The Upstart Illini

The Fighting Illini are off to a spectacular start after traveling to Nashville and defeating Vanderbilt 69-63 on Thursday. The Illini were not predicted to do much if anything this season by many college basketball "experts" (including many Illini fans). Well they have proven many wrong so far and are off to a 3-0 start before today's game against Jackson St. Although, the first two teams they played were not the stiffest of competition, the Illini took care of business. The game at Vanderbilt showed what the Illini potentially could be-a never say die-fight to the end team. They will scratch and claw all the way until the final buzzer goes off. Some of the things that have been key for the Illini so far and if they keep on happening, this team could suprise some people: they have bought into the TEAM Concept-much was written about the issues that surrounded the team last year, which was a major factor for the poor season, the Seniors-Trent Meachem, Chester Frazier, and Calvin Brock have been solid so far-Trent shooting very well, Chester and Calvin contributing in ways that don't show up on the box score-one thing is the fact against Vandy, Chester and Demetri McCamey combined for 14 assists and only 1 turnover, Mike Davis has two double-doubles so far, which shows he is willing to get in there and mix it up-he has a lot of raw athleticism, which combined with skills and understanding of the game can lead to many more double-doubles, the bench has been a huge factor coming in and contributing to what the starters are doing, and finally the biggest factor that has plagued Illini basketball for recent season is Free-Throw Shooting: so far the Illini are shooting 77% on the season and made huge free-throws down the stretch at Vandy, while the Commodores missed plenty of key ones (usually it was the other way around the past few seasons).

There is a great possibility that the Illini can be off to a 6-0 or 5-1 start going into December with the upcoming South Padre Island Tournament. They could make Illini Nation forget about the struggles of last year and get the Illini back to the NCAA tournament and atop of the Big 10.

"College basketball may have its own version of the "Redeem Team," the popular nickname for Team USA during its run to the gold medal in the Beijing Olympics this past summer.

"That's us in a way," Illinois sophomore guard Demetri McCamey said. "Illinois hasn't had a season like last season in a long time. We are determined not to let that happen again. We are a team looking for redemption." ...

But Weber's luck on the recruiting trail finally appears to have turned for the better. Four prospects who are ranked among the top 150 signed with the Illini earlier this month. The group is ranked No. 10 nationally by Rivals.com and includes four-star shooting guards Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson, ranked No. 44 and No. 57 overall. Paul and Richardson committed more than a year ago.

"We have worked very hard at recruiting since we got here and sometimes things haven't gone our way," Weber said. "I think the key was Richardson committing to us first. Everything snowballed from there. We had a great relationship with him and once we had him we were able to call the other kids and say, 'Hey, we only have this many scholarships left.' "

Meacham has played with many of the incoming recruits and knows just how great the future of Illinois basketball looks. But he doesn't want his final season to be viewed as some sort of steppingstone either.

"The recruits we have coming in are very talented and are going to give this program a big boost," Meacham said. "I know the program is going to be really exciting after I'm gone, but I believe we can be a good team this year. We are starting to believe we can win and we're staying together. We need to remain tough and keep that mind-set of building on what we are doing every day."

Sounds like a player bound for redemption."