Well, we are fast approaching the midway point of the Big Ten schedule and I thought I would make myself depressed by summarizing the 2007-08 Illinois Fighting Illini season thus far. They are currently 9-10 and 1-5 in the conference with a game on the road with The Ohio State University tomorrow night, January 22nd. Chances are pretty damn good that they'll be 9-11 and 1-6 after that game. What the heck has gone wrong???

Highlights of the season:

• The Hawaii trip. Illinois headed out to Maui to take part in the Maui Invitational, in which they played Arizona State, Duke, and Oklahoma State. They whipped the currently ranked Sun Devils by a score of 77-54. ASU is currently 14-3, with wins over Xavier, Oregon, and Arizona. In all fairness, this was ASU's first game of the season and it showed. Then the Illini played Duke tough and then beat Oklahoma State 65-49. Three BCS conference programs and two convincing wins. Things were looking bright.
•  Braggin' Rights Game.  This game is always huge and, it seems, always won by the Illini. They didn't disappoint this year and the Illini eeked one out by a score of 59-58. As the score indicates, it wasn't pretty, but it was gutsy as Mizzou is the better team, as the rest of the season would demonstrate.

Lowlights of the season:

• Miami of Ohio. Illinois lost this one in overtime. At home. To a team that is currently 7-9 and 1-3 in the MAC. To be fair, the RedHawks have played some very good teams tough, losing at Louisville by 3, at USC by 4, and beating Xavier. Illinois shot 61.5% from the stripe. They shoot even an average percentage and they win in regulation. But just wait...it gets better!
• Tennessee State. I can't think of any possible justification for this one. Tennessee State came into Champaign and beat the Illini by a score of 60-58. This same TSU team gave up 102 points in a loss at Southeast Missouri State and all Illinois could muster was 58. You thought the 61.5% from the free throw line was bad against Miami? They shot 54.5% from the stripe in this contest! Again, this game was lost at the free throw line, but does it really matter? When Illini fans are crying that a few lost points at the free throw line cost them a win against Tennessee State, you know there's trouble.
• Penn State outrebounds Illini by 23.  No, that isn't a misprint. Illinois lost this game 68-64 but I don't even care about the score of this one. How do you let a team come into your gym and outrebound you 45-22??? I could see if the Nittany Lions came to town with Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, but that ain't the case!

There are many more, but those are the low of the low.

Things and People To Blame:

• Free-Throw Shooting: One word describes this team from the stripe - PATHETIC. I will never be able to wrap my mind around the notion that athletes who are playing basketball at the highest collegiate level cannot make free-throws with the same frequency as 40 year old men playing in a rec league. The team is shooting 59% from the stripe on the season. With a few losses in OT and a few more by less than 5 points, this team can't afford to be throwing points away. Unfortunately, this team gives them away in spades.
• Senior Leadership: On this squad, there is no senior leadership. The two seniors, Brian Randle and Shaun Pruitt, are this teams biggest enigmas. Randle picked up 4 fouls in a 5 minute 29 second stretch of the 2nd half in a close loss at Purdue. You almost have to try to do that! Shaun Pruitt has, at times, looked like there was no place he wanted to be less than on a basketball court. What is worse, when you want to go to your seniors down the stretch of a close game, the Illini can't do that because both Randle and Pruitt are absolutely brutal from the free throw line, shooting 50.8% and 55.7% respectively. I'd foul them in a tied game for crying out loud!
• Jamar Smith's Forced Redshirt: The loss of Jamar Smith for the season as punishment for his inability to know when to say "when" has really hurt this team's ability to score. He was their one consistent outside threat and their best guard on a team lacking good guards. His return next year will be welcomed.
• Bruce Weber's Recruiting: This squad is now all Weber's, with the exception of Randle, and it isn't very good. This year's class of freshmen seem promising, headlined by Demetri McCamey, Mike Tisdale, and Mike Davis. McCamey is the one contributing the most now, but Tisdale and Davis have shown flashes of what look to be solid to excellent players down the line. However, this year's squad is really painful to watch. Chester Frazier, God bless him, plays his heart out and could teach many on the team about guts and defense, but he isn't a point guard. He can't shoot either, so I guess he isn't a shooting guard either. I'll leave it to you to figure out what he is then. Anyway, Weber's classes in 2009 and 2010 are shaping up to be stellar and Smith and transfer Alex Legion will help in 2008, saving Weber's job.

The outlook for 2008-09 and beyond is bright, with Smith and Legion in 2008, recruits Brandon Paul, DJ Richardson, and Joseph Bertrand in 2009, and Jereme Richmond and Crandall Head in 2010 helping the squad. It makes the debacle that is this season halfway tolerable.