Champaign, Ill. – “There was a great college basketball game played Thursday night between the University of Illinois and Indiana University, but the game has been somewhat diminished by inappropriate behavior by a number of fans in attendance. We value the enthusiastic support of the sellout crowds at the Assembly Hall, but above all we take very seriously the reputation of our basketball program and the University of Illinois. The profanity and behavior by a small segment of fans Thursday night is disappointing and intolerable, and for that we apologize to fans of both teams.”

Apparently Guenther and Weber find Chester Frazier’s behavior before the game to be appropriate. At least that’s how I interpret things since his pregame antics were not addressed in this statement. An apology after the fact is pretty much meaningless. The probability for this type of behavior was almost certain and warnings should have been issued to the Illinois fans and players before the game took place.

The reality is that Bruce Weber has lost credibility for his handling of the entire Gordon situation. He’s basically turned into a laughing stock. His team is horrible. He’s one of the biggest whiners in coaching. And worst of all, he makes some of the ugliest facial expressions known to man.

If you enjoy reading the mainstream media hammer Illinois, here are some recommended links:

• A sad, classless scene in Champaign (Jay Mariotti, Chicago Sun Times)
• Illini seethe hatred toward Eric Gordon (Pat Forde, ESPN)
• Gordon takes Illini fans’ abuse, then delivers (Jeff Goodman, Fox Sports)
• Illini fans angry at Hoosiers’ Gordon cross line (Gregg Doyel, CBS Sportsline)

Date: Thursday, February 7, 2008 | 9:00 p.m. EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (16,618) – Champaign, Illinois

Line: Indiana by 2

All-time series: Indiana leads 82-77

Previous meeting: Indiana won 62-58 in Bloomington on January 13

TV: ESPN (Rece Davis, Jay Bilas and Pat Forde)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Indiana (18-3, 7-1 Big Ten): Armon Bassett, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Lance Stemler, D.J. White
• Illinois (10-13, 2-8 Big Ten): Chester Frazier, Trent Meacham, Rodney Alexander, Brian Randle and Shaun Pruitt

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Indiana
• Illinois

Gameday reading:

• Hell hath no fury like a student cheering section scorned (St. Louis Post Dispatch)
• Gordon goes back to where it all began (Indiana Daily Student)
• IU travels to another Assembly Hall (Indiana Daily Student)
• The Gordon game (Chicago Sun Times)
• Gordon snub’s the rub for Illini basketball (Chicago Tribune)
• NCAA needs to get rid of Sampson (Daily Illini)
• Face of the Illini enemy (Indianapolis Star)
• Ratliff still in Bloomington (The Hoosier Scoop)

As always, your predictions, analysis and Bruce Weber jokes are welcome in the game thread.

(Photo credit: Illini Loyalty)

In what has become a dismal season for the 10-13 Illini, tonight’s game marks a “new beginning” of sorts and a chance to take out pent up frustration on Gordon and Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson. The Krush have declared Gordon public enemy No. 1 and they are hell bent on becoming a major distraction during the game.

“People are looking forward to not only cheering the Illini on to victory but also giving Gordon and Kelvin Sampson a piece of their mind,” Orange Krush president Eric Benz said. Benz declined to elaborate on any specific plans, but added the Krush has “a few tricks up their sleeve.”

Unless one of the tricks is Deron Williams coming back for one game, I’m not too concerned.

A couple of quick observations on the Krush:

– Once upon a time, Indiana fans felt the Krush’s pain. Remember Sean May. He was supposed to be a Hoosier. A Bloomington kid and a son of one of Indiana’s all-time greats. It didn’t end up that way. IU students booed. However, that doesn’t make the continued fascination with IDKWTI any less annoying.

– A lot must go into running a student section that wears orange shirts (take notes those of you clamoring for an organized student section at Assembly Hall). Because I’m pretty sure the roster for the “Illini Pride Executive Board” is bigger than most small businesses. Among the most essential positions: President, Vice President Sports, Vice President Finance, Vice President Orange Krush, Senior Advisor, Orange Krush Chair, Public Relations, Event Coordinator and Event Manager. The only thing missing is a treasurer and a janitor. I think I’m out of breath.

Now that I’ve said my piece on the Krush, it’s time that you say yours. What effect will they have on the game? If they get inside Gordon’s head and take him out of the game, it might be another long night for us folks watching the game. Let’s face it: We don’t want another repeat of the Wisconsin debacle from last week.

Thoughts on the Krush, the game and anything else on your mind in the comments.

Note: I expected a packed house tonight for the game thread.

Date: Sunday, January 13, 2008 | 4:30 p.m. EST

Arena: Assembly Hall (17,357) – Bloomington, Indiana

Line: Indiana by 11.5

All-time series: Indiana leads 81-77

TV: CBS (Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer)

Radio: IU Radio Network (Don Fischer, Todd Leary and Joe Smith)

Probable Starters:

• Illinois (8-8, 0-3 Big Ten): Demetri McCamey, Trent Meacham, Calvin Brock, Brian Randle, Shaun Pruitt
• Indiana (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten): Jordan Crawford, Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Mike White, D.J. White

Game Notes (Adobe Reader required to view):

• Illinois
• Indiana

Gameday links:

• Illini Loyalty (Illinois fan site)
• Fresh (man) in his mind (Chicago Tribune)
• Got Gordon? (Indiana Daily Student)
• Illini need new strategy to defend Hoosiers (Indianapolis Star)
• Illini come face-to-face with Gordon (Springfield Journal Register)

As always, your predictions, comments and Bruce Weber jokes are welcome in the game thread.

But among all this embracing, there is one sect I simply can not tolerate. You probably already know who they are. Illinois fans.

Oh, I like them individually just fine. They are my friends, my friends’ parents; I would never actually claim to hate these people under any normal circumstance. I don’t hate them.

But I hate those colors on their shirts. I hate the self-righteousness around a program with nary a national championship banner hanging from the rafters of their oddly alien Assembly Hall knockoff. I hate the way they treated Eric Gordon, as if this 18-year-old kid was duty bound to them for life, as if he robbed them of their livelihood by defecting to a rival. I hate that a Peoria newspaper editor would dare call Eric Gordon a “steaming pile of two guard,” and then have the balls to apologize for it by saying he “lost his cool.” (You’re a newspaper editor! You’re not supposed to lose your cool in print! And over a high school kid, no less!) I hate their squealing over Kelvin Sampson, as if their own program’s history — even recently; Jamar Smith, anyone? — is squeaky clean. I hate the Chief. Oh, do I hate the Chief, hate the way a backwards minstrel symbol brought an entire stadium of people, many of them supposedly intelligent and college-educated, to tears.

Individually, I like all of these people. My roommate is one of them, and he’s a dear friend. But collectively, I want to — how would Borat put this? I want to crush them. I want to show no mercy. I want to (metaphorically) tear them limb from limb. This Sunday, IU has that chance.

So let this be the official ITH welcome to Illinois Week. Look lively. Sunday, we dine in hell.

If anything can be said about the Illinois Illini — besides the weird obsession among its fans about a vaguely racist Indian minstrel mascot — it’s that these dudes defend. It’s the one immutable rule of Bruce Weber’s tenure: No matter how much talent Weber puts on the floor, his team will be one of the best in the Big Ten, and perhaps the country, at stopping opposing offenses. Unfortunately for chanters of I-L-L everywhere, the past two years, there is another immutable rule about the Illini: They are horrid offensively.

The story remains the same in 2007-08. A quick glance at Ken Pomeroy’s scouting report tells the tale. The Illini are sixth in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency; they are 87th on offense. They are ninth in the country in effective field goal percentage against; they are 228th (!!) on offense. They are 16th in the country defending against the three; they are 320th in the country shooting them. It goes on and on. The Illini are a good defensive team that is both horribly slow and horribly inefficient on offense. It’s an ugly combination.

So far, their defensive acumen has not shown up as often as their offensive horribleishness. That equals bad basketball. The latest example: a 60-58 loss against the fighting Tennessee State Tigers, a 3-7 (now 4-7!) team that has no business beating the Illini in Champaign. Yet they did, as have the Miami (OH) Redhawks. The idea that those two teams would win in road-impossible Champaign is sort of unbelievable, and it doesn’t toll well for the Illini as the Big Ten schedule picks up.

A look down the lineup reveals one good player (Shaun Pruitt), one underachieving athletic freak (Brian Randle), and a series of mediocre-to-bad guardish players. Most interesting is Randle. Whether through injuries or fouls or his seemingly unadaptable and stubborn offensive game, Randle has never been able to turn all that athletic talent into the promise it held throughout his high school career and recruitment. Watching him play, one gets the feeling that, with just a few tweaks and a better outside shot, he could be so good. Instead, Randle is the second-best player on a team without a single good player.

The Bottom Line: The Illini will defend well. Bruce Weber will be slightly annoying in press conferences. And thanks to their unbelievably bad offense, the Illini will not only be painful to watch, they will be a bad basketball team. The big story from our angle is their newfound rivalry with IU, but if early season returns are any indication, this year, it won’t be much of a rivalry at all.

* For the record, I hate Illinois with a passion that burns deeply inside my most insulated loins. But I was pretty nice, wasn’t I?

Read the rest of our Big Ten Preview:

• Ohio State
• Minnesota
• Penn State
• Michigan
• Iowa
• Northwestern
• Purdue