B-B-B-Bubba and the Bench

Although the Illini looked sloppier than expected in their 95-67 trouncing of Missouri Southern State and seemed to have some trouble with MoSo State's man press and ball defense, this is not even worth addressing since the Illini could hardly take a team seriously who started a six-foot carbon copy of me with messier hair and the name Skyler (I couldn't have come up with a better name for him myself). Due to the general lack of surprise with the starting five, I would rather provide you with my half-baked, under-researched opinion of this year's bench through an irrelevant, self-developed depth chart. 

Depth Chart:

Brandon Paul: While the hype seemed to point to Richardson as most anticipated freshman, Paul came out and, in my opinion, outplayed the Peoria native. Paul showed the smoothness to the basket and ability to finish that I heard of him. I was also impressed with his defense--having heard nothing of his D prior--and was impressed with his composure on the floor. With all the questions concerning Alex Legion, Paul may be needed to step up early on in the season. 

Illini Football 2009: Foot, meet Bullet

Though much has been written about the abhorrent play that has domed Illini fans to another season of wishing college basketball started the same week as the NHL preseason, less has been penned about the consistency of extremely untimely mistakes at early critical junctures in many of this years games.

Bulls in Black and White...and Gray

Here's the good and the bad and everything else from the Bulls 92-85 season opening victory over the Spurs. 

Preseason Poll Madness

The first Coaches Poll of the 2009-2010 NCAA basketball season was just released and as usual, it serves as further evidence of why we shouldn't have preseason polls.

Illini Basketball Preview: Alex Legion

In my triumphant return to Free Keon, I plan on previewing Illinois basketball one player at a time. Today's lucky participant: Alex Legion. You ask, why Alex Legion, and my answer is...I don't really have one. Maybe it's because rarely has a transfer student created so much hope and then dashed it upon the rocks as quickly as Alex Legion did last year. He spent much of the year jacking up a ridiculous amount of contested, 20 foot jump shots, then following these shots with a Nick Smith look of disgust and bewilderment on his face. However, there are some in Illini Nation that think this is the year Legion is going to bloom (here).

To me, averaging 15 points playing against 5'5" Asian players is not a sign of things to come. Scoring 30 or so points against Bubba Chisolm in the Orange and Blue scrimmage is not a sign of things to come. When your own coach says that because you failed to make a shot in practice that both he and the rest of the members on your team began to feel sorry for you, this is not a good sign. I hope that I'm wrong. I hope that playing against oriental midgets boosted the confidence that Legion failed to have last season. I hope that Legion will come out raining threes and taking names. He needs to because with the depth and talent of Illinois' backcourt, playing time for Legion if he continues his descent into Nick Smith's faces hall of fame, will be limited.

Next: Lost some weight and still looks like Charles Barkley: Demetri McCamey