GATA

He certainly has been a spark plug of late. Plus, Tai needs all the experience he can get so he can hit the ground running next year.

I think you might be right. Right now. But I also think Tai has way more upside. Time will tell. upside no doubt. As of now Benny is clearly the better guard and has been for a while At this point Parker brings more to the table, and it hurts to say it. Webster is on the court, but you almost never notice him. At least with Parker -- even when it's 4-on-5 offensively -- he's working his tail off and pestering players defensively. I mentioned it during other games, but I just want to see Tai flash more. It was too much for me to expect him to be lights out as a freshman given his circumstances, but I expected to see enough from him that I would be really excited about his future. I can't say that I am at the moment, but I'm trying to remain patient.

He did Lincoln proud on his birthday!

I'll give it up to Parker. I've been among his harshest critics. He's still non-existent on offense, but if he continues to play elite defense he can stay!

What on earth is Petteway doing?

Shields. That is all.

We miss two daggers and let a crappy player like Tate get an and-1? So friggin' annoying.

Of course Shields gets hurt...

Shields is unconscious!

I think that was the right call against Ray, unfortunately.

Seriously with these calls?

Can we please run an offensive set?

We got called for a handcheck? Weird.

My good friend is an Illini fan and he says this is where Illinois always falls apart...

Great possession! Why did we let Benny dribble away 10 seconds?

We have to lead the Big Ten in soft fouls...

Refs have been pretty inconsistent tonight. We got away with a lot of hand-checking in the first half despite all the fouls calls. Then again, we were moving our feet and swarming, so you get the benefit of the doubt when you're not playing lazy D.

Refs are letting us play on D. Love it!

Hey, I live in Davenport, too!

That's a pet peeve of mine as well. With the game obviously a lost cause, I think you either play your freshmen or your deepest reserves. There was nothing to gain by playing our starters (outside of Tai).

Nitpicking, but I'd probably go with Hawkins for the player of the game because he was the closest thing we have to a positive from tonight. I love that he pulled the trigger. We desperately need more offensive threats, and at least teams will have to try and defend him unlike the 15 minutes or so we go with Parker and Menke.

Is there anything positive to take away from this game?

For the record, I agree the refs have been bad, but it's the difference between a 40-point loss and a 25-point loss.

Tim's anger needs to be directed at his team and its sorry performance...

At least Webster is attacking and playing hard now.