If ever there was a moment for Michigan to steal a critical game on the road, it was last night in Champaign’s Assembly Hall. Amid the distractions of Jamar Smith’s DUI, Chief Illiniwek’s last dance, inferences of Bruce Weber’s control of his players, injuries to every inch of Brian Randle’s body and Rich McBride’s numerous bad shots, Michigan failed.
Perhaps lost in the shuffle of this turmoil, Bruce Weber has stewarded and coaxed another 20-win season out of his Fighting Illini. Like Tom Izzo and his Spartans, Weber and his Illini have won games this season with sheer toughness, defense and heart. With games remaining against Penn State and Iowa, Illinois will not be easily denied an NCAA Tourney berth.
Save the Last Dance for Tommy
This was a game ripe for a Michigan road win: a depleted Illinois team down two scholarship players and beset by controversy, yet Michigan couldn’t muster the fortitude or passion to play forty minutes. Once again, the recurrent Amaker albatross resurfaced, a complete lack of mental toughness. With a senior laden team, Michigan had more talent on the floor than Illinois but as become foreseeable under Tommy Amaker’s reign, they underachieved. Once again, down the stretch of the season, as teams push through the tape or stumble over the last hurdle, the once proud program of Johnny Orr and Phil Hubbard is left groveling for some charity.
Lost in a Zone
If Tommy Amaker can’t decipher how extract a passionate effort from his team, perhaps he should call Ed DeChellis. For the second time in a week, Penn State outplayed Ohio State but lost. It can’t be overstated, but Ed DeChellis’s ability to motivate his team to play as hard as they do with little on the line other than pride is called heart and worthy of more than a nod of the head.Not only is Penn State in dead last place having lost 12 in row, they may be the statistically worst defensive team in the Big Ten. No matter, they played with alacrity, taking it to Ohio State and a stony silent Columbus audience for thirty-five minutes. As the season reaches its endgame, Ohio State can’t seem to solve Penn State’s, or any other team’s, zone defense.
Interestingly, another lackluster performance against an inferior team was lost on Thad Matta who, after the game sarcastically dismissed the notion that his offense needs to run through Greg Oden or, at the least, get more touches for the once in a generation big man. In a sign of tension within Ohio State, Mike Conley “told the team, ‘If you’ve got to pass up open shots to get the ball to Greg, you’ve got to do it sometimes.’ I hope everyone takes that to heart.” Thus far, as it has all season, Conley’s approach is falling on deaf ears, including his coach’s. Without question, the canonization of Greg Oden has been premature.
As they have all season, Ohio State stands around on offense when confronted with a zone. Love it or hate it, the performance of the Ohio State and the shots they take correspond to Matta’s offensive philosophy and are no accident. Perhaps, as the sarcastic Matta intoned, he’s winning pecks of games so everyone should back off. But as Hoopraker has observed for the past two seasons, not only is Matta’s perimeter offense counterintuitive, cumbersome and frustrating for a basketball fan to watch, it’s prone to implode when faced with a good defensive team, as it surely will be in the NCAA Tourney.
A Step Back
With their destiny firmly within their control, Purdue lost 78-59 to Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye and suffered a setback in their quest for an at large bid in the NCAA Tourney. While last night’s defeat loss was not necessarily a surprise, losing by 19 was a disappointment for Matt Painter nonetheless. Now treading water at 17-10, Purdue will need to win out, something they definitely can accomplish with two games against Northwestern and one against Minnesota. Lose one of those, and Purdue is done.
Iowa can only kick the frozen Iowa City dirt for the state of their season, which can be traced back to a string of bad losses to Northern Iowa and Drake and close calls to Virginia Tech and Arizona State. Despite the blowout to Michigan State last weekend, with Haluska and a healthy Tyler Smith, the Hawkeyes play good basketball. Always factor in the Big Ten Tourney, a winning Conference record may give them a chance to make a run to Sunday in Chicago on March 11.
