illinoisfightingillini Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

College ShameDay: Who Embarrassed Themselves On Saturday (Besides Texas)?
Our weekly college football shame index. ...

How To Freak Out A Ref, By Illini Quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase
Either that referee really didn't want to seem like he had a conflict of interest by high-fiving a player from one of the teams, or he's a germaphobe. Considering it's probably the former, we now know every ref's kryptonite—run after them with your hand up and they'll walk over their own mother to...

Bruce Pearl’s First Con, And The World That Created A Monster (Deadspin Classic)
Over the weekend, one long-running college basketball feud came to a quiet and friendly conclusion: Jimmy Collins, a former Illinois assistant, finally received an apology from Bruce Pearl, the disgraced former Tennessee coach. As an Iowa assistant in 1989, Pearl had accused Collins of offering mone...

New Illinois Football Coach Using Porridge As Punishment
This is how Tim Beckman hopes to rid the Illini program of the taste left by Ron Zook's seven seasons in charge:...

Bruce Pearl's First Con, And The World That Created A Monster
The first time I met Jimmy Collins was in 2004. I was working on a profile of UW-Milwaukee's ascendant basketball coach Bruce Pearl and had come to Chicago to get the other side of the story. Collins was coaching at the University of Illinois-Chicago, but by that point he was much better known as Pe...

Fighting Illini Are Everywhere, Even In North Texas's Starting Lineup
None of these gentlemen are actually members of the North Texas Mean Green. They are, from left to right, current and former Illinois players Warren Carter, Jack Ingram, Rich McBride, Demetri McCamey, and Jamar Smith. We'd say it was a glitch or an honest mistake, but those five players have never b...

Illinois Men's Basketball Team Plays Better Basketball When Using A Men's Basketball
No. 17 Illinois got off to a slow start against Oakland tonight. They were down 15-6 in the first half when players complained to a ref that the game ball felt light. That's because it was a women's regulation basketball....

A Day Before The Game, The NCAA Figures Out That Wrigley Is A Death Trap For Football
It's, oh, 27 hours until Illinois and Northwestern kick off. But they'll be kicking off in one direction, every time, because one end zone goes right up against the brick and ivy walls. Tomorrow's going to look like backyard football....

Ron Zook Freaks Out, Has A Jim Mora Moment
After Illinois' loss to Minnesota last Saturday, Ron Zook addressed the team's prospects for bowl eligibility. It's one of the finest moments in Motor-Mouth History. H/T Erik...

Wrigley Field Tarts Itself Up For Another Rich Loser
Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day....

Ye Olde Shining Moment: A Basketball Montage To Remind Us How Good We Have It Now
Because neither video nor Luther Vandross was around in the 1940s, the NCAA Tournaments of those days concluded without the now-beloved "One Shining Moment" montage, which seems so very wrong. We've remedied the situation. Enjoy. [Footage via A Stern Warning]...

The Saddest, Most Pitiful Sentence Illinois Basketball Fans Will Ever Read
"Though Illinois is seeded No. 1 in the NIT, it couldn't host a first-round game because Cirque du Soleil is performing at the Assembly Hall this week." Even sadder? My parents have tickets. [IlliniHQ]...

Last Night's Winner: Losers
In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like the 1988-89 Miami Heat and the 1998-99 Clippers, who won last night because the New Jersey Nets lost....

NCAA Tournament Live Blog: (5) Illinois Vs. (12) Western Kentucky
Your live blogger for this game will be NBCSports.com contributor Yoni Cohen, whose Internet home is Yoco Hoops....

NCAA First Round: (5) Illinois vs. (12) Western Kentucky
South Region: No. 5 Illinois (24-9) vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky (24-8) When: Thursday, 9:55 p.m., EDT Where: Rose Garden, Portland, Oregon ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI 1) They're not that bad offensively. Fine, fine, so the Big Ten isn't exactly stacked with a bunch of Bo Kimbles and Kiki Vandeweghes....

Gentlemen, Warm Up Your Cookie Sheets
Michigan State is in Illinois right now, trying to win a share of the Big Ten title, so if you don't hear from me for a little while, don't panic. If they lose—panic. [ESPN, photo via]...

Illinois, Penn State Try Out Innovative New Square Basketball On Wednesday
Hey, it wasn't me this time: Scott Van Pelt (he's back!) had this to say about Penn State's 38-33 win over Illinois on Wednesday. "Watching Big Ten basketball is like watching fat people have sex."...

At Illinois, No Jock Left Behind
Here is stately Wayne Manor The Irwin Academic Services Center at the University of Illinois. Here, Illini students can use computer labs and classrooms, schedule sessions with tutors and special counselors, and even relax in oversize leather chairs and gaze at expensive oriental rugs. Wait … you’re...

The Ron Zook Water Skiing Zapruder Film
So The Big Ten Network has this reality show about the Illinois football team called "The Journey." Even though this is a "Hard Knocks" type series — albeit one with decidedly worse production values and dramatically more nondescript players — about my alma mater's football team, I have never seen ...

College Football Previews: #19 Illinois
You know what my favorite part about college football is? It's that there are so few games — some teams only play 11. 11! — that you can legitimately go through and predict every game that every team in Division I-A (or whatever the hell it's called) plays. It doesn't even take that much time! You ...