The 2012 University of Illinois Fighting Illini

The 2012 University of Illinois basketball team has experiencing many ups and downs as it’s traveling through its non-conference and conference play. Per their typical start to the season, coach Bruce Weber challenges his players with tough non-conference games at the very start of the season versus some tough teams. To name a few…Gonzaga, Missouri, UNLV, Maryland and Cornell. He does this to get his players acclimated right away with games that have meaning and so he can find what players of his will rise up to the challenges of big games.

The 2012 roster is a very active and athletic roster, which is atypical, compared to previous years. However, this roster is young with only 1 returning starter from last year remaining on the team. Coach Weber has his hands full trying to mesh the players and develop some consistency. DJ Richardson is the lone returning starter, bringing an average of 8.4 pts a game from last year.

One player on the Illini getting a ton of national publicity recently is Brandon Paul. He led the Illini to perhaps their biggest win in four years with a riveting nationally televised game against the Ohio State Buckeyes, where he scored a game high 43 points to lead them to victory. For that accomplishment, he was named the Big Ten player of the week. Also on the team and contributing this year is a 7 foot 1 sophomore named Meyers Leonard. Collecting dust on the bench last year, Leonard has stepped into a prominent role as starting center and has made quite a name for himself, and even among NBA scouts who marvel at his vision, scoring ability and defense and wondering how this can transition to the next level. Considering he is only a sophomore shows that he has a lot of time to refine his game, get stronger, and continue to excel.

Sam Maniscalco is a graduate student from Bradley who has stepped into the starting point guard role admirably. Plagued by foot and leg injuries to start off the year, Maniscalco has missed some games that they sorely needed him to run the point. Tracy Abrams has taken over his role when he has been unable to play. Another high flyer that has been making a real name of himself and beloved by the fans is Joseph Bertrand, who didn’t expect to see much playing time this year, but has been given an opportunity to play and has taken advantage of it consistently to impress coach Weber.

Truth be told, expect the Illini to be much of the same in 2012,with some high flying wins against good teams and then some very poor showings against bad teams. Like most Big Ten teams, they tend to defend their home court well and end up losing games on the road. The Illini are ticketed for the 2012 NCAA Tournament with a likely 8 thru 12 seed and are capable of winning a game or two, but that is about it. Until they are able to keep the best Illinois recruits in their state and in Champaign, they will always struggle to compete against the top teams like Kentucky and Duke.