Weber: ‘Indiana will suck’

Last time IU traveled to Champaign to take on Illinois, the game was one of the most highly anticipated matches of the year. 

Led by then-coach Kelvin Sampson and freshman star Eric Gordon, the Hoosiers played in front of a volatile Illini crowd.

When IU won, it boosted its record to 19-3 while Illinois dropped to 2-9 in conference play. 

Just 11 months later, things have dramatically changed, but the bitterness across the border remains. 

Although Sampson has been exiled from college basketball and Gordon has moved on to the NBA, Illinois coach Bruce Weber continues to add fuel to the rivalry between IU and U of I.

In June, during a 2008 Fighting Illini Meet and Greet Tour, Weber gave his take on what the upcoming Big Ten season would look like.

“The league should be wide open, and we can be right in the middle of it,” Weber said. “I do know one thing, though. I think Indiana will suck.”

Whether or not Weber’s prediction will result in another heated affair in Champaign remains to be seen, but both squads could certainly use a victory.

Both the Illini (13-2, 1-1) and the Hoosiers (5-9, 0-2) come into Saturday after losses to Michigan. But Illinois’ loss came in Ann Arbor and snapped a seven-game winning streak. The Hoosiers blew a 20-point second-half lead at home and extended their losing streak to five games. 

The Illini boast a balanced scoring attack, with four players averaging more than 10 points a game, led by sophomores Demetri McCamey and Mike Davis. McCamey torched IU last season at Illinois with 31 points, while the 6-foot-9 Davis is averaging 11.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.  

The Hoosiers, on the other hand, will once again play on the road, where they have struggled mightily so far, losing by 25 points at Wake Forest and 18 at Kentucky.

IU coach Tom Crean said his Hoosiers need to recover quickly from their tough loss to Michigan, but insists they have progressed lately.

“There’s a laundry list of what we’ve got to improve upon,” Crean said. “But we are improving.”

IU freshman Nick Williams, whose play has improved recently, agrees with Crean that the team has played better since the New Year.

“We believe in each other,” Williams said. “I saw it in guys’ eyes that even though we lost, we still played together, and I feel like earlier in the season a couple of guys would stray away and try to do their own thing.”

After the loss to Michigan, Crean said he recently watched an old regular-season game on ESPN Classic between his 2003 Marquette team against rival Louisville. That year Marquette advanced to the Final Four. Crean said watching his old team gave him a morale boost about the future of his current one.

“In two minutes my whole mood was perked,” Crean said Wednesday. “We’re going to get back to being in a couple of those games, but it doesn’t help tonight.”

Given the recent history between Indiana and Illinois, Crean may be back in a game of that intensity sooner than expected.