The Fighting Illini and the Tabula Rasa

It's been a disappointing regular season for the Illini basketball team, as so much more was expected from them than "they'll probably make the NCAA tournament even if they lose their first Big Ten Tournament game". But with said Big Ten Tournament opener at hand, the team has a chance to clean the slate and re-write their legacy. A win today would, in fact, guarantee a spot in the NCAA tournament - it would get the team to 20 wins, and, perhaps more importantly, give them a second win over Michigan which would make it impossible for the Wolverines to get ahead of the Illini in the eyes of the NCAA tournament selection committee. We certainly don't want to see a repeat of last year, when Minnesota went on a run to the Big Ten Tournament championship game and essentially stole our spot in the NCAA tournament. Let's hope the team remembers that and takes care of business.

As I wrote before, Michigan has been playing well of late and really should have beaten the Illini in Champaign last month. Illinois, on the other hand, still hasn't won back-to-back games since the first week of January, so even coming off an impressive thrashing of Indiana, beating the Wolverines on a neutral floor is not going to be easy for the Illini. But for now, I'm going to skip any analysis, criticism, and predictions, and just jump in and cheer. I'd like to ask all Illini fans - however you feel about this team, the seniors, and Bruce Weber - to do the same, at least until the season's over.

Go Illini!

EDIT: So much for a clean slate. For the second year in a row, we'll be sweating out selection Sunday. A picture's worth a thousand words, but we only need one word to describe Illinois basketball: