Absentee Blogging

Sorry for the lack of updates recently folks, the past week has left me both swamped and apathetic, a deadly combination. I'm going to try and get regular entries up this week once again. As always, I will be insightful and witty.

Ok...I'll start being insightful and witty, I swear!

Breaking: Jamar will Miss the Rest of the Season

I'm really not looking forward to that accident report, especially not after this release from Coach Weber

It has been mutually agreed upon between myself and Jamar Smith and his family, that he sit out the remainder of this season so that he can focus all of his attention on the physical, emotional, academic and other related issues he will face in the coming weeks.

Other related issues? Uh-oh.

Smith to Miss Remainder of Season (Daily Illini)

Carlwell Recovering After Crash

Early this morning, Jamar Smith and Brian Carlwell were injured in a car crash on S. First St. Jamar was driving the car, presumably on the way to his apartment. The blizzard that has descended on C-U was just starting to get heavy about that time and was more than likely a factor in the crash. In any case, Smith and Carlwell both suffered serious concussions and were immediately taken to the hospital. Jamar was released last night, but Carlwell was listed in critical condition until just recently this afternoon. A local named Mark Deming took pictures of the crash site and put them up to show just why Carlwell is listed in critical condition. It's a miracle he lived through it.

They're also now speculating on whether or not Jamar had been drinking. His car crossed the center line before crashing last night. I think it's not something to get into right now, but I can't imagine that Smith would have been so stupid as to drink and drive.

When I saw this item this morning on the Daily Illini's website (who has done an incredible job covering the story and the snow day), I was too shocked to report on it. It's apparently reverberating elsewhere in the sports world, with SI and Deadspin talking about it today.

All the good thoughts from the Blogging Illini go out to Brian Carlwell. At this point, basketball just isn't that important.

Crash Pictures (Markdeming.com)

Carlwell Condition Improves After Crash (Daily Illini)

Blogger for Hire

The CampusByline has asked me if I would post a couple national college sports articles a week for them. I was happy to oblige, because as much as I love the Illini, I love talking about college sports in general just as much. My first post is already up for your enjoyment. It's a look at the brewing issue about West Virginia football recruit Noel Devine and Deion Sanders. So pop over there and read the posts by Kiyoshi, Jeremy and yours truly.

Hey, Deion Sanders is Relevant Again! (CampusByline)

(Picture courtesy of David Pache)

A Human Interest Story

Warren Carter has had a pretty rough life up to this point and that's something I didn't know about until reading this article from USA Today yesterday. I have to thank the announcers of last night's game for pointing this out. Warren and his brothers basically lived on their own for two years while their mother was in prison following a burglary charge, but there's a whole story behind that. Read the article to get the full story, it's a good read anyway.

Carter Family Finds Will and Way To Succeed After Mother Went to Prison (USA Today)

Ladies Day in Illini Nation

Frigid temperatures won't bother the women's softball team when they open the season tomorrow in Miami. The Illini kick off the season at the Diamond Fun & Sun Classic with their opening game against No. 20 Louisville. The Illini are returning some key starters to the team, including last year's Big Ten RBI leader Angelena Mexicano as well as Kisten Martin and Molly Lawhead, two third-team Big Ten selections from a year ago. The Illini also brought in two highly recruited freshman pitchers from California, Vicky Brown and Ashley Wright. The Fighting Illini are trying to improve on a 24-31 campaign last year and are hoping to build on their first victory in three years over the alumni squad last fall.

This will be the first time this season Illinois has had the chance to play outside. The Illini have spent their January practice schedule indoors at the Irwin Indoor practice facility, so they may be at a disadvantage to the warmer climate teams such as tournament opponent (No. 16) Oklahoma (although it hasn't been all that warm there either this year). But, Coach Terri Sullivan believes the Illini have one of the top indoor facilities in the nation and that the Illini are game ready for the tournament.

Aside from Louisville and Oklahoma, Illinois will also take on Illinois St. and tourney host, Florida International. The tournament runs through Sunday, after which the Illini will have five days to rest before heading off to Las Vegas for the Louisville Slugger Tournament.

Illinois Softball Set to Open Friday (FightingIllini.com)

Illinois 58 Northwestern 43

That's the first time all season I've been impressed by an Illini win. Illinois, who always seems to freeze when confronted with zone, dismantled Northwestern, whose biggest weapon is zone. Illinois broke out the 17-3 lead by learning to find holes in the zone and dumping it down low early to free up outside shooters later on in the half. It was Pruitt and Carter getting easy buckets at first, then McBride and Fraizer (!) hitting wide open 3s to extend the lead.

Illinois also held off the big run of Northwestern in the first half, when the Wildcats narrowed the lead to three late in the first half. Shaun Pruitt hit two free throws (in a row!) and Rich his a three to put the Illini up eight going into halftime. After a slow start to the second half, Illinois put it away in the second half and cruised to the win.

Interesting game stats included Illinois' free throw percentage (71.4%), Shaun Pruit's rebound total (15 to NU's team total of 16) and Rich McBride's three pointers made (5 vs. NU's team total of 3). None of this was really surprising though, as NU honestly looked like it was one of my local high school teams. There was the small gym, the huge number of white guys playing with one token black player, not to mention the number of large white men in the stands.

So now the Illini have a short turn around before the biggest game so far this season at Indiana. That game will be a little different, as half the stadium won't be filled with Illini fans and I'm thinking some of the student section for Indiana is actually going to show up for the contest.

Let's just hope that Illinois can make another group of portly old white men sad.

Illini Defense Secures Win Over Wildcats (Daily Illini)

Illinois at Northwestern Pregamearama

The flu, injuries, little practice time.

Who's ready for a basketball game?! Illinois' players seem to be having the kind of week that would probably keep most students in their dorms/apartments/boxes and nowhere else. But unfortunately for the Illini, they have to travel to the north side of Chicago for an away match-up against the pesky zone defense of Northwestern.

Pruitt appears to have the flu bug and the rest of the team just seems to be worn out from the long stretch without a game night off. This might be a blessing in disguise, as the collapsing zone defense of Northwestern might have trouble with a smaller line-up seeing more minutes (Meach, Calvin and Jamar might see heavy minutes while giving Chester another night off).

Illinois has an astounding 122-34 record against Northwestern, with a 59-21 advantage in games played up north. Illinois is looking to improve a more important record tonight, their Big Ten conference record. With a win, Illinois would go above .500 in conference for the first time this season and possibly start to see the big dance on the horizon.

Big game is going to need some big scoring. Illinois has been holding teams to low scoring totals, and NU isn't a team that scores much to begin with. As long as Illinois gets some perimeter production, I think they'll pull this out.

Prediction

Illinois - 53

Northwestern - 48

Game Time - 6 p.m.
Television - ESPN2

Illini Must Overcome Flu, Zone Defense (Daily Illini)

Illinois Game Notes vs. Northwestern (Fighting Illini.com)

Signing Day

- The Zooker is excited apparently, if Asst. Coach Reggie Mitchell is to be trusted in measuring this man's moods. Mitchell is in the live chat now and being very diplomatic about his responses. When asked about negative recruiting: " Reggie Mitchell: There's not much you can do to combat it besides keep talking about ourselves because we have a great product."

- Coach Mitchell is out of there to make some calls, and the humble white guy storm that is Ron Zook is taking questions at noon.

- Today is of course not without its controversy. With such a great recruiting class coming into a school with a combined 4 wins in the last two seasons, some people are crying foul. Deadspin has a story with a link to the New York Times story (and more of water skiing Zook). Michigan St. Coach, oh, sorry, FORMER Michigan St. coach John L. Smith is one of the more vocal accusers. I think maybe he hit himself a little too hard after losing to Illinois.

- Zook chat is up and running. Remember to keep your water sports questions to a minimum. The Zooker is already pretty excited today, any mention of skiing might put him over the top.

- Looks like the coaches are moving the last recruit into the signed column. It's official, Illinois has a top 20 recruiting class.

- Chat with the Zooker is finished. He's not a man of many words, so there really wasn't much gleaned out of that chat. Some good questions were asked of Ron about next year and about some of the new recruits, but there were some softballs in there too (a congrats from his brother? Don't they have cell phones for that?). Then again, the question I got in there wasn't exactly hard hitting journalism.

- Juice Williams is up for chat at 2 p.m. Bonus points to whoever asks him about being the next sex cannon.

- The Juice is loose in a few minutes, queue up your questions boys and girls.

- Ron Zook is going to be on ESPNU/ESPN2's signing day show soon. Just watching it now, it looks like USC nailed the top 3 recruits in the nation. Insanity.

- ESPN is ranking Illinois' draft class at 10, with Florida at number 1.

- Here is some positive ideas on why Illinois has a great recruiting class on ESPN2. Zook will be on to discuss at 2:50 CT.

- Juice's chat was pretty much a broken record, mostly questions asking how excited he was to be playing with receivers who can catch a ball. It looks like he worked on his footwork, pocket presence and defensive reading so far this off-season. Those are definitely going to be big next year.

- Zook's television interview wasn't much more informative than his chat, but he at least got a national voice to get his say about all the rumors alleging inappropriate recruiting.

- Final Recruit List (From Rivals)

SIGNED LETTER OF INTENT	Pos	Stars	Ht	Wt	40	RR	Video	Hometown
Daryle Ballew	DT		6-3	285	5.15	5.5		Cincinnati, OH
Arrelious Benn	WR		6-1	210	4.45	6.1		Washington, D.C.
Josh Brent	DT		6-3	280	-	5.9		Bloomington, IL
Nathan Bussey	ATH		6-2	202	4.5	5.6		Washington, D.C.
Jack Cornell Jr.	OL		6-5	291	5.33	5.7		Quincy, IL
Daniel Dufrene	RB		5-11	205	4.45	5.6		Visalia, CA
Brian Gamble	DB		5-11	185	4.65	5.6		Massillon, OH
Mike Garrity	OL		6-6	255	-	5.5		Batavia, IL
Daries Hodge	RB		6-0	213	4.4	5.4		Harrisburg, PA
Mark Jackson	OL		6-6	312	5.1	5.8		Cincinnati, OH
Steve Matas	DE		6-5	270	4.7	5.5		Mentor, OH
D'Angelo McCray	DT		6-4	289	4.64	5.8		Jacksonville, FL
Anthony Morris	DB		6-3	200	-	5.8		Harvey, IL
Troy Pollard	RB		5-8	177	4.5	5.5		Jacksonville, FL
Darius Purcell	DB		5-10	210	-	5.0		Chicago, IL
Erique Robertson	LB		5-10	207	4.55	5.5		Maple Heights, OH
Ian Thomas	LB		6-0	206	4.7	5.2		Berwyn Heights, MD
Marcus Thomas	DB		5-11	157	4.5	5.5		Chicago, IL
Craig Wilson	OL		6-7	290	5.2	6.0		Chatham, VA
Martez Wilson	DE		6-4	230	4.58	6.1		Chicago, IL

- Thanks to anyone and everyone who read this today. Keep your fingers crossed for next fall.

Photo Courtesy of Deadspin