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2007 College Basketball Predictions
2007 Illinois Basketball Predictions & Season
Preview
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2007 Illinois Fighting Illini
college basketball predictions and
season preview.
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Head coach Bruce Weber is an
astounding 112-28 at Illinois, but
last season’s 23 wins was Illinois’
lowest total since the 1999-2000
season. With forward Warren Carter
and shooting guard Rich McBride no
longer on the team, Illinois may
drop a few more wins this season.
The backcourt has been Illinois’
strength the past few seasons
producing NBA talents like Deron
Williams, Dee Brown, and Luther Head
which helped the Illini reach the
NCAA Championship Game. Now it will
turn to the frontcourt for its
production behind seniors Shaun
Pruitt and Brian Randle. Pruitt put
his name in for the NBA Draft and
followed an NBA workout regimen in
the offseason. He will be playing to
up his status this season. Randle is
a beast, pound for pound the
toughest player in the Big Ten. His
health problems, two groin surgeries
in the past year, are still an issue
for this team which desperately
needs him in the lineup. Look for
6’9’’ forward Rich Semrau, 6’11’’
Center Brian Carwell, and 7’0’’
center Mike Tisdale to get minutes
in the frontcourt as well.
Illinois’ backcourt is going to be
its downfall this season.
Defensively, it will be scrappy and
perhaps even more talented than last
year, but I don’t see any potential
scoring threat coming out of this
unit. Junior Chester Frazier will
take the point. He has a slew of
injuriy bugs he could catch at any
moment (hand, foot, leg, ankle to
name a few). He is going to have to
prove that he can hit the three this
season as team’s often sagged off of
him and helped inside last year.
Junior Trent Meacham can play both
guard spots, so he will likely give
Frazier an occasional breather.
Calvin Brock is an athletic talent,
but he shies away from physical
defenders.
Illinois’ season could boil down to
whether shooting guard Jamar Smith
is on the roster. His status is
still up in the air over an
aggravated DUI charge. Without him,
Illinois does not have another
athlete on the roster who has the
same kind of scoring burst. Illinois
has some solid experience and one of
the best coaches in the nation, but
there is no doubt that there is more
questions surrounding this team than
Weber has had in recent memory and
the books have taken that into
effect when setting their
college basketball odds. With
all that said, Illinois should still
be good enough to challenge for an NCAA tournament berth.
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