Kreps guides UIC to stunner over Illini

CHICAGO - Even though they were playing less than two miles from their own campus, Saturday's tilt with the University of Illinois felt like a road game for the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames. The United Center was packed with orange as if it were a larger version of Assembly Hall. 

But after a 40-minute grueling in-state rivalry game, the Flames were the ones that showed the Illini that Chicago was their town. UIC led most of the way, and walked off the court Michael Jordan once made famous with a 57-54 stunning victory over the then 14th ranked Fighting Illini.

The only player to play all 40 minutes of the upset was Maroa-Forsyth alum Robo Kreps, who was a part of the Trojans' most recent state championship in 2007. 

Kreps led the Flames with a team-high 15 points, and also contributed five rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal to the winning effort. He began the game's scoring by draining a three in the opening minute and had nine points, all from beyond the arc, in the game's first four and a half minutes. 

"The coaches told me I needed to be more aggressive and keep attacking," Kreps said. "I knew tonight I would need to be a leader for my team and attack on the offensive end."

"When Robo gets it going, it gives the team a huge lift offensively," Kreps' UIC teammate Zavion Neely said. Neely added 11 points and four assists for the Flames. 

The teams were tied at 28 at the half, but the Flames did not trail until D.J. Richardson sank a three-pointer to give Illinois a 53-51 lead with 9 minutes, 41 seconds to go in the game. 

Illinois then opened up 49-41 lead and were seemingly ready to pull away. But Kreps hit a huge three with 5:34 to go to cut the Illini lead to five.

UIC would grab a 53-52 lead in the final minute and hold off three Illini possessions where they had a chance to retake the lead. Kreps hit one of two free throw shots in the final seconds to seal the 57-54 victory.

"Obviously this is a huge win," Kreps said. "I think this is a springboard for us. We proved to ourselves that we can beat no matter who we are playing. In our conference, we need to focus on Butler and Cleveland State who are undefeated right now. This (win) gives us a ton of confidence."

Asked on how it was to quiet down a crowd of mostly Illini fans even though they were about a mile away from campus, Kreps responded: "Midway through the second half I took a look at the crown and noticed that the second tier was orange and the third tier was orange. When Illinois scored it was loud and when we scored, it was relatively quiet. But we've been in some tough games before and I thought we fought through really well today."

Flames head coach Howard Moore credited his seniors, including Kreps, for the win.

"You want to have moments like this for your seniors to remember," UIC head coach Howard Moore said. 

The loss dropped the Fighting Illini in the polls, and Illinois is currently on a two-game losing streak; losing to the University of Missouri just days after the UIC defeat. 

UIC followed the win with a road loss to Oregon State Wednesday night. 

Photo: UIC guard and Maroa-Forsyth alum Robo Kreps (3) is guarded by the Illini's D.J. Richardson (1) during Saturday's stunner at the United Center. 

The Perfect Tournament?

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated proclaimed this year's NCAA Men's Basketball tournament the "perfect tournament." In many ways, they are right on.
Start with the Butler story. Playing their home games in the same building that filmed the epic upset movie "Hoosiers," the Bulldogs became only the second "mid-major" team to make it to the Final Four this decade. Butler has always been one of the top mid-major programs in the country, sometimes referred to as the "Gonzaga of the Midwest." Well in 2010, the Bulldogs are going to where Gonzaga never could - the Final Four, in their home city.
It's rare that the Final Four has a home team. Illinois had a lot of fans in St. Louis and 2005 and Michigan State was surely the fan favorite last year in Detroit. But Butler, a mid-major, will be playing next weekend a mere six miles from their campus. In the best college basketball town in the country, too. That story alone makes the Final Four intriguing.
But where there is an underdog, their is always a favorite. While Butler may be the ultimate underdog this weekend, Duke, college basketball's ultimate favorite will look for their fourth title this weekend. A Butler-Duke match up would be an epic ending to a great tournament.
Michigan State and West Virginia may have something to say about that. Great stories in their own right. The Spartans are making their sixth Final Four trip in 12 years and West Virginia looks for their first title game appearance since 1959.
But back to what has already happened.
Short of a 16 seed beating a 1, this was the perfect tournament. We saw Villanova struggle against 15 seed Robert Morris before being ousted by the Cinderella St. Mary's Gales. If Butler hadn't made the Final Four, this year's story would be Cornell, an Ivy League team making their first tourney appearance advancing to the Sweet 16. Nothing says Cinderella like an Ivy League team.
The number one overall seed, Kansas, lost to another mid major Northern Iowa. Who would have thought that the three best teams all season, Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse, would all be gone before the Final Four?
We had great finishes too. Murray State, yes, another Cinderella, beat fourth seeded Vanderbilt with a three-pointer at the buzzer. Two days later, they nearly knocked off Butler. The lead in the Michigan State-Maryland second round game changed hands three times in the final second. Had MSU not made their three-pointer at the buzzer, it very well could have been the Terrapins making their third Final Four trip this weekend.
ESPN front runners questioned how good this torunament would be without the likes of North Carolina, UCONN and Arizona. The answer? The best ever.

Illini split NIT home games

CHAMPAIGN - Perhaps as the best team not to make it to the NCAA Tournament, the Illinois Fighting Illini were considered a favorite to at least advance to the NIT semifinals in New York City next week. After wins at Stony Brook and against Kent State, the Illini looked poised to salvage an otherwise disappointing season with an NIT final four appearance.

But arriving at the Assembly Hall Wednesday night were the Dayton Flyers, who lived up to their nickname and aired out a 77-71 victory over the top seeded Illini. 

A D.J. Richardson three opened the game for the Illini, but an 8-0 Dayton run immediately followed, and the Illini never saw the lead again. 

Dayton opened their first offense possession with a powering dunk, but went run and gun style most of the way. The Flyers hit half their shots from beyond the arc (6-for-12) in the first half, opening up a 38-25 halftime lead. 

Illinois had come back from deficits like this all year. But Dayton looked like the more determined team and Illinois seemed to struggle with their up tempo pace. 

"They (Dayton) caused us some problems in the first half," Illinois guard Demetri McCamey said. "We dug ourselves a big hole and it is tough to come back when you are down by 15+ points."

McCamey had 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Illini, who conclude the 2009-2010 campaign with a 21-15 record.  

"Dayton did well in transition. You can't give up that many points in transition to a team like that," McCamey said. 

The Flyers continued to control the game in the second, but Illinois hung in there and forced the Flyers to make free thrown down the stretch to secure the win. A three-pointer by Bill Cole brought the Illini to within six with a minute and a half remaining and a Mike Davis jumper cut the deficit to five with 29 seconds to go, but Chris Johnson and Paul Williams of Dayton both hit clutch free throws, sealing the Flyers' berth in the semifinals. 

"Their style, quickness and athleticism got to us early," Illinois head coach Bruce Weber said. "They were much more on their toes than we were."

Tyler Griffey came off the bench to have a nice game, netting 11 points for Illinois. Griffey will be one of the Illini returners for 2010-2011 that hopes to use Wednesday's loss as motivation.

"It was alearning experience for me this year," Griffey said. "It is great to be apart of the Illini family and this loss should just make us hungrier for next year."

The Illini defeated Kent State Monday evening to advance to the Elite Eight of the NIT. The Illini and Golden Flashes were evened at halftime before Mike Tisdale, Davis and McCamey pulled away from them in the second half.

"All three juniors are going to step it up and put time in the offseason if we are going to be successful," Weber said. 

Weber also discussed the possibility of McCamey entering the NBA Draft. 

"I hope Demeteri does play at the next level but I hope that will not happen until next year," he said. "He is going to get advice and if he would be a first round pick, we will help him get ready for that."

The Illini should be better next year. Assuming McCamey returns, the team will still have all but one player from this year's team that saw significant minutes.  

Photos: Top: Illinois senior Dominique Keller (23) chases after a loose ball during the Illini win over Kent State Monday.

Bottom: Illinois freshman guard D.J. Richardson drives the lane against Dayton. 

 

Another heartbreaking end for SXU

Another SXU Women's Basketball team with a shot at a national championship, another heartbreaking loss to a team not as good in the most important game of the year. 

The SXU Cougars women's basketball team completed their memorable 2009-2010 campaign with a tough loss, a 73-69 loss to seventh ranked and second seeded Azusa Pacific. Widely picked as either the favorite or co-favorite to win this year's national championship, this loss stings more than any in the program's 10-year history. Only the 2007 second round loss to Lambuth could even compare. 

The Cougars have been a solid program since they began play in 2000 thanks to the expert coaching and recruiting by Bob Hallberg and his staff. The team has won either the CCAC regular season or tournament championship in nine of the ten seasons. They have beaten the number one team in the country twice, qualified for the nationals eight years in a row and produced numerous All-Americans.

But not until this year did the Cougars reach the Elite Eight. Out of all of the great Cougar teams in the past decade, this year's squad was the best. The personnel, as well as the record, proved that. SXU had an impressive 27-1 regular season mark and finished the season with a 31-2 overall record. No other Cougar team had an experienced trio of Erin Hannemann, Kathlyn McClain and Alex Barone coupled with a tough Sholanda Young and an emerging Marissa Young. 

This team could have gone all the way. No doubt they had the talent to. But for the fourth year in a row, SXU was eliminated by a team seeded lower than them. They didn't play horrible against Azusa, only losing by four points. But at the NAIA Tournament level, you have to playt your best every game. They didn't have their best game Saturday night and that is what did them in. 

Because of the graduation of Hannemann and McClain, 2010 will always be a "what could have been" year. But I am fully confident SXU will contend for a national title in the near future. I wouldn't even count them out next year. 

Barone returns as the team's glue at point guard. Marquita Smith improved all year and was outstanding in Jackson last week. As long as the Cougars have a good rebuilding class, as they always do, they will be fine. They will win the CCAC easily again. But the only thing left for them to accomplish is a national championship or at least a title game appearance. 

Hallberg believes his team will be back too. "We are not interested in rebuilding, we are interested in reloading," he told the WXAV radio crew following Saturday's loss.

The Cougars will reload and they will still be a fun crew to watch despite the losses of Hannemann and McClain. 

The loss of Hannemann will be extremely tough to combat. She is one of the three best players in SXU history and arguably better than SXU Hall of Famer Mary Cain and soon to be hall of famer Candis Jackson, who I would rank as the two best prior to Hannemann. 

Despite the frustrating end, SXU had a banner year. 31-2 is an incredible mark put forth by an incredible team. 

Illini hang on against Badgers

INDIANAPOLIS - Leading through the entire game, the Illinois Fighting Illini avenged last Sunday's loss to the Wisconsin Badgers by knocking them out of the Big Ten Tournament, 58-54 Friday in Indianapolis.
Although a win wouldn't guarantee the Illini a berth in the NCAA Field of 65, a loss would all but leave them out.
Illinois came out with an edge, but Wisconsin's struggles from the field were also much of the reason the Illini jumped to a 7-0 lead and a 29-18 advantage with two minutes remaining in the half. Illinois was held scoreless the final two minutes, but Wisconsin could only muster a pair of free throws themselves.
The Badgers struggles continued. They went scoreless through the first four and a half minutes of the second half. Illinois built a 34-20 lead with 15:58 remaining and led 41-26 with 11:10 to go.
A D.J. Richardson three pointer gave the Illini their largest lead, 46-30, with 6:31. But the Illini would still have to sweat out the narrow victory.
Trevon Hughes connected on a few huge three point attempts and the Badgers were making a timely comeback. A Hughes trey cut the Badger deficit to 54-51 with 38.1 seconds to go.
Wisconsin had a shot to tie the game at the end, but a three pointer fell short with less than 10 seconds on the clock.
Mike Tisdale led Illinois with 19 points.
The Illini were eliminated in the Big Ten semifinals the following day, losing to top seeded Ohio State in double overtime.

Turner's classic shot lifts OSU

INDIANAPOLIS - One of the most exciting basketball finishes I've ever seen ocurred Friday March 12 during the Big Ten Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
With 2.2 seconds to play and his team down by two points with the length of the court to go and no timeouts, Ohio State star Evan Turner launched the game-winning three point shot just shy of the half court line. The shot went in just as time expired, and could have put a heartbreaking end to an already tough season for the Michigan Wolverines, 69-68.
The Wolverines had erased multiple 10-point deficits and took their final lead at 68-66 on a Manny Harris jumper with just over two seconds to play. Harris led Michigan with 26 points. He hit a few key three-shots down the stretch.
The game was fitting for both teams. All year, Turner has found ways to win games for the Buckeyes, while the Wolverines fell to 1-7 in games decided by five points or less.

Illini can't gain momentum

CHAMPAIGN - With one last chance before the Big 10 Tournament  to add a quality win to their NCAA Tournament resume, the Illini came up short. It seems like this team is either focused or distracted. Lately, the latter has been true more than the former. 

The Illini could not get much going in their 72-57 loss to the Wisconsin Badgers Saturday at Assembly Hall. The Badgers led from the outset.

Illinois began to put together one of their second half comebacks, but the closest they came was within six. 

Mike Tisdale (16 points) and Bill Cole (14) led the Illini in scoring. 

Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor had 20 points for the Badgers and was praised after the game by head coach Bo Ryan. 

"He plays with great heart," Ryan said. 

The difference between Saturday's game and the early season affair where the Illini stunned the Badgers on their home floor was just Wisconsin's shooting. Their two leading scorers went 0-for-15 in the other game and they only lost by six. 

When Wisconsin shoots well, they will win. If not, they just open the door. 

The Badgers are the better team and that should continue as the two hook up Friday in the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. 

Illinois needs a win to have a chance at the NCAA Tournament, but it does not look like they will get it. Losses to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio State in the last week of the season has seemed to demoralize this bunch. I hope I'm wrong, but the team doesn't look like they are coming together. 

The only positive from Sunday's blowout loss was that seniors Dominique Keller, Richard Semrau and Bubba Chisholm were able to play in the game's final minute. 

Photo: Illinois forward Mike Tisdale (54) posts up against Wisconsin's Jon Leuer (30) during the Illini's loss to the Badgers Sunday. 

Saint Xavier sweeps the CCAC

CHICAGO - I've either seen or heard some of the greatest moments in Saint Xavier sports history over the last seven years. As many big wins as the school has had in that span, never had both the men's and women's basketball teams won the CCAC Tournament in the same year. In fact, the men haven't won it at all in the last seven years. 

But that all changed Saturday, March 6 when both Cougar teams received automatic bids to the NAIA National Tournament. 

The Saint Xavier women's team and Olivet Nazarene hooked up at the Shannon Center early in the day for what seems like a yearly CCAC title game match-up. 

One thing that is certain before every SXU-Olivet game is that it will be fast-paced and high scoring. That is all Olivet knows, and time and time again, SXU proves that they know it too. 

The Lady Tigers play a fast-paced game, running down the court and seemingly taking a three-point attempt every time they have the ball. They waste little time in their possessions whether it works or not. Every minute or so, coach Doug Porter will substitute five new players into the lineup. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it's fun to watch every time. 

Seeing the way the Tigers play more than 10 times in the last four years, SXU seniors Angie Bush and Erin Hannemann seemed to have a plan of attack. Angie would keep up with them from the perimeter in the first half, and Erin would beat them up down low in the second half. 

The result was a career-high 33 points for Bush in her final game at the Shannon Center. 22 of the 33 came in the first half, leading the Cougars to a 53-46 lead at the break. 

Olivet opened the second half on a 10-0 run to take a lead and upped the margin to six with 15:57 to play. But Erin Hannemann took over the rest of the way. The Cougars captured a 103-96 win over their rivals from Bourbonnais.

Hannemann netted 26 points and brought down 12 rebounds in the final game of a fantastic career. Her bucket with 2:40 to go gave the team an eight point lead and all but ended it for the Tigers. 

Hannemann was named the CCAC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season following the game. Sholanda Young had a record setting day for the team, dishing out a program all-time best 13 assists. 

ONU did well from beyond the arc, which kept them in the game. But SXU was just too good. 

It seems like we say this every year, but this really is the best SXU team ever. At 29-1, the Cougars could very well have been undefeated if it weren't for an injury to Kathlyn McClain in January. 

Ranked second in the country (should be first), the Cougars are a legitimate national title contender. In fact, anything less would be a disappointment. They have never won more than one game in Jackson, but this year will be their best chance to do something special.

Often overshadowed by the women's team, the SXU men's basketball team punched their ticket to the NAIA Tournament in Kansas City with a 92-90 overtime upset win over Robert Morris University at the Gentile Center. It had been the first time since RMU's move to the CCAC that the Cougars won there. 

It was a must win for SXU, who would not have made the tourney without the automatic bid. Senior Julian Scott has had an up and down career for the Cougars, but made sure it would not end Saturday, scoring eight of his team-leading 18 points in the overtime period. 

Roosevelt Green hit a last-second shot for SXU in their semifinal upset win over Olivet Nazarene. It's good to see this group come together at the right time. 

Good luck to both Cougar teams at the national tournament. 

Photo: SXU forward Erin Hannemann starred for the Cougars in their 103-96 win over the Olivet Nazarene Tigers Saturday to capture the CCAC Championship.