When my now 17 year-old son was a wee little lad, we dealt with the trials and tribulations of potty training just like every other exasperated parent. For weeks nothing worked, until one day a stroke of genius fired in the cranium — the pooping shark.
Knowing our son was obsessed with a book about the meat-eating sea killers, we purchased a soft rubber-coated Great White at the local toy store. When introduced to it, he naturally went nuts. But there was a catch. He had to do his business properly. It took two weeks. Achievement unlocked. And a little boy, in the greatest way possible, lost his damn mind.
With conference tournaments among high-major teams about to get underway, a number of notable schools are vying for not No. 2 — but No. 1.
Big Ten Tournament pick: Illinois Fighting Illini (+500, DraftKings)
Damn it, Evans! Your extreme faith in the Orange and Blue is uninhibited homerism. Please, fire yourself from this site. You’re a LOSER!
Sorry, this boisterous jackass of The Gaming Juice is going nowhere. And regardless of where my personal allegiances lie, Illinois is entirely capable of partying hard in Minneapolis.
For the Illini to reach the pinnacle, they must continue to cook offensively. Blasted to another galaxy in the category for the last several weeks, they’ve channeled the basketball playing ghosts of ‘89 Flying Illini members Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson and Kenny Battle.
[ Bracket Big Board: Brad Evans’ NCAA Tournament projections ]
Since Feb. 1, Illinois has scored an almost unbelievable 1.294 points per possession, hitting 56.5% from two and 36.5% from three. Whether via improbable Marcus Domask fadeaways, Terrence Shannon downhill bullies or Coleman Hawkins all-around baskets, the Illini have been historically effective.
On the other end, “night and day” is the difference for Illinois defensively. Completely unreliable and erratic guarding the opposition, the Illini often ushered opponents to the hoop without inhibition. As a result, they’re effective field-goal percentage ranking over their past 10 games wades in a cesspool (No. 266). Alarmingly, they’ve allowed 49.2% from two and an utterly inexcusable 41.9% from three. No bueno.
Illinois has fallen short twice against Purdue this season. The first matchup was sans Shannon. In the second meeting, the Illini, though they were in it to the bitter end, shot a lousy 4-for-16 beyond the arc. If they bottle up the defensive energy shown in Iowa City (0.859 pts/poss allowed), a third time against Purdue — for a seemingly inevitable Big Ten tourney title clash — could be the charm.
You could wager on far worse at +500.