Illinois, Texas A&M in 2008 South Padre Island Tournament

[Da Coach]

Attendance should go up a lot this year with Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the 8-team tournament field, along with Illinois who will bring a lot of fans.

The eight teams are--
Texas A&M, Illinois, Tulsa, Kent State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, North Carolina-Wilmington, Jackson State, and North Carolina Central.

http://www.themonitor.com/sports/padre_13341___article.html/south_field.html

[MacabreMob]

UIUC should win that thing.

[tornado]

with what guards and what big men?

[MacabreMob]

with what guards and what big men?

I just like setting them up for disappointment. But if they do win, I can say I saw it coming.

LOL!

[Dubl R 1]

I just like setting them up for disappointment. But if they do win, I can say I saw it coming.

LOL!

This made me laugh. Nice take on it Mob.

[mportsch]

Here's where these teams finished last year in Pomeroy's ratings:

16 - Texas A&M
40 - Illinois
66 - Tulsa
72 - Kent State
165 - UNC-Wilmington
264 - Texas A&M Corpus Christi
320 - Jackson State
339 - North Carolina Central

Texas A&M figures to take a step back, due to the loss of two good starters to graduation (Dominique Kirk and Joseph Jones) and 7-footer DeAndre Jordan to the NBA draft. They do add two 4-star freshmen, at PG and PF. I see them being a borderline NCAA tourney team.

Illinois loses their two interior starters but adds SG Jamar Smith and JUCO PF Dominique Keller. Incoming 3-star PF Stan Simpson doesn't figure to play much. Sophomores Mike Tisdale, Mike Davis, and Bill Cole will have to provide solid play on the interior for Illinois to be competitive. The backcourt should be fine with McCamey, Smith, Meacham, Frazier, and Brock. Illinois is probably an NIT team next season, but could get onto the bubble if the big guys can rebound and defend.

Tulsa looks to be a team on the rise after winning the inaugural CBI. They lose PF Calvin Walls and PG Brett McDade, but return their best three players in juniors Ben Uzoh, Ray Reese, and Jerome Jordan. They'll need someone to replace Walls' rebounding and McDade's outside shooting, but otherwise those two players were pretty average. I expect Tulsa to be a borderline NCAA team, but probably NIT.

Kent State loses their two best players in Mike Scott and Haminn Quaintance, and doesn't bring in much of a recruiting class. They're really lacking on the interior, where Quaintance was a great rebounder and defender. I think they slip back and might be a CBI team.

UNC-Wilmington had a decent season, but lose their top 4 players to graduation. They likely drop back to 200+.

The other three teams don't look likely to move into the top 200, so qualify as cupcakes.

So, I'd say the favorite is Texas A&M, but it isn't an especially strong field. Tulsa and Illinois also have a decent shot to win the tournament.

[patrick_o'brian]

Isn't Alex Legion eligible too? He should help out a TON!

[tornado]

What's his college scoring average? Is it better than the 8.0 ppg scoring average of the guy who some see as the savior of the Illini program, Jamar Smith?
And can he shoot better than 30% from the 3-pt line, which is what Smith did his sophomore season?
Or the career 7.2 ppg scoring average of the most experienced and highest scoring returning guard (Meacham)?
Or the 8 ppg/3 assist/34% FG% averages of the guy who has been draped with the mantle of being the next Deron Williams (McCamey)?
How about the 7 ppg cumulative average of ALL THREE of the TOP returning big men COMBINED (Tisdale, Cole, Davis)?

Hey, I like the Illini, and I am also an Illinois grad (grad school) as well as a BU grad (undergrad), but how they won even 16 games last year is one of the great mysteries of the universe. Some still claim it was smoke and mirrors, and that they cannot possibly even come close to that this year despite the "major" addition of the disgruntled transfer, Legion, who played in SIX games last season and scored a whopping 6 ppg and 33% 3-pt shooting (note that the six games Legion played in were all cupcakes except one - Central Arkansas, Gardner-Webb, Liberty, Texas Southern, Stony Brook.)

[mportsch]

Isn't Alex Legion eligible too? He should help out a TON!

Legion will certainly be a big addition, but he isn't eligible until the fall semester grades are posted, since he transferred in January. It is expected that his first game will be the Braggin Rights game against Missouri, just before Christmas.

[mportsch]

tornado, you're welcome to your opinion, but don't try to claim you like the Illini. I'm confident in my evaluation of Illinois, and your cherrypicking of tempo-dependent stats isn't going to change that.

[tornado]

Just a comparison....take it FWIW...

Alex Legion's numbers in six college games as a freshman against opponents, five of whom were weaker than just about anyone on BU's schedule:
6 ppg, 33% 3-pt FG%, and 1 asst/game with a 0.8 A/T ratio
these don't look much different than the numbers of many freshmen, even Sam Maniscalco, who doesn't get the heralding that Legion gets.

Here are Sam Maniscalco's numbers against a schedule of considerably tougher opponents:
All games-- 7.7 ppg, 37% 3-ptFG%, 4 asst/gm, A/T Ratio 2.2
His 1st six games-- 4 ppg, 50% 3-pt FG%, 2.2 asst/gm, and A/T Ratio 2.6.and 3 of the first 6 games were BCS opponents, including Vandy.

PS-- I can claim what I want, and I am not the only Illini follower who feels the same way.
Many are very disappointed in the players Bruce Weber has lined up and filled the roster with over the past few years,
and this coming year also sends shivers down the spines of many an Illini fan. Anyone who thinks they will be good might
be very surprised this year, and just about the only two players who could put the ball in the hoop are now gone.
Brock & McCamey were very inconsistent and totally disappeared at times.
I saw a thread in which an Illini fan was licking his chops at the potential prospect of playing Indiana a couple times this year,
but I wouldn't be at all surprised if IU can field a team that embarrasses Illinois this season as well.

[mportsch]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if IU can field a team that embarrasses Illinois this season as well.

This line officially tells me that you are beyond help.

[tornado]

so you're happy with things at Illinois, and want to keep the status quo?
You think Illinois will finish in the upper half of the Big Ten?
I think your reaction is an example of "the truth hurts"

[MacabreMob]

More fellas... more, more, more.

I am enjoying this conversation.

LOL!

[mportsch]

I think there's a good chance that Illinois finishes 5th this season, behind MSU, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. I've seen posters on the boards of other Big Ten teams (Purdue, MSU) list Illinois 5th as well.

I'm elated with the direction of things at Illinois. The 2007 class should be pretty good by the time they're finished at Illinois (McCamey, Legion, Cole, Davis, Tisdale, and Jordan). You posted earlier today about the 2009 recruiting class, which is currently ranked #2 in the nation by ESPN. It will drop as other schools fill their classes, but it still figures to be a top 15 class. In 2010, Illinois has two 5-star recruits committed. The 2011 class is looking like an extremely strong one in the state, and the Illinois staff is already able to focus on recruiting the best of the bunch and has tons of scholarships to give.

Even without further commitments, I see the program on an upward slope for the next 3 years, with the 2010-11 team potentially having Final Four caliber talent. What's not to like?