NCAA Tournament: Size doesn't matter as Illinois loses to Western Kentucky

Illinois hoped to intimidate Western Kentucky with its superior size and length. Instead, the Hilltoppers imposed their quickness and perimeter shooting on the Illini.
 
An encouraging season ended much too soon for Bruce Weber's club, which dropped a 76-72 decision to Western Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday evening in Portland. The 12th-seeded Hilltoppers will play No. 4 seed Gonzaga in Saturday's second round at the Rose Garden.
 
Illinois took its No. 5 seed to the Pacific Northwest with hopes of using its tall trees--a natural fit for the forests of northern Oregon--against the Sun Belt Conference champions. With big men Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis facing an undersized WKU frontline, the sons of Champaign had every chance to get good looks at the goal and avoid the dreaded 12-5 upset that's become a regular part of NCAA Tournament history.
 
However, for every advantage, there's a disadvantage, and Western Kentucky was the team that made the most of its own assets. The Hilltoppers could have allowed their Big Ten foe to pound them into submission, but it was the bunch from the town of Bowling Green that did all the punishing in Portland. Not only did WKU hit 9-of-19 shots from 3-point range and undress the Illini with their quickness; the Hilltoppers thrived so much under coach Ken McDonald that they actually outrebounded Illinois (36-28 was the unofficial count posted at the conclusion of this contest). On a night when Western Kentucky certainly dominated on the perimeter, the biggest surprise of all was the 12 seed's ability to score an outright win on the glass, and gain a 12-rebound performance from 6-foot-5 wing player Sergio Kerusch.

In addition to the rebounding battle, there was another reason why Illinois fell short: Mike Tisdale didn't stand tall at the center position.
 
March is the cruelest month because one bad game can take down a season. This isn't fair, and the players who shrink in the intense spotlight of this tournament deserve sympathy, not scorn or criticism. With that said, analysis has to identify a game's pivot point (literally and figuratively), and the fact of the matter was that Tisdale's no-point, one-rebound performance represented a huge factor in this game. Davis, the other "mountainous Mike" in the paint, did a fair job for the Illini with 12 points and 9 boards, but Tisdale--who had been a reliable scorer for much of the season--stood out as the man who sadly yet undeniably endured a collegiate basketball player's worst experience: a bad night at the office in the NCAA Tournament. Had guard Calvin Brock not emerged from the bench to deliver 14 points and 10 big boards, the 12 seed--who dominated until the final minutes--would have won by a far more lopsided margin.
 
Speaking of margins, WKU enjoyed a healthy one with only 3:27 left. Up by a 70-55 score, it seemed that the Hilltopper bench would receive garbage time minutes and a chance to be officially entered into an NCAA Tournament scorebook.
 
Instead, Illinois turned back the clock and made the 12 seed sweat.
 
Recalling the greatest comebacks of the Bruce Weber era--the 2005 regional final thriller against Arizona and this year's Houdini act at Northwestern--the Illini forced 6 WKU turnovers in seven possessions, and whittled the Hilltopper lead to 71-64 with 1:21 left.

Then, a remarkable event occurred. Davis deflected an inbounds pass on the sideline in Western Kentucky's backcourt. The redirected ball dipped downward, but it continued on a forward path and did not appear to move sideways to any appreciable degree. Because the ball didn't move sideways, the nearside official--who lacked a clear view of the play--did not think that Davis touched the ball. Two very uncertain officials conferred and awarded the ball to the Illini with 1:20 left, a huge mistake that allowed Illinois to hit a layup and then--following a defensive stop--notch yet one more basket, a Demetri McCamey layup--to cut the WKU lead to 71-68 with 33 seconds left. The miracles against Arizona and Northwestern were amazing enough; a third king-size comeback against Western Kentucky would have given Illinois a reputation as college basketball's greatest single escape artist.
 
Alas, it was not to be. The Hilltoppers, after wobbling so markedly for a few maddening minutes, hit five of their last six free throws to polish off the Illini, who grabbed lots of two-point baskets from Trent Meacham during their late flurry, but could not hit the math-changing threes they needed at some point along the way.
 
The absence of Chester Frazier might make this loss easier to swallow for the Fighting Illini. Then again, the untimely injury to their superb senior might only cause this ballclub to lament what might have been. At any rate, the conventional wisdom is that 2010 should be a big year in Champaign. Perhaps this defeat is a way of ensuring that next year's NCAA Tournament run will go a lot deeper than this one did. 

> Find more Big Ten football news online at Big Ten Fans!