Illinois loses to Canadian team

[tornado]

Illinois lost in Canada to Concordia University, 86-82, to fall to 2-1 (one of their wins was overtime).
It may be a bad sign of a bad upcoming season....but I think weber is a good enough coach to do quite well this year in the Big Ten even if undermanned.
This is a team that has already lost by 24 to Vermont and has lost by double digits to Colorado and Colorado State.
Concordia hit almost 60% of their shots, while Illinois hit 47.8%.
Even some of the comments by fans on the Illinois boards, shows that the fans think Bruce Weber has put together nothing more than an average mid-major team, and has three walk-ons (one a transfer from South Dakota State, and walk-ons meacham & Jeff Jordan) are a few of his better players.
The scholarship players like Semrau (ZERO points, one rebound) and Brock & Carlwell have yet to reach double digits against these early season exhibition opponents.

Indiana whipped it's final opponent in the Bahamas, Commonwealth Bank Giants 115-63.
Lance Stemler started and had 8 pts, Eric Gordon had 19 points, 8 assists, 6 steals,
Jamarcus Ellis had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 steals.

[bert notorius]

The only stat that really irks me is the 11-23 from the line. Other than that this is a great opportunity to figure out where scoring will come from and what roles will be filled. This was IL's 3rd game in two days and played under international rules, and the Canadian teams tend to run small and cause match up problems when leaving the bigs in. Alexander is 2nd in scoring and rebounds at this juncture. And for those so called fans calling this team mid-major quality, well thats just mean.

[Da Coach]

Here is an article about the Concordia win over Illinois from the Toronto Globe and Mail website. It's a little funny, because the entire article is about Jeff Jordan, "the son of the former Chicago Bulls superstar" Michael Jordan. They seem obsessed with Jeff Jordan in Canada.

One line says--
The six-foot-one guard was considered a mid-level high school prospect last season and was a walk-on (not on scholarship) player at Illinois after turning down offers from lesser universities. The psychology student got into Illinois on academic merit.

Since Illinois State was one of those other schools offering, I guess they must be considered a "lesser university".


Corcordia upsets Jordan-led Illinois

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070902.wsptjordan2/BNStory/Technology/?page=rss&id=..wsptjordan2

MONTREAL — Even in defeat, the son of basketball great Michael Jordan was the centre of attention.

Freshman guard Jeff Jordan was used liberally, but his University of Illinois squad was upset 86-82 by Concordia on Sunday for its first loss in three pre-season games in Canada. The Fighting Illini end their four-game, four-day Canadian tour Monday afternoon at McGill.

The 600 fans who squeezed into Concordia's tiny gym, mostly to see Jordan, watched brothers Dwayne and Damian Buckley score 28 and 24 points respectively to help the home side pull off a major upset of a Division 1 NCAA team.

Jordan played 15 minutes and had seven points, three rebounds and a steal.

"The small gym was fun — it reminds me of high school," the 18-year-old said. "It was a good atmosphere. It was definitely a different experience from what we're used to."

At home, the Illini play in a 17,000-seat facility that is almost always sold out and may draw even more this season with the son of the former Chicago Bulls superstar on the team.

The six-foot-one guard was considered a mid-level high school prospect last season and was a walk-on (not on scholarship) player at Illinois after turning down offers from lesser universities. The psychology student got into Illinois on academic merit.

Coach Bruce Weber said he will not be a starter this year, but feels he can develop into a solid player.

"He's got a long way to go," said Weber. "He's got to find a niche and find out how hard he has to play, but that will come."

There were fears that carrying the Jordan name onto the court would be too tall a burden, but the teenager looks to be taking it in stride.

In his first game at Carleton on Friday night, he was mobbed by media but held his own after the Illini beat the defending national champion Ravens 74-72 in overtime. He saw less action as the Illini trashed Ottawa 73-56 on Saturday night.

"He'll get a lot of attention early, but over time, I think it will settle down," Weber added. "He's very level-headed. He doesn't demand attention."

Jordan said he got used to it in high school at Loyola Academy in Chicago "so it's easier to get used to it now at the college level. It hasn't been that hard so far.

"You've got to do your own thing. If you go out there with expectations, you're not going to do well, so I just try to do what I can do for my team."

Jordan's team, playing on well under 24 hours' rest, couldn't find the basket from the free throw line, where they were good on only 11 of 23 chances.

Star centre Shaun Pruitt led the team with 16 points.

Concordia, meanwhile, shot 58 per cent from the field and 77 per cent from the line despite struggling at times with the Illini's bigger players.

Illinois built a seven-point lead in the first quarter, but then Concordia and the Buckley brothers took over.

The Stingers led 78-60 midway through the fourth quarter and Jordan, who had two points up to then, was sent out for the final comeback blitz. He put a deft move on a defender to score two, then broke inside and slipped in another to help close the gap.

"I think I've been playing pretty solid," he said. "From here on, I have to keep working on my defence, my shots and just keep playing hard."

He said his father only helps him out when he asks for advice. Otherwise, "he's pretty much hands off."

Michael Jordan attended many of his sons' high school games, but did not make the trip to Canada. A younger son, Marcus, is still in high school and is considered an even better prospect than Jeff.

The Stingers mobbed one another and the fans were delirious at the final buzzer.

"This is just a stepping stone to where we want to get to in the end," said Dwayne Buckley. "It's great to beat a Division 1 school. It helps the CIS, it helps Canada, it helps everything. But our goal is still to win in Quebec and win in Canada."

Buckley was impressed with Jordan, saying he seemed to help settle the Illini down when things were tight at the end.

And after growing up a Michael Jordan fan, he admitted that "it was like a dream come true to play hard and play against the greatest player in the NBA's son.

"Who wouldn't get up for that. I just played as hard as I can, like every game."

[MacabreMob]

At home, the Illini play in a 17,000-seat facility that is almost always sold out and may draw even more this season with the son of the former Chicago Bulls superstar on the team.

I thought capacity was 16,618.... which they were sold out for every game last year (and prior years). Did they put in more seats to be considered a 17,000-seat facility? Are they putting in more seats so they can draw more than when they are sold out?

[tornado]

whoa......Illinois barely avoids losing again in Canada..........

Illinois beats McGill in double overtime 107-103

McGill hasn't beaten a D-I school since 1985, when they beat lowly Maine.

The game was tied 87-87 at the end of regulation and 95-95 at the end of the 1st overtime.
The final basket with 5 seconds left in double OT was scored by Jeffrey Jordan.

[MacabreMob]

Being quite the schadenfreude, I wonder how Illini fans are dealing with this.

(of course, I am sure it is all being shrugged off... they are just exhibition games, many games played in a short time frame, limited bench, outcome is of little importance to the Illini but HUGE importance to the Canadian teams, etc... am I right?)

[bert notorius]

Ahhh, another gritty Weber team and lowly walk-on Jordon already making a difference. Meacham goes 7-10 (4-6) for 20. Another dismal showing (58%) from the line, and that's without any help from Randle. Pruitt plays 20 min and both he and Alexander foul out. IL ends the tour 3-1. Time to bring the boys home and start assessing the gigabytes of video.

[BUBraves06]

The final basket with 5 seconds left in double OT was scored by Jeffrey Jordan.

I wonder if this is a preview of the crunch time experience he'll get this season. If he turns out to be their number one option it could be a long year in Champaign.