Illini Player Rating: Vs. Wisconsin BTT

Mike Davis: 6
He didn't piss me off as much as he normally does.  He grabbed 10 solid boards and would have had at least 13 or so if he could bring the ball into his chest without someone knocking it out of his weak little arms.

His fast break lay-up was a great moment in the game.  I think it took 3 years off of Bruce's life expectancy. 
The truth is that it was not the right decision by D-mac.  We were up by 6 with the ball and roughly 1:15 on the clock. 
He should definitely have taken the ball up top and set up the offense.
Given the number of horrendous block/charge calls that have gone against the Illini this season, it was a huge relief to have a correct call in a crucial situation. 

Demetri McCamey: 7
Even though he didn't shoot the ball well (6-15), I thought that he played a great game.  D-Mac made shots when he needed too, especially with the shot clock winding down, and just made great decisions all game long. 
The thing that stuck out about McCamey's game on Friday was his defense.  He really got after it and shut down Jordan Taylor.  It's frusterating because obviously he can D' it up, but he just doesn't.
For now it seems like the fallout from he and Bruce's dust-up on Sunday is nothing but good.



Mike Tisdale: 8
His two man game with D-mac was awesome.  Another great development in the game was he and Davis deciding that they could now drive to the basket. 
It was like Tisdale watched some Brad Miller video and modeled his pump fake and slow drive to the hoop.

His drive and running floater was just insane.  I don't think we'll see that ever again.

DJ Richardson: 5
Played some great defense against Travon Hughes and hit his shots.
The one thing that is a pretty large negative for DJ was his 6 turnovers and 0 assists.  For someone that we hope to be able to eventually take the reigns from Demetri that is pretty awful.

In DJ's last 4 games, he has 11 turnovers and 1 assist.
He is weak with ball under pressure, and seems to be unsure with his decisions and this gets him in trouble.

William Cole: 1
I was going to give Billy some props for his defense and unselfish play, but down the stretch he was just terrible.  Somehow he just fell down and turned the ball over with 1 minute to play, and then on the very next play he falls down AGAIN when the ball is passed to him but somehow JJordan came up with the ball and disaster was avoided.

This coupled with the play where Jason Bohanan ripped him at the top of key, and Bill's repeated decision to throw the ball to our big men in the worst part of the floor, in the corner of the backcourt next to Wisky's bench off the inbounds (might be Bruce's fault as well), showcase Bill's shortcomings and creates a Russian Roulette situation with that 3 position in clutch time with Jeff, Brandon Paul, and Cole.

They are all EXTREMELY likely to turn the ball over or miss free throws, but right now I think the best option is the king of dribbling it off his own foot BP.

Brandon Paul: 2
Only got 13 minutes in the game, but why would he play more when we have the unstoppable force of awesome that is Bill Cole. 

(Of all the players that I have ripped this season, the one I actually feel bad about is Bill Cole.  I still think he is cool, and I root for him especially, but sometimes the truth must be told.)

Dominique Keller: -5
I've never gone in to the negative's for these ratings (though I've been tempted) but Dom really deserves it at this point.
Let's recap the situation with Keller in Friday's game.

He's a senior who has made so many bad decisions that display his lack of understanding of even the fundementals of the game that he has lost almost all of his playing time despite the fact that the Illini are dangerously thin on the bench. 
Dom checks into the game, and as his custom immediately makes a mental error, and fails to rotate on help defense and picks up a foul.
Then Bruce, weary of Dom's constant mistakes, takes him out after just one possesion and attempts to show him his mistake.  Of course Dom doesn't even give Bruce the courtesy of looking at him (it's probably not a good thing for the program that in consecutive games, ESPN shows a player openly disrespecting the coach) and Bruce goes back to coaching the game.

First it is just ridiculous that we have a senior who doesn't understand the proper help defense rotation, but the idea that he gets upset and doesn't pay any attention when the head coach tries to correct him is beyond stupid.
I loved it when Lavin tried to make the point that it is a teaching point for the future with Keller.  What future?
The Illini's season is hanging in the balance with the NCAA birth at stake, and our senior is giving his coach the high hat, and is hosting his own little pity party on the bench

Give me a break, how about next time you listen and don't play defense like it's a YMCA pick-up game.  What a dumbass.  I sincerely hope that he doesn't see the floor for the remainder of the season.