whitesoxfan101

QUOTE(fathom @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 01:20 PM) Couple of interesting tidbits: - At the hospital, they only tested for alcohol, and not drugs. - When Jamar went back to the apartment complex, at least one of the basketball players not involved in crash went to check on Carlwell (unconscious) with Jamar, and they went back into the apartment. There were numerous basketball players at the apartment complex they went back to, and it sure seems like they were trying to help Jamar sober up. Weber should be absolutely embarrassed about this entire string of events. There is a blood sample of Jamar's from the hospital undergoing tests at the lab in Champaign County right now. As for point #2, I'm not sure where you heard that, but i'm skeptical of it. NOBODY saw Jamar for 2 hours after he made the 911 call, which was about 5 mins after he got back to the complex. I believe other players live at the complex (almost all of the basketball players live off campus I believe, which is another issue that should be addressed), but with as fast as help got there for Brian (somebody called 911 almost immediately after seeing the car), if players were trying to help sober up Jamar (which IS possible) it was after Carlwell had left in an ambulance. Either way, this team has some serious issues.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 12:58 PM) Wow. I heard he was suspended for at least the rest of the season, anybody else think if or appearantly WHEN this gets worse he'll be straight kicked off the team?? If he ever plays again for Illinois, I will have lost all respect for Bruce Weber, and will want him fired. As it is now, he can't recruit AND his team has some major off the court issues, which is trouble itself.

QUOTE(fathom @ Feb 20, 2007 -> 12:57 PM) There's a lot more to come from this. I expect the next big story will be who supplied the alcohol at that basketball team party that night. I heard it wasn't even a basketball team party, it just so happened most of them showed up. It's far from a sure thing that players themselves supplied the alcohol, but either way this is far from over. I guess wearing orange is appropriate for this squad.

Figured this deserved it's own thread... http://www.wandtv.com/dsp_story.cfm?storyi...uestTimeout=500 Welp, that's 1 more open scholly. What an idiot Jamar is. It's also being reported on radio in Chambana that Jamar blew a .17, AFTER the 2 hours he was MIA before he showed up at the hospital. And keep in mind the drug test, which isn't going to be good, won't be in a for a few weeks.

Collins wouldn't start on Wisconsin? IMO, if Wisconsin falls, it will be due to the lack of a true point. Put him and Chris Rock in the backcourt, and yikes....

I can't remember if I posted a thread like this yet this offseason, and if I did, I don't care because it needs to be said again. I have a question folks, and keep in mind how negative I normally am. WHY ARE SO MANY SOX FANS IN A STATE OF PANIC?? We didn't have a firesale folks, in fact, our payroll is still over 100 million and a couple million dollars higher. We have 4/5 of our starting rotation back, and the one starter that is one is a soon to be 31 year old, in the last year of his deal, with 1,700 innings on his arm, stuff that is getting worse at a terrifying rate, and who was 13-9 with a 5.02 ERA as of September 12th of last year. That is AWFUL kids, AWFUL. He was a bad pitcher for over 5 months. All the "OMG he won 17 games" crap is pure hinsight. Yeah, he won 4 straight starts and lowered his ERA to a gaudy 4.53 (league average) in the process, starts that came AFTER we were just about dead. Where was it when we weren't dead Freddy? And of course, those 4 starts were against offensive juggernauts Seattle and LA, as well as a Detroit team that couldn't hit in the 2nd half and at Minnesota, AFTER we were eliminated. Also, our bullpen is a lot better, our entire lineup is back, we got a catcher that actually can hit lefties, we got Erstad, who although not great, will be better than Pods or the 2006 version of Brian Anderson if he stays healthy, and 3 very good arms in Masset, Danks, and Gio (although they might not help this year, outside of Masset perhaps), plus who knows about Floyd. Ryan Sweeney is a year older, Josh Fields is a year older, and Charlie Haeger is a year older. Maybe I'm just being a big homer here, but I feel good about this team. IMO, although we enter 2007 with more questions than we had entering 2006, we have LESS questions entering 2007 than we did 2005. Combine that with Detroit's old, bad offense and the reality that Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers are both 100, and the fact that Liriano and Radke are out of comission (plus, are Jason Barlett, Jason Tyner, and Nick Punto going to REALLY hit that well again)? and I actually feel really good about 2007.

Collins would not be better that Conley, but he's still really good. Oh, and Misery State missed last years dance exclusively due to being a Valley team, regardless of what the lying, stupid committee says.

If he stays healthy, we'll have a significant upgrade at one of our two OF black holes from last year. Big if though.

I'm curious as to why Robinson and Chalmers still start.....Collins is a lot better than both of them.

As predicted at the time it happened by yours truly, the biggest recruiting loss for Bruce, by far, was Sherron Collins. How even he could screw that up I'll never know.

Bradley is making a run eerily similar to last year right now, and has a really good RPI. I was impressed with them at VCU the other night.

The DA in Champaign is expected to say and/or do something tomorrow. I expect news on whether or not Jamar was drunk and/or had alcohol in his system. Even if we find out he didn't have alcohol in his system (which is possible, but not likely), I'm still assuming Jamar is in deep, deep trouble due to leaving the scene as well as the fact that i'm almost positive he was under the influence of something other than alcohol that evening, and that test is still a few weeks away from being done. Tomorrow should be interesting though.

The new rivals 150 agrees with me....McCamey, Watkins, and Tisdale are all good findings, and the Cold scholly was premature, not only because he's not that great, but also because we could have had Darquavis Tucker, who is a lot better and a bigger need as a wing. Still not a bad class though.

Height is overrated in terms of post defense. It's all about ball denial, and in fact if the guards do a good job of dening and plugging the passing lanes (which Tatum, Mullins, and Young all do), then it's very difficult to get the ball into the post, even if the post player has position. Also, great to see the Illini just win today and get it over with under those circumstances. Frazier is such a weird player, he has NBA lottery pick skills at everything but shooting, but can't shoot at all.

Brian, Luther, and Dee will all be there tomorrow. If that doesn't get the team ready to go, I'm really not sure what will.

That dunk contest was PATHETIC, and the 2 best dunks (Tyrus jumping over Ben and finishing lefty, who is 6'2 to Nate Robinson's 5'8, and Dwight Howard's 12'6" sticker thing) didn't even make the finals. That contest is the kind that sends the thing into oblivion, simliar to 1996 when the white guy in his Clipper warm ups, Brent Barry, won. That would have ended the thing all together if not for Kobe and Vince Carter coming around.

I can tell you for a fact Butler is small because they play Willie at the 3 and 4 when he's in, and he's only 6'3. His HS team last year was just as big as Butler is this year. Also, random info, but I was at the 1st and 2nd round games in 2002 when SIU beat #6 Texas Tech and #3 Georgia to advance to the Sweet 16. Kent Williams and Jermaine Dearman were unstoppable, and Dearman looked like Ludacris, IIRC.

My buddy on Butler (Veasley, #21) might have had one of his better games of his freshman year, and I'd say for sure played his most minutes in a game (he played probably 32 minutes or so) and SIU wins a great game. I'll take it.

So Tyson Chandler is Bill Russell eh?? Learn something new everyday, only 11 rings to go.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Feb 15, 2007 -> 04:10 PM) If we can win @ Butler I really think we have a decent shot to get a protected seed. That'd be fantastic. That'll be a hell of a game. They'd have no chance in Carbondale, but they've won 22 straight games at Hinkle, and most of them haven't even been close at all. I know a freshman on Butler, and I really wish I could go tomorrow (and i'd have great seats), but I am too tired and busy to do the drive to Indy. I've seen Butler in person though enough to tell you that: 1. You better guard the 3 like hell, or they will do bad things to the defense. 2. They have nobody taller than 6'7 or 6'8, so Falker and Shaw should play very well. 3. Tatum vs. Graves and Mullins vs. Green are going to be outstanding matchups to watch. With that said, I think SIU wins and keeps it low scoring, due to Falker and Shaw. Butler's only chance is to hit the 3's, and mix some dribble drive and use their quickness to get the SIU bigs in foul trouble, which they can do, but if they don't....Falker and Shaw will go off.

Just got done watching Winthrop/Missouri State on the TiVO. As good as Winthrop looked when I saw them in person, this game was even more impressive. To dominate the 2nd half like that on the road against a team that IMO will make the dance is very impressive, and damn they can shoot. Their only 4 losses were all against ranked teams too, and remember they almost beat Tennessee in the first round last year. They are going to give some #4 seed a living hell in the 1st round of the dance.

If Jamar is out the door for good (speculatory for now at least), that makes 2008 even more interesting. There are a lot of good players in that class that the Illini could very well get (even with Jones a KU lock) and that class could actually be a good one.

Just for the record, I've never read Macbeth. So yes, I was owned on a count of being dumb there

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Feb 16, 2007 -> 01:13 PM) How so? The Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma is the last remaining descendants of the Illini. They were also one of the main voices of opposition of the chief. They couldnt be paid off in your opinion? What makes the Seminole tribe so much easier to pay off than the descendants of the illini? One way to investigate this is to look at why the Peoria tribe actually dislikes the Chief, and why the Seminole tribes do not feel that way about FSU. I have no clue, I just know that is why FSU got to keep their mascot. Maybe they offered more money than Illinois, lol.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Feb 16, 2007 -> 12:06 PM) Sad thing is he's 58. Some 25-year-old marquette alum shouldn't be senselessly beating up a 58-year-old man. That's disgusting... I'd agree that it's classless all the way, but Coppock is about 6'5 and in decent shape, he should have been able to hold his own.