Sunday Morning: Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball News for August 8-14
By Editorial Staff
With Illinois football ramping up and the basketball team not back on campus until August 20th, it has been a bit of a quiet week in the Illini hoops world, with the exception of the non-conference slate getting released, Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey traveling to Europe, and class of 2011 recruit Nnanna Egwu preparing to have back surgery for a herniated disc.
BASKETBALL NEWS ON WRITING ILLINI THIS PAST WEEK
→ MIKE DAVIS SUMMER BASKETBALL SCHOOL, PART III
→ ILLINI BASKETBALL CLASSICS: ILLINOIS BATTLES WISCONSIN FOR 2003 BIG 10 TITLE
→ MIKE DAVIS SUMMER BASKETBALL SCHOOL, PART II
ILLINI BASKETBALL PLAYER NEWS
#1 D.J. Richardson
While there has been much talk about the incoming Illini freshman class and the rededicated senior class, somewhat lost in the shuffle this summer has been Illinois’ all-important sophomore class, including 2010 Big Ten Freshman of the Year D.J. Richardson. Illinois assistant coach Wayne McClain recently discussed his expectations for Richardson’s sophomore season.
→ MCCLAIN EXPECTS RICHARDSON TO MAKE ANOTHER LEAP
#2 Joseph Bertrand
After sitting out last season with a knee injury, redshirt freshman Joseph Bertrand is expected to back up senior point guard Demetri McCamey in 2010, and is listed as 1 of 17 redshirts expected to contribute next season in a Rivals.com story.
→ REDSHIRTS FIGURE TO PLAY VITAL ROLES FOR 12 TEAMS
#3 Brandon Paul and #42 Tyler Griffey
Speaking of Illini sophomores, Brandon Paul and Tyler Griffey left on Thursday for the Global Sports Academy European Tour. Coached by Illinois assistant Jay Price, the U.S. team led by Paul, Griffey and some other local college players are 2-0 thus far and have 3 remaining games in Belgium and Germany.
→ GRIFFEY & PAUL DISCUSS THEIR EUROPEAN TRIP TO GERMANY & BELGIUM
→ GRIFFEY AND PAUL LEAVE FOR GLOBAL SPORTS ACADEMY EUROPEAN TOUR
→ UPDATES FROM JAY PRICE’S TWITTER ACCOUNT (@CoachJayPrice)
→ UPDATES FROM TYLER GRIFFEY’S TWITTER ACCOUNT (@tylergriffey)
→ BRANDON PAUL’S YOUNGER BROTHER DARIUS GETTING SOME RECOGNITION
#32 Demetri McCamey
Just as Paul George and Luke Babbitt were under the radar players in pre-draft mock selections, NBA Draft Insider lists Minnesota’s Rodney Williams and Illinois senior Demetri McCamey as two players who could be lottery picks with huge seasons next year.
→ WHO ARE THE CHARACTERS IN 2011?
#54 MIKE TISDALE
Illini senior center Mike Tisdale was in New York this week as part of the USA Basketball Select Team that was preparing the Men’s National Team for the upcoming World Championship in Turkey. The Hoops Report provided a summary of how Tisdale and other college players fared during 24-minute scrimmages against the NBA players on Tuesday and Wednesday.
→ USA BASKETBALL SELECT TEAM: NY DAY 2 STATS, RECAP
→ USA BASKETBALL SELECT TEAM: NY DAY 1 STATS, RECAP
ILLINI BASKETBALL TEAM NEWS
Illini Non-Conference Schedule Released
The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics released the basketball team’s complete non-conference schedule on Wednesday. The Illini will play 13 non-conference games before Big Ten play, with games against Texas, Pitt/Maryland, North Carolina, Gonzaga and Missouri the headliners. Here are my predictions and some more news on the Illini non-conference slate.
→ ILLINOIS ANNOUNCES NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
→ WHICH GAME IS MOST WORRISOME FOR ILLINOIS FANS?
→ ILLINOIS RELEASES NON-CONFERENCE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
ACC/Big Ten Challenge Times Set
Prior to Illinois’ non-conference schedule coming out, the complete schedule for this season’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge was released on Monday, with the Tar Heels traveling to Illinois on Tuesday, November 30th. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 8:30 p.m. central time. Here’s the television schedule for the other 10 ACC/Big Ten Challenge games in 2010.
→ ACC/BIG TEN CHALLENGE TV TIMES SET
Illinois Projected to Have Better Luck Next Season
SI.com’s Andy Glockner listed Illinois as 1 of 5 teams that will have better luck in the 2010-2011 season than they did in the 2009-2010 campaign.
→ FLORIDA IS HEADED FOR BETTER LUCK NEXT YEAR, AS ARE FOUR OTHERS
Speculating a Future Illinois-Butler Series
With interest in the UIC-Illinois game waning, David Woods of the Indianapolis Star suggests that Illinois and Butler start playing each season.
→ WHAT ABOUT BUTLER VS. ILLINI?
ILLINI BASKETBALL COACHING NEWS
Bruce Weber
Illinois head coach Bruce Weber will be speaking at the NIKE Championship Clinic (October 8-10) in Cleveland, Ohio.
→ WEBER TO SPEAK AT NIKE CHAMPIONSHIP CLINIC
ILLINI BASKETBALL RECRUITING NEWS
Nnanna Egwu
St. Ignatius senior center and 2011 Illini verbal commitment Nnanna Egwu is scheduled to have an outpatient surgery this week for a herniated disc in his back.
Mychael Henry
Mychael Henry, another Illini 2011 recruit, is ready to have a big senior season at Chicago’s Orr High School after averaging 29 points and 9 boards as a junior.
→ MYCHEAL HENRY SET TO LEAD 2011 ILLINI RECRUITING CLASS
Mike Shaw and Josh Oglesby
Even with the commitments of Egwu, Henry and Mount Carmel’s Tracey Abrams, Illinois still has two more scholarships available for 2011, with offers out to De La Salle’s Mike Shaw, Rock Island’s Chasson Randle, and Cedar Rapids’ (Iowa) Josh Oglesby. The News Gazette’s Paul Klee detailed Shaw’s visit to campus last week during his Wednesday basketball chat. As for Oglesby, he recently made an unofficial visit to Iowa, where he will likely end up.
→ TALKING MIKE SHAW IN KLEE’S WEEKLY BASKETBALL CHAT
→ JOSH OGLESBY HITS UP IOWA ON UNOFFICIAL VISIT
Anthony Davis
Amid the report that his recruitment was for sale, Perspectives’ Anthony Davis has verbally committed to Kentucky.
→ AMID CONTROVERSY, DAVIS COMMITS TO KENTUCKY
Chicago Basketball Recruiting Rankings
See where Joe Henricksen has Davis, Henry, Egwu, Shaw, Abrams and other Chicago-area high school basketball players listed in his comprehensive rankings.
→ BEST OF THE BEST…AND GENE HACKMAN?
BIG TEN/COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS
Get updated on the recovery of Purdue’s Robbie Hummel from a gruesome knee injury suffered against Minnesota last season and read an interesting piece on Mike Davis (that is, the former Indiana and current UAB coach and not the Illini senior forward).
→ PURDUE’S HUMMEL ON TARGET WITH REHAB
→ UAB’S DAVIS HAS MOST LOW APR SCORES AMONG BASKETBALL COACHES