Announcement

**woodee12** · 02-03-2005, 01:30 PM

This will make Illinois' trip to Iowa City a little bit easier!!

I actually think they might improve without his showboating and ball hogging.

He should have learned his lesson when he got off very easy last time he did this. Now it is "Don't drop the soap" time and I am sure the Iowa Prison inmates are going to love the new guy named 'Pierre'!

Hawkeyes dismiss guard Pierre Pierce
February 2, 2005, at 04:14 PM ET

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Iowa City, IA (Sports Network) - Pierre Pierce, who was leading the Hawkeyes in scoring, has been dismissed permanently from the Iowa basketball team.

Pierce, who has been in trouble before, is under investigation by West Des Moines police for his role in a sexual assault and burglary last week. He could face charges of intent to commit sexual abuse, burglary, criminal mischief and false imprisonment.

"Effective, immediately, Pierre Pierce has been dismissed from the University of Iowa men's basketball team," head coach Steve Alford said Wednesday.

**Carpet** · 02-03-2005, 07:51 PM

What a shame

The kid has great talent and pissed it all away..... Avng 17 a game

I am sure you are right............. Woodee about playing better without him.....

The March to Arch continues....

Carpet

**Carpet** · 02-05-2005, 08:14 PM

Television
CBS - National: Ian Eagle, play-by-play; Clark Kellogg, expert analyst (90 percent of the nation).

Radio
Illini Sports Network - 47 stations: Brian Barnhart, play-by-play; Stephen Bardo, expert analyst; Loren Tate, pregame/halftime/postgame interviews.

Series Notes: Indiana
Indiana leads the all-time series, 78-74, but the Fighting Illini lead 43-30 in games played in Champaign 43-30. Illinois has won the last four meetings, five of the last six, and nine of the last 12. Indiana last won at the Assembly Hall in Champaign on Feb. 24, 1999, 70-64, in overtime. This is the only regular-season meeting between the Hoosiers and Illini this season.

Undefeated Illini
Illinois is one of just two teams in the country to boast a perfect record, and with 22 victories has the most wins in the nation. The following is a list of the remaining undefeated teams in Div. I.
Illinois 22-0 (next; Sun. vs. Indiana)
Boston College 19-0 (next; Sat. at Seton Hall)

Illini Own Pair of Nation's Longest Winning Streaks
Illinois sits atop the NCAA Div. I charts with two winning streaks. The Illini's 22-game winning streak is the longest winning streak in the nation, and Illinois' 11-game road winning streak is one more than Boston College for the longest road winning streak in the nation. Illinois won its last six road games last year and has won its first five road games this season.

Hot Start
Illinois' current 22-0 record has set a school record for the best start to a season in the 100-year history of Fighting Illini basketball, and also ranks as the longest single-season winning streak in school history. The 22 straight wins also stands as the second-longest winning streak in school history. Only the 25-game winning streak that included parts of three seasons from Feb. 21, 1914, through Feb. 9, 1916, bests the Illini's current string of victories.

Illinois' 22-0 mark also ties the fourth best start ever by a Big Ten team, and is the best start by a Big Ten team in 29 years, since Indiana went a perfect 32-0 during the 1975-76 season. The following is a list of the all-time best starts by Big Ten teams.

Rank School Start Year
1. Indiana 32-0 * 1975-76
2. Indiana 31-0 1974-75
3. Ohio State 27-0 1960-61
T4. Illinois 22-0 2004-05
T4. Ohio State 22-0 1961-62
6. Iowa 18-0 1986-87
T7. Ohio State 17-0 1990-91
T7. Illinois 17-0 1988-89
* Indiana went undefeated during the 1975-76 season.

Big Ten Streakin'
Illinois has won a school-record 18 straight Big Ten games - its final 10 conference games last season and the first eight this season. Illinois' 18-game Big Ten winning streak is one better than the 17-straight Big Ten wins from Feb. 21, 1914 through Feb. 9, 1916. The following are the Illini's all-time best Big Ten winning streaks:

�18 - Feb. 3, 2004 - CURRENT
�17 - Feb. 21, 1914 through Feb. 9, 1916
�15 - Jan. 20, 1951 through Feb. 2, 1952
�14 - March 7, 1942 through Jan. 3, 1944
�13 - Feb. 26, 1955 through Feb. 20, 1956
�13 - Feb. 23, 1924 through Feb. 21, 1925

Illinois has also set a school record with its current streak of 10 straight Big Ten road victories - its final six conference away games last season and its first four road games this season. This broke the previous school-record streak of eight straight Big Ten road wins, which happened twice. The Illini won eight straight conference road games from Feb. 21, 1914 through Feb. 9, 1916 and again from Feb. 5, 1951 through Feb. 2, 1952.
Hot Big Ten Start
At 8-0 in conference play, Illinois is off to its best Big Ten start in 49 years, since winning its first 10 Big Ten games in 1956. This is the fourth time in school history that Illinois has won at least its first eight games to open conference play. The following are the Illini's all-time best Big Ten starts:

Rank Start Year
T1. 12-0 * 1942-43
T1. 12-0 * 1914-15
3. 10-0 1955-56
4. 8-0 2004-05
T5. 7-0 1941-42
T5. 7-0 1924-25
T7. 6-0 1962-63
T7. 6-0 1951-52
T9. 5-0 1969-70
T9. 5-0 1919-20
*Illinois went unbeaten in Big Ten play during the 1942-43 and 1914-15 seasons

**Carpet** · 02-05-2005, 08:20 PM

From the Indy papers today

Illinois getting big results with small ball
In its 100th season of basketball, top-ranked Illini find the secret to their greatest season yet.

Forward Roger Powell Jr. (43) and Illinois hit 60 percent of their shots in the first half to beat Minnesota. The Illini are trying to become the first team with a perfect Big Ten run since Indiana in 1975-76. -- Matt Detrich / The Star

Sunday's game
� Who: Indiana at Illinois
� Tipoff: 1 p.m.
� TV: WISH-8
� Radio: WFBQ-94.7 FM

By Phil Richards
[email protected]
February 5, 2005

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- David Dorris is a Bloomington, Ill., attorney by vocation and an orange-to-the-core University of Illinois basketball fan by avocation. He has been in the stands for every one of second-year coach Bruce Weber's games. He marvels anew each time.

"Game after game, you look at them standing out there before the jump ball," Dorris said, "and you think, 'How are we going to compete?' "

Almost unfailingly, the Illini have the answer. They are 48-7 under Weber. They are 22-0 this season, the best start by a Big Ten team since Indiana went 32-0 in 1975-76, and the polls are unanimous. All 72 voters in The Associated Press poll and each of the 31 coaches who comprise the USA Today/ESPN poll had the Illini atop their ballots this week.

At 6-3, 6-3 and 6-0, scorer Luther Head, playmaker Deron Williams and triggerman Dee Brown are not an imposing bunch -- until the ball goes up. Then they become college basketball's best backcourt and the heart of college basketball's best team.

Small ball.

The Indiana Hoosiers will get a firsthand look at it Sunday when they visit Illinois' Assembly Hall, where the Illini are 62-2 over the past five seasons, and where the arena gates and railings, along with almost every member of the sellout crowd, will be adorned in orange.

It's a happy confluence. Illinois is celebrating its basketball centennial, a circumstance that brought 350 former players, coaches, trainers and managers to campus last weekend. The Illini obliged with an 89-66 victory over Minnesota.

"I believe it's divine appointment," said Bruce Douglas, who left Illinois in 1986 as the Big Ten's career assist leader and now works as operations manager for a Chicago utility company. "You have 100 years of history and the best team in that history all in the same year."

Stirring run

Illinois first pounded the table and demanded the nation's attention in November, in Indianapolis, when it blitzed No. 24 Gonzaga 89-72 in the Wooden Tradition at Conseco Fieldhouse. Four days later, the Illini splattered No. 1 Wake Forest 91-73 and ascended to the top spot; they have held the high ground for nine consecutive weeks since.

"That's when Dick Vitale started giving us some credit," said Toby Herges, the third-generation owner of Tumble Inn, a Champaign tavern that is a postgame gathering spot for Illinois fans. "Around here we call him 'Duke' Vitale, as in Duke Blue Devils."

Vitale was a late convert, but he openly confesses his admiration of the Illini.

What's not to like? Former Illinois coaches Harv Schmidt, Gene Bartow and Lou Henson ran through their checklists last weekend. Each arrived at the same point.

"Well-coached," Schmidt said.

"Well-coached," Bartow said.

"Well-coached," Henson said.

What it all meant, Bartow volunteered, is "they play like any coach would want his team to play."

Small ball.

It doesn't matter that power forward Roger Powell Jr. is only 6-6 or that small forward James Augustine carries only 230 pounds on his 6-10 frame. All five starters are nearly always quicker than the men guarding them, so Illinois attacks on defense and pushes the ball on offense. The Illini make opponents play at a tempo and an intensity with which they are uncomfortable. They are unflagging, unselfish, even interchangeable. They pass and move and cut. And they shoot.

They shot 60 percent during the first half while taking command against Minnesota. Of their 18 field goals, seven were 3-pointers. Seven others were dunks, tips or layups.

"Seeing it firsthand makes you even more of a believer," Golden Gophers coach Dan Monson confessed.

Illinois scored 14 of the game's last 15 points while ending Wisconsin's 38-game home winning streak last week. They made 12 consecutive shots Tuesday while beating Michigan State, which had won 95 of its previous 101 games at the Breslin Center.

Illinois has won 18 consecutive Big Ten games, including 10 on the road. It is threatening the 1975-76 Hoosiers' status as the last team to go 18-0 in league play.

The Illini don't blink. Not at opponents. Not at deficits or challenges. Not in the glare of the national spotlight.

"I think they thrive on it. They enjoy it. They like the limelight," said Weber, who served 18 seasons as Gene Keady's trusted assistant at Purdue. "They like big games. I don't think this has been stressful for them."

Rabid support

Franklin Edwards owns a farm near Rantoul in northern Champaign County. He and his wife, Mary, have been season ticket holders so many years that the game doesn't look right from anyone else's seats in Assembly Hall.

Franklin can't remember people expressing their pride the way they have this year. He hears it in what they say and how they say it. He sees it in the orange they wear and where they wear it.

Edwards touched the bill of his blue and orange Illini cap.

"You wear your hat," he said, "and you're proud of it."

Judy Lubbens prefers her orange shirt. She has been a season ticket holder for 18 years. This is her favorite team.

"The players seem to have more contact with the fans," said Lubbens, a resident of Thomasboro, a few miles north of Champaign. "They're out at grade schools promoting education and things. They're just more reachable."

In an era when the best players spend only a year or two on campus or bypass college altogether for the NBA, Illinois is something of an anomaly. It is a deep, veteran team. Its eight-man rotation consists of four seniors, two of whom are in their fifth years, three juniors and a sophomore. Poise runs deep.

"It gets bigger and bigger, but I don't think the pressure is there," said Augustine, a junior who like the other four starters is a double-figure scorer. "There's no added pressure every week or every game. You've got a target on your back, but you just take them one game at a time."

The Illinois fans who after games surge into the Tumble Inn like an orange flood don't have to take them one at a time. They know their Illini are the leading candidates for a No. 1 NCAA tournament seed and a first- and second-round assignment to the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. They know that a pair of victories in Indy would take them to Allstate Arena in Chicago, and that two more there would send them to the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis for the Final Four.

Study that road map and you will find that Champaign-Urbana is the center of the college basketball world. Life in the heartland is good this year.

Call Star reporter Phil Richards at (317) 444-6408.

Undefeated challenge

Will Illinois (22-0, 8-0 Big Ten) go undefeated this year? The rest of its regular-season schedule may not be much of a challenge since all four road games are against teams with records at or below .500 in conference play.

Date Foe Overall Big Ten
Sunday Indiana 10-9 5-3
Tuesday at Michigan 12-10 3-5
Feb. 12 Wisconsin 15-4 6-2
Feb. 16 at Penn State 7-14 1-7
Feb. 19 at Iowa 15-5 3-4
Feb. 23 Northwestern 9-11 2-6
March 3 Purdue 5-14 1-7
March 5 or 6 at Ohio State 15-7 4-4

Announcement

Illinois "The March to the Arch"

Illinois "The March to the Arch"

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