Arizona State vs Illinois

The Arizona State players were zoned out, not because they were playing zone defense, but because they looked really zoned out when Illinois kept them scoreless for a few days. Illinois fans have a lot to celebrate, they may not have Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon, but it looks like they have a team with a capital T, and a rotation that apparently can go 15-deep or so.



The Sons of the NBA game, with McMillan and Michael Jordan's son playing was nowhere near a close game. Defense took over at times, and defense prevailed.

Herb Sendek may have improved the talent level of the team, but this was only game one of the season for them, and it showed. Will the struggles of last year continue or was this just growing pains of the first game of the season against a solid and deep Illinois team? The answer, or at part of the answer, will be known by Wednesday night, where the Sun Devils will have played against Princeton and then against LSU or Chaminade. More on this game from a local impartial observer, the Honolul Advertiser.

lllinois was cruising along, and now they are getting ready to beat Duke! Go Bruce Weber! Go Fighting Illini! Beat the Pukies! It will be interesting to see how the Illinois depth can affect the Dookies. Bruce Weber doesn't often get a chance to play the big wigs, and this is a great chance for him to get a notch against Coach K. This will be an interesting battle from a coaching perspective, the unassuming Average Joe Coach (Bruce Weber) vs the Pope of Basketball Coaches (Roach K).

More on the Illinois team and a preview of the Illinois vs Duke Maui game at the Illinois Rivals page, and also check FightingIllini.com.