Best potential non-championship matchup: Ohio State, in each round. The Buckeyes are trying to make a big statement, comparable to the one they made in Columbus on Sunday. Keep this in mind: The United Center is going to be bursting on the seems with followers of you-know-who . . . Ohio State’s self-imposed ban from post-season (NCAA or NIT) means Buckeyes are aiming to be considered the best team not among the field of 65 Sunday. Player to check out: Bracey Wright. If Indiana is going to get at least the one (vs. Minnesota) and maybe the second (vs. Illinois, undoubtedly) victory its needs for an at-large bid, the junior guard will have to be dynamic. Projected tournament winner: Illinois over Michigan State. The Illini will bounce back from their first loss in very impressive fashion. At-large Land: Illinois will be a No. 1 seed and MSU and Wisconsin are just as safely in the tournament with solid seeds. Minnesota better beat Indiana Friday if the Gophers don’t want to be sweating marbles going into CBS’s Selection Show.
Bill Carmody Well certainly, a lot of it was Illinois, they just made every shot, they just came out on fire and some of the shots they hit were, you know, 4 or 5 ...we had to come out of the zone and man to man we just can't keep our bodies in front of those guys, and then... I don't know, it seemed like each guy was hitting 3s.; Brown and Williams and Head and just continuous thru their bench.
Yeah, we didn't get the movement that we needed - every pass you had to be careful of and when that's true because they might steal it, its very stilted and you're not moving as well as you should so you have to give them credit for that. All their guys out on defending it. [Post Game Comments as reported on Purple Reign]
Carmody: I don't think so. They missed some shots and I think all along everybody was wondering if Illinois was ever going to miss some shots because they shot extremely well this year. It doesn't seem like they had too many bad games. And they missed something yesterday a little - but I saw what Bruce [Weber] said - maybe we didn't make the extra pass once in a while yesterday but I don't know, looking at it they got some pretty good shots that they made all year so. I didn't see anything myself, so maybe someone else saw that but if we win on Thursday, then we play them so I'm a little more careful.
Vukusic has had two decent games against the Fighting Illini this year - he scored 20 back in January and 14 last month. Maybe he's an optimist, but he's quoted this morning as believing that NU can win this game. He'll have to play lights out to help make that happen this morning.
