing day from a national perspective. (Scout.com)

Keefer, as you may know, has jumped to the defense of Lawrence North after the parents of Dominique Ferguson and Justin Martin were critical of the academic progress of their sons at the Indianapolis high school. Both Ferguson and Martin have transferred to prep schools.

Besides defending Lawrence North, Keefer also voiced his displeasure with college coaches steering kids in the direction of prep school:

“There’s two things I’m not liking right now. I don’t like when people cut my school. And I don’t like it when your colleges encourage people to go the prep route. Whether it’s an Xavier or whether it’s a Pitino, I don’t care where it’s at. The last two Mr. Basketball potential players out of Illinois have gone to Findlay Prep. Findlay Prep is a store front prep school in Las Vegas of all places. And Weber has sent them there from Illinois. I actually told Bruce, ‘I don’t know if I want you in my gym anymore. Because if you’re going to take my best players and do that with them, then I have to give you a gut check here.’ I’m just not sure that’s the plan. That’s not the plan the NCAA wants to be done, that’s not the plan the high schools want to be done. You’re getting into an area I’m just not comfortable with.

We applaud your honesty on this one, Coach Keefer.

As R, Alex, and my friends yesterday could attest, I racked my brain for a while thinking of things to say about this game, and I really don’t have much. Some blowouts you can analyze; some are deceptive. There was nothing deceptive happening Saturday. Illinois was just so much better in every facet of basketball it was simultaneously boring and engaging. That doesn’t happen often.

In any case, this is your Monday open thread. Discuss whatever you’d like, whether it’s Saturday’s game, or when you predict IU will win its first Big Ten contest, or whatever. It’s all you.

I have one thought to hopefully get the discussion going. Not only was IU bad on Saturday — just skillwise, in matchups, that sort of thing — but it was the first time this year that it seemed like they weren’t even trying. Transition defense was unusually slow; Illinois was able to get into their secondary break, make one pass, and have a wide open jumper waiting for them before IU even matched up man-to-man or picked up the nearest player. I understand being drained after the Michigan game. That’s fine. But the one positive constant about the Hoosiers this year has been their energy and commitment to their coach, and Saturday was the first time I didn’t see it.

Also, one more: Did Illinois fans even enjoy that? Wasn’t that sort of like working out all summer, getting big, hoping to fight the bully that terrorized you last year only to see the bully come back to school in a wheelchair? I mean, you can punch the kid in the face if you want … but it’s not going to be nearly as satisfying.

Nick Williams. That pretty much sums it up. On a day when the Hoosiers came out with far less fight than needed to win in a hostile environment, Williams was the guy who tried to keep it respectable early. He scored 10 points in the first 13 minutes before disappearing until the 7:00 mark in the second half.

IU won the rebounding battle 35-23, but Illinois hardly missed so there weren’t many boards to corral.

THE BAD AND UGLY:

The injury to Devan Dumes. The one player Indiana can ill-afford to lose didn’t start the game (reportedly after he missed the team bus to Assembly Hall) and played just two minutes before injuring his right ankle. Dumes had to be carried off the floor by Tijan Jobe and Steven Gambles and returned to the bench during the second half on crutches. For all of his faults, Dumes is the one Indiana player that can create his shot consistently, even if he is streaky. Not. Good.

The lack of intensity. In a start that looked eerily similar to the Kentucky game last month, Indiana fell behind 21-2 and never matched the energy of Illinois. Perhaps it was a hangover from the Michigan debacle or maybe Illinois is just that much better than the Hoosiers, but it was discouraging nonetheless.

The turnovers are back. After cutting down on the turnovers the previous three games against Lipscomb (13), Iowa (11) and Michigan (16), Indiana was once again sloppy with the ball, coughing it up 18 times.

Defending the 3-pointer. Illinois hit 13 from behind the arc including seven from Trent Meacham and three by Dominique Keller, who had only hit four all season going into the game. Most of the looks were of the “nobody within four feet of the shooter” variety.

A big reason for the turnaround from last year’s dismal 5-13 Big Ten campaign is Illinois’ ability to share the ball. They rank second nationally with 20.1 assists per game and are sixth in team assist-to-turnover ratio at + 1.5.

“They share the ball,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “We are really going to have to be on top of our game to move the basketball and match their ability to move the basketball.”

Four players are scoring in double figures for Illinois: Demetri McCamey (12.1), Mike Davis (11.9), Mike Tisdale (11.7) and Trent Meacham (11.7). Chester Frazier is the fifth Illini starter and averages 5.8 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 6.4 apg.

“Trent Meacham, I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, all the way back into high school. Chester Frazier is high-energy lighting ram,” Crean said. “He’s out there making things happen and delivering the basketball and defending. (Demetri) McCamey certainly has the ability to play inside or outside and (Mike) Tisdale is one of the more improved players anywhere in the country right now.”

Coming off of a 74-64 loss at Michigan that snapped a seven-game winning streak, Illinois will be hungry to get back on track and will need no extra motivation given the recent history between the programs. The Hoosiers won both games a season ago: 62-58 on Jan 13 in Bloomington and 83-79 on Feb 8 at Champaign in double overtime.

“We’ll learn from it (the loss at Michigan) and hopefully move forward,” Weber said. “We have a nice stretch here. You got four out of five at home. If you’re going to be in the Big Ten race, you got to take care of business and win your home games and see if you can sneak out road games.”

Let me set the scene: It’s the 2005 National Championship game at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis. Coming off a comfortable 15-point win over Louisville, the Illini were ready to take on one of the most storied programs in college basketball, North Carolina. A win would mean their program would possibly become relevant. A loss and well, status quo: irrelevant.

So like any master motivator, Bruce Weber knew what he had to do: Deliver the words that would lead his men to the promised land. Like Winston Churchill before him, who said:

“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.”

… Bruce knew this one had to be special. And indeed it was. Ladies and gentlemen, prepared to be moved by the … fist.

Related:

• John Beilein teleconference audio
• Bruce Weber teleconference audio

Here’s the scoop, according to The Champaign News-Gazette:

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz told The News-Gazette the petition filed Tuesday alleges that Smith violated his probation by drinking alcohol over the weekend. A warrant for his arrest was issued Tuesday morning, and bond was set at $25,000.

The incident that led to the petition happened Friday outside Fubar, a campus bar. Champaign police investigated.

It’s decision time for our good friend Bruce. One has to believe that ties will be cut with Mr. Smith after this report, but with last year’s 13-16 debacle, Brucey might do all he can to keep this criminal around. Raise your hand if you feel sorry for Illinois.

Update: Jamar Smith dismissed from Illinois (FightingIllini.com)

Editor’s Note: Don’t forget to submit your list of the top 10 Indiana players of all-time.

- Weber, on the Big Ten race: “The league should be wide open and we can be right in the middle of it. I do know one thing, though. I think Indiana will suck. Don’t put that on the Internet.”

Awwww. Brucey still hasn’t gotten over losing Eric Gordon! Isn’t that cute?

For his own sake, Bruce’s team better not suck next year. If the Illini come anywhere close to that 16-19 record, Bruce will be stuck obsessing about Indiana on his free time. He’ll have lots of it.

As my victorious, gloating post just demonstrated, I am incredibly happy to have won tonight. At some level, it’s not about winning in a quality way, or looking good while doing it; it’s just about winning games on the road when the wins are possible. Thanks to Illinois’ horrendous shooting and forgiving crunch-time antics, Thursday’s was one such game.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to bitch a whole lot about it. Let’s be frank: IU looked just as disorganized and weak as they have in their past three games, and the fact of the win aside — it could just have easily been a loss, and probably should have been — doesn’t mean we should be satisfied with this performance or this team.

Still, before the complaining commences, let’s just say this: Thank God we won. And that Illinois lost. There are few pleasures so sweet.

And now, onward with the bitching:

— At some point, you have to start to wonder what, exactly, Kelvin Sampson has contributed to this team as a game coach. (We know what he’s contributed as a recruiter, obviously.) The Hoosiers are defensively lazy, offensively isolationist, disorganized, and clumsy. What’s worse, none of those conditions have improved over the year; if anything, they’ve gotten worse. Sampson has totally bungled A.J. Ratliff’s senior season — you’re telling me we couldn’t have used Ratliff last night? And worse, he’s done little or nothing that’s visibly improved Eric Gordon’s glaring weaknesses: turnovers, ballhandling, and the lack of a midrange game.

This is not how I remember Sampson’s teams performing at Oklahoma. I remember them being hard-nosed, physical teams. I remember Sampson’s maximization of junior college and four-year talent, the way he turned guys like Hollis Price into college stars by utilizing them in an intelligent system. I remember the way his teams always seemed to get better as they matured together. At the very least, they fought hard; they mimicked Sampson’s own bulldog-esque charisma. And damnit, they defended!

Where did all that go? This year’s Hoosier team is probably the most talented Sampson has ever coached, but where is the physicality? Where is the intelligence? Where’s the efficiency? Where are the kinds of adjustments you expect any coach, let alone one at Indiana University, to make? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!

The season isn’t over or anything; it’s just incredibly frustrating to have such an obvious talent disparity wasted — against Illinois, no less — thanks to a disorganized, sloppy performance.

– Speaking of which, Sampson seemed truly dedicated to his zone tonight, as if giving up on the notion — which would have been advisable the minute Demetri McCamey decided to have the game of his life — was some sort of surrender. Eventually Sampson lightened it up, and three’s were fewer and farther between for Illinois. It was obvious this team isn’t experienced enough to run the zone against a good passing team, but it was good experience nonetheless. Maybe another time.

– I truly enjoy Eric Gordon’s game, and I love when he’s on, but the past three games have exposed serious flaws in his repertoire. As mentioned above, Gordon is not a good ballhandler — hence his high turnover rate, the highest on the team. Gordon is also totally bereft of a midrange game. He either drives all the way to the hoop (where, at this point, he is usually fouled), or he takes a 25-foot three-pointer. On the occasions when he does pull up for a jump shot, he almost looks like a different player. That smooth, robotic perimeter stroke is replaced by a fading, jerky jumper. It looks bad, and it never goes in. Never.

Anyway, Gordon’s not going to stay, so my criticism of him isn’t some sort of double mind-meld that I hope will lend to a consensus that he should return for his sophomore season. He won’t, and he shouldn’t. He should get that money. But pro teams beware: Gordon’s good, but he’s not a slam dunk. Not yet.

Still, Gordon’s game is better than just about any guard’s he plays against, even when he is defended well. Free throws — free throws are his savior. Even when he’s totally off, his free throw shooting saves him from irrelevancy. Thankfully.

– I feel kinda bad for Shaun Pruitt. I know I probably shouldn’t, because he plays for public enemy number Bruce, but I couldn’t find myself truly hating him like I hate, say, Chester Frazier (more on that below). Pruitt seems like a decent kid. Sucks that he lost his proverbial legs at the free throw line like that; you don’t wish that kind of embarrassment on anyone. Except Chester Frazier.

– Jordan Crawford is another truly flawed freshman, but for all his faults, grant Jordan this much: He is not afraid. He will chuck under any circumstances, and he’s a good enough shooter to back up his confidence. Without his two three’s in the first overtime last night, IU probably doesn’t make it to the second.

– Chester Frazier, I truly love you. When you decided to shove Eric Gordon in the pre-game handshake — a fair-play gesture supposedly above the frivolous hatreds people bring to sports — you officially confirmed your d-bag status for life. What’s worse, you’re not even the kind of d-bag one can take seriously, or get mad at. You’re the type of d-bag that’s just so silly and ridiculous that all one has to do about you is laugh. You’re the guy at the HPER who wants to fight everybody. Yeah, Chester. You’re that guy. I hope you enjoy yourself; you’ll never not be that guy for the rest of your tiny little life.

Too bad about the ankle, though.

– Chester Frazier Honorary D-Bag of the Week Award: The Illinois genius patrol that threw stuff at Eric Gordon’s family. You disgrace your entire clan, idiots. Congrats: D-bags of the week!

– Hey, did you guys hear Brian Randle fouled out? That never happens!

– I want to like Jay Bilas. I really do. But when he goes on and on about a player having “courage” because that player has tape on his ankle and is still, somehow, defying all the laws of physics and science as we know them and is, is playing … well, Jay, THAT IS NOT COURAGEOUS. THAT IS CALLED PLAYING BASKETBALL. Scrappy? Yes. Hard-nosed? Certainly. Courageous? No Jay. No. A thousand times no.

– All that aside, like I said: It’s a win. And it’s a win over Illinois. Might as well enjoy it, even if it’s impossible to shake off concern for IU’s underlying issues.

As always, your thoughts and further analysis in the comments.