Joe Sports

Covering college basketball is one of my life's joys.

While there might be other places in America where the sport holds more meaning and there's a higher level of play -- Kentucky, Indiana, the North Carolina triangle -- I don't think there's any place better than here to cover the sport.

You have programs that are all over the development spectrum: Illinois as a perpetual NCAA team looking to recapture that 2005 glory...DePaul trying to climb out of the depths...Northwestern tearing a hole in the time-space continuum by challenging for its first NCAA berth...various state schools on the upswing...

Wish I had written this one. Wish I was as decent a person as 2006 Fremd graduate Scott Tolzien, who's excelling in his first year as Wisconsin's quarterback. He ranks third in the Big Ten in passer efficiency and fourth in total offense. Oh, and the Badgers are 5-1 going into this week's Homecoming game with Iowa.

But Tolzien's numbers aren't what this story is about.
Please click this link. It's worth the time.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/badgers/64304972.html

LW

CHAMPAIGN -- 1. Illinois’ basketball staff heads for its annual retreat on Wednesday and Thursday to set out their plans for the preseason practice that starts at 5 p.m. Friday. Among the topics? How much zone pressure to include in their package.

With so many slender, long-armed athletes on the squad -- and the last-minute zone-press successes against Northwestern and Western Kentucky uppermost in mind -- the Illini staff has been evaluating Louisville’s zone concepts and debating how to borrow them for their purposes.

Junior running back Stephen Simmons is free! From the injury report, at least.

After missing the last three games with an ankle, the Wildcats' top runner isn't listed on the school's weekly Thursday report. That means he should be able to share carries with freshman Arby Fields on Saturday against Miami (Ohio).

On the downside, strong-side linebacker Ben Johnson joins the list as "doubtful" with a leg injury. That might help to explain why sophomore David Arnold jumped over him on the depth chart this week.

The rest of the list:
OL Mike Boyle out with a back injury.
CB Justan Vaughn doubtful with a leg.
LB Bryce McNaul out with a leg.
DT Jack DiNardo out with a shoulder.
HC Wanny out with a knee.

Ha. Just checking to see if you're paying attention.

LW

Two days after Juice Williams set Illinois' career record for total yardage, Ron Zook has decided to bench the senior quarterback and replace him with redshirt junior Eddie McGee.

McGee will make his first career start on Saturday against Michigan State. Juice will be on the bench for the first time in 39 games. During Illinois' 1-3 start, Juice fashioned the Big Ten's 12th-best pass efficiency rating at 101.01. He hit 51 of 89 passes for 519 yards, 1 TD and 4 INT while rushing 49 times for 152 yards and 1 score.

It's sunny and close to 60 degrees at Soldier Field as a few Bears jog around in their T-shirts and shoes. There's a massive pink banner taped to the west stands that reads "A Crucial Catch: Annual Screening Saves Lives" dedicated to the eradication of breast cancer. Various Bears will be wearing pink cleats, gloves, etc. and there are pink pads at the base of both goalposts. Anyway, on to the Five:

1. Soldier Field's turf looks much better than two weeks ago, when you could see the seams from each sod roll. We might even have few slips and falls for a change.

1. With a 49-yard pass to Arrelious Benn in the second quarter on Saturday, Juice Williams surpassed Kurt Kittner to become Illinois’ all-time leader in total yardage. Kittner amassed 8,880 yards from 1998-2003. Williams owns 9,126 yards with either 8 or 9 games to go in his college career.

“I’m very happy I’ve achieved that,” Juice said after Penn State’s 35-17 victory.

2. Williams threw for a touchdown and ran for another, but only after Penn State built a 28-3 lead. Believe it or not, they were the first scores Juice has accounted for since the Ohio State game on Nov. 15, 2008. In other words, Juice went 15 quarters (we won’t count the single snap he played against Illinois State a few weeks ago) without running or passing for a score.

About that previous blog on your Olympics thoughts? What I meant to say was...

...what do you think of Sports Illustrated picking the Blackhawks in the NHL Finals and Puck Prospectus' computerized "VUKOTA" rankings predicting the Hawks to be the league's best team?

...why does everyone want Carlos Zambrano to leave town? Here are two sets of numbers. In one of these seasons, Z finished 5th in the NL Cy Young voting. In the other, he won't get close to getting a single vote.

ERA WHIP H/9 BB/9 K/9 ERA+
3.95 1.33 7.8 4.2 7.4 118
3.77 1.38 8.2 4.1 8.1 116

ERA+ means how Zambrano's ERA compares to the National League average.

As I type this, it's about 12 hours until the International Olympic Committee decides on the site for the 2016 games.

Leading up to the decision -- and after the decision if it's a go -- we'd like your take on Chicago playing host to the games.

I'll start: I'm generally in favor of the Olympics coming here, even though I'm not one of those people who's glued to the TV for these things. I'm fascinated, however, by the potential opportunity to observe the whole spectrum of human behavior -- the pompous, the generous, the self-important, the selfless, the spectacular, the spoof-worthy -- on a grand scale, up-close, in our town.

As for the construction/hassle/bad traffic argument:

OUT:
RB Stephen Simmons (ankle)
RB Scott Concannon (head)
LB Bryce McNaul (leg)
OL Mike Boyle (back)

Questionable:
DT Jack DiNardo (shoulder)

What it means:
Northwestern is down to three healthy running backs presuming the Wildcats intend to keep the redshirt on freshman Mike Trumpy (who, incidentally, caught a nice, long pass from freshman quarterback Evan Watkins in Wednesday's practice while working with the scout team against the first-string D).

What I saw:
Near the end of practice, superback Josh Rooks caught a touchdown pass. Fellow superbacks Mark Woodsum and Brendan Mitchell joined him for an un-NU-like choreographed celebration.