Oskee Wow Wow Illinois!

Illinois ran through their non-conference schedule at a stunning 14-0. I say stunning for several reasons. First of all, Illinois played some quality opponents, and did play most of them outside of the Assembly Hall. Beating Oregon, Arkansas, Missouri, Gonzaga, and Cincinatti on the road helped this team keep it's gaudy expectations and rankings. Beating Wake Forest at home is the crown jewel of a non-conference resume that should land the Illini a #1 seed in the tourney with games in Indianapolis and Chicago...if they can do well in the Big Ten. The start is stunning as well as Illinois won 13 of the 14 games by more than 12 points, and has yet to trail in the second half of any game. On top of that, Illinois has only trailed teams for less than 30 minutes...phenomenal.

We have managed to avoid the injury bug and we won our first conference game by 19 points. As excited as I get, I know tough games still remain. Specifically I worry about road contests at Iowa, Michigan St., and Wisconsin. I also worry about the team being off and getting ambushed by a lesser team like Indiana or Northwestern.

All that aside, I think Illinois is playing great. Most experts agree...except for Dick Vitale, who still ranks Illinois behind Kansas. I think Kansas is a good team, but they are without their superstar, have not played a road game, and have nearly lost 3 close games at home. Look for the Chicken-hawks to lose at Kentucky this weekend to get knocked back to earth.