Jereme Richmond, ex-Illini: The End of a (Very Short) Era

In November, 2006, less than two months after Eric Gordon stabbed Illini nation in the heart by reneging on his commitment to the Orange and Blue, Bruce Weber secured a commitment from a talented freshman named Jereme Richmond shortly after watching Richmond play his first high school game. It's fair to say that Richmond may have been the most highly anticipated recruit in Illini history. Illini fans waited four years for Richmond to arrive on campus, during which time he never wavered in his commitment. As other recruits, starting with the highly-regarded class of 2009, began to jump on board, Illini fans and the national media could sense something special building in Champaign for the 2010-11 season. Richmond was expected to be a big part of that - a versatile, athletic player with a mean streak that the team's upperclassmen lacked.

Instead of something special, however, we got more of the same from the Illini basketball team. Maddening losses to inferior teams. A .500 record in conference play. The inability to execute in close games. Chemistry problems. It all added up to a 20-14 season which ended in the "third round" (f/k/a "the second round") of the NCAA tournament. And unfortunately, Richmond was a big part in the season, but for all of the wrong reasons. He was as inconsistent as the team, occasionally putting up big numbers (witness his double-double against Ohio State), but often disappearing for long stretches. He was benched for the loss at Wisconsin after leaving the team for a few days, and didn't play in either of the team's NCAA tournament games after being suspended for unspecified rules violations. And today, after several weeks of smoke coming from the Interwebs, came the announcement that the Jereme Richmond era will end after just one season, as Richmond will enter the NBA draft and not return for his sophomore season in college.

I've been pretty rough on Bruce Weber this year and I still think he should be fired, but I'm finding it hard to fault his handling of Richmond. Clearly, Weber had to recruit him and stick with him - fans would not have been pleased if another highly-touted in-state player got away - even though Richmond had several unpleasant incidents during his high school career including getting kicked off his team for, among other transgressions, fighting with a teammate. (Does that count as foreshadowing?) If Weber did anything wrong with Richmond, it was not giving him a starting spot in the lineup right away, as future high-level recruits may wonder if they'll have to sit behind a grinder like Bill Cole if they come to Illinois. But as a short term proposition, giving more minutes to Richmond probably wouldn't have helped us win many more games this year, as Richmond never really played up to his ranking, and it's possible (probable?) that Richmond would have left after this year no matter how Weber had dealt with him.

Unfortunately, Richmond's departure leaves the 2011-12 Illini with a huge hole to fill. The team already has to replace four seniors, and now there are only two returning players on the roster (Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson) who have logged significant minutes. With Richmond gone there are no proven inside players on the team, and we'll be relying on a transfer from Bradley who missed last season with an injury (Sam Maniscalco) to help freshman Tracy Abrams run the point. The incoming 2011 class is talented, versatile, and deep but lacks star power - it's not like we're bringing in multiple McDonald's All-Americans next year.

The last time Illinois made wholesale changes to their roster like this was the 2002-03 season, but that year's freshmen (including Dee Brown, James Augustine, and Deron Williams) could lean on seniors Brian Cook (and Sean Harrington). By contrast, the 2011-12 Illini will have only one senior - Maniscalco, who has yet to suit up for the team. To me, the current scenario is more reminiscent of the 1998-99 Illini team, which replaced five senior starters with several talented (but not super-talented) underclassmen. That team, of course, finished in last place in the Big Ten. One saving grace for next year - the 98-99 Big Ten was loaded (seven NCAA tournament teams, 2 final four teams), while the 2011-12 Big Ten will be weak, which might help keep the team from sinking too far in the standings. Still, this doesn't look like the kind of situation in which a coach on the hot seat - and Weber will be on the hot seat next year - would want to find himself. Given all of the uncertainty surrounding the program right now, if the team struggles in 2011-12 it's likely that the end of the Jereme Richmond era will be followed by the end of the Bruce Weber era.

Year Two - A Cubs 2011 Season Preview

"Year Two" of the Ricketts regime will begin on Friday, and whoever scheduled the Cubs season opener for April Fool's Day has a great sense of humor. Thanks to payroll constraints, the Cubs return most of the same cast of characters from "Year One" (which looked like just about every other year I've lived through as a Cubs fan). Jim Hendry was able to bring in a new first baseman, a new/old face to help out in the bullpen, and a middle-of-the-rotation starter, and he deserves praise for biting the bullet on Carlos Silva and removing his bloated contract from our roster, guaranteed money be damned. But will the changes Hendry made be enough to vault the Cubs into serious contention in the competitive NL Central?

The Pitching Staff

The Cubs may lack a true ace, but they have a solid (and healthy) starting rotation, which is more than the Brewers, Reds, and Cardinals can say right now. Ryan Dempster, Carlos Zambrano, Matt Garza, and Randy Wells should each give the Cubs between 180 and 200 quality innings. Much was made of Garza's poor performance in spring training, but unless he's hiding an injury there's no cause for alarm. Marlon Byrd hit over .400 during spring training, but I haven't seen anyone writing about how he's going to threaten Ted Williams this year. Koyie Hill went 1 for 32 during spring training, but...OK, bad example, but you get my point - spring training is such a small sampling of games that it's hardly predictive of a player's performance for the year. Andrew Cashner is the only unknown in the rotation right now, and you could do a lot worse than having him as your fifth starter (see Silva, Carlos or Estes, Shawn). The Cubs are also strong in the back of the bullpen with Carlos Marmol closing and Kerry Wood and Shawn Marshall setting up. The middle relief crew (Grabow, Samardzija, Russell, Mateo) is a big pile of "meh", but that's true of pretty much any team's middle relievers.

The Offense

Besides Geovany Soto and Starlin Castro, the Cubs don't have any offensive players on the upside of their careers. They do have some aging veterans who have put up big numbers in the past (Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Carlos Pena), and the team will need a big bounceback from at least two of those players (and maybe all three) to contend in 2011. I've said it before and I'll say it again - Pena's move from a pitcher's park to a hitter's park makes him a good bet to dramatically improve on last year's numbers. I also think Aramis Ramirez (.271/.321/.526 post-All-Star Break in 2010 - which is similar to his career .282/.340/.499 line) has another big year left in him. But Soriano is getting more and more one-dimensional on offense (he had fewer stolen base attempts than AJ Pierzynski did last year), so he's going to have to top 30 homers (a total he hasn't reached since 2007), for him to be a net positive in the lineup.

As for the projected lineup (at least if the Opening Day lineup is any indication), I like seeing Kosuke Fukudome in the leadoff role, where his patient approach (he finished second on the team in 2010 with a .371 OBP), plays well. But if Mike Quade really plans on using Byrd (.429 SLG in 2010, career .423 SLG) in the number three slot all year when other teams in the NL Central will be using the likes of Albert Pujols, Joey Votto, or Ryan Braun, I'll guarantee that this team will finish no better than they did last year. I'd move Ramirez and Soto up to the 3 and 4 spots and move Byrd down to 6th or 7th in the order, next to Soriano. Everything else looks OK to me, although it would look better if the Cubs had an actual everyday second baseman.

Outlook

The 2011 pitching staff should be able to keep the Cubs in most games, just like last year, when the Cubs led the NL in quality starts. But I can't see the Cubs generating enough offense to be able to push them past all three of the teams that finished ahead of them last year. The Reds, Brewers, and Cardinals each boast at least one MVP candidate in the middle of their lineups, but the Cubs don't. So just like last year, I see between 74 and 78 wins, a 4th place finish, and one more "Wait Till Next Year" for Cubs fans.

Six Years Ago Tonight...

Saturday, March 26, 2005, was the date of one of the greatest moments (if not the greatest moment) in Illini basketball history. I still enjoy watching these highlights of the comeback against Arizona, but now it depresses me when I get to the end because it makes me realize (1) how far we've fallen as a program, and (2) that as long as Bruce Weber is our head coach, we'll never get to see our team cut down the nets again.

Farewell, Class of 2011 - Illini Season Wrap-up

I always find the day on which the NCAA tournament carries on without the Illini to be a sad one. This year, thanks to the vagaries of scheduling, the Illini were the last team eliminated in the "third round" (f/k/a "the second round")*, so today is that sad day. It also provides a good opportunity to remember the accomplishments of the class of 2011 - Demetri McCamey, Mike Davis, Mike Tisdale, and Bill Cole.

* I guess you could say we made the "Sweet Seventeen" - maybe we should hang a banner in the Assembly Hall to commemorate it!

EDIT - we actually weren't the last team eliminated in the "third round". I forgot that FSU's evisceration of Notre Dame finished after our game did. How about an "Elite Eighteen" banner instead?

The outgoing senior class featured four good citizens who never caused any trouble off the court, and as individuals they made quite an impact on the Illini record book: McCamey finished second all-time in assists; Davis finished second all-time in rebounds; Tisdale finished second all-time in blocked shots; and Cole...ummm...posted a lot of Matto Chart points, I guess. Unfortunately, they never achieved much in the way of team success. They never came close to a Big Ten title (don't throw the second-place finish of 2008-09 at me when they were closer to ninth place than first), they only made two NCAA tournament appearances, and they managed just the one NCAA tournament victory this year against UNLV. They also have the misfortune of being probably the most disrespected class in Illini history (mostly by supporters of Bruce Weber, who'll do anything, including trashing players, to prop him up). But despite their limitations as players, I'd say that their lack of team success falls in Weber's lap, as Weber failed them in so many ways:

• Even though Tisdale, McCamey, and Davis started together from their sophomore year on, Weber never was able to get them to run his motion offense effectively, and he never adjusted to find a scheme that would better suit his players' skill sets.
• Weber failed to recruit anyone of consequence in the classes immediately before and after their class.
• Although recruiting finally picked up with the high school classes of 2009 and 2010, Weber still failed to bring in a true point guard to back up McCamey or a non-finesse big man to complement Davis, Cole and Tisdale.
• Weber failed to properly integrate the younger talent (the Illini featured five consensus top-100 players, including one McDonald's All-American, among their underclassmen) with the upperclassmen.

So thank you, class of 2011 - you had to do a lot of heavy lifting to carry the team throughout your Illini careers, and there was a lot of disappointment, but you handled yourselves with dignity and at least you went down fighting. A lot of Illini fans may not realize it yet, but we'll miss you and your contributions going forward. Best of luck to you in your future endeavors.

Can the Mets Teach the Cubs a Lesson?

Yes, this is a baseball blog, too. I've been a little Illini-heavy lately, but since they're out of the NCAA tournament, you'll be hearing a lot more about the Cubs. But first, a few words about the Mets. Hmmm...that sounds confusing, but I promise that it'll all shake out by the end of this post.

Yesterday, the Mets released lefthander Oliver Perez, eating the remainder of his $12 million contract. This came just days after they released second baseman Luis Castillo, eating the remainder of his $6 million contract. Two thoughts:

1. Remember last year at the trading deadline, when there was a rumor that the Cubs and Mets were discussing a deal that would have sent Carlos Zambrano to New York for Perez and Castillo? I'm not sure how much truth there was to that story, but considering how well Zambrano finished last season and that Perez and Castillo appear to be finished, we Cubs fans can thank our lucky stars that the trade never actually went through. Kudos to you, Jim Hendry!

2. Now let's see if Hendry can follow the Mets' lead and earn some extra kudos from me by eating some of the Cubs' bloated contracts (I'm mostly thinking of this one).

Justice is Finally Done - Bruce Pearl is Fired!

One day after the end of the Illini basketball season (I'll have more to say about that soon), we Illini fans with older memories received some fantastic news. In the last six months, Bruce Pearl has had his name dragged through the mud courtesy of an NCAA investigation, lost $1.5 million in salary, was suspended from coaching for part of the SEC portion of Tennessee's schedule, and been humiliated in a first-round NCAA tournament loss. Now comes the cherry on the icing on the cake - Bruce Pearl has been fired as Tennessee coach for his unethical behavior (although the AP story still gets its history wrong - here's the correct version of what happened between Pearl and the Illini).

It's good to see that Pearl finally got what he deserved, and even though it took over 20 years, I'm glad to see Lou Henson and Jimmy Collins are vindicated, and maybe now Henson will get what he deserves - a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame. And this is probably the best way to express Illini fans' feelings about you, Bruce Pearl:

Bill Self Used to Coach at Illinois? No Way! Illinois-Kansas Preview

As Illinois gets set to face #1 seed Kansas on Sunday night, you may hear something about Kansas coach Bill Self being the coach at Illinois before Bruce Weber was. I think there's some sort of federal law that anyone who writes about college basketball has to mention it in his/her preview of the game, and I'm sure we'll hear about it at least thirty times during tonight's broadcast. I don't want to spend any time in a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison, so to be safe, I've gotten that out of the way right up front.

Now, before we get to tonight's game, I need to say one more thing about Friday's win over UNLV. Of course I'm glad we won, and I'm especially happy for the seniors for winning an NCAA tournament game. But some of the extreme Weber supporters are going a little over the top in their celebration, as if the win validates everything they've said to prop up Weber, when all we did was win an 8/9 seed game in the first round. Friday's win doesn't erase the last four years of mediocrity, and it doesn't prove that Weber is a better coach than Lon Kruger (unless you also want to argue that Mike Davis is a better coach than Mike Krzyzewski because Indiana once beat Duke in the NCAA tournament). And it bothers me that if Illinois had played all year like they did on Friday, then they wouldn't have to face a team like Kansas in the second round. So let's try not to get too carried away.

OK - finally on to the actual game preview. I could run numbers or player matchups, but they'll favor Kansas. I could talk about the coaching matchup, but Kansas has that in their favor too. The only chance Illinois has tonight is if they play the way they did in the first half on Friday for the entire game. But Illinois still hasn't won back-to-back games since the first week of January, and the odds of them merely playing two great games in a row at this point (to say nothing of winning them both), especially when the second one is against a team that a lot of people are picking to win the NCAA tournament, will be too much to overcome. As much as I'd love to see Illinois playing next weekend, I'll have to say that the ride ends tonight.

Kansas 78

Illinois 62