Illinois basketball team's unselfish play is fun to watch

I wrote the last two weeks about the impressive runs of Southeast Missouri State's basketball teams.

Now it's time to talk about another mighty sizzling hoop squad -- in fact, the nation's hottest.

Yep, I'm referring to the University of Illinois, which I know has its share of fans in the area because I'm often approached by people wanting to talk about the Fighting Illini's exploits.

After getting past another potential major hurdle Saturday by beating Wisconsin, the Illini continue to ride high at 25-0.

With five regular-season games remaining, it's looking more and more like the Illini have a great chance to enter the Big Ten Conference tournament undefeated. Sure, they could still slip up, but there is no doubt they're going to be extremely difficult to beat.

In addition to their glowing record, the top-ranked Illini are simply a fun team to watch with their tremendously talented guards and their unselfish play that always seems to produce open shots.

A lot of people say it would be good for Illinois to absorb a loss, especially prior to the NCAA tournament, but you can't expect a team to intentionally throw a game, can you?

Whether they're perfect or not heading into the Big Dance, it's going to be mighty tough to win it all simply because of the crap-shoot nature of the single-elimination event.

I say win every game the rest of the way, Illinois, and then see what happens during March Madness.

And by the way, it's kind of neat to see the vindication for coach Bruce Weber, the former SIU boss who drew plenty of heat during his first season at Illinois last year after the Illini got off to a shaky start.

These days Weber is the toast of Champaign -- and the Illini are the toast of the college basketball world.

We'll see how long it lasts.

* On the other end of the spectrum for major-college basketball fans in the region, we have Missouri, which is slogging through a disappointing season that, if it doesn't get better in a hurry, probably won't even lead to an NIT berth.

The Tigers were not expected to be great this year, but they were supposed to be considerably better than this.

While Illinois always seems like such a cohesive unit, Mizzou usually appears totally out of sync on the court, with too much one-on-one play. That might be fine if you're super talented, but it usually doesn't cut it when your talent isn't at an elite level, which the Tigers' certainly isn't.

But Missouri showed Saturday by beating Oklahoma that they're capable of playing well.

* Southeast track athletes have turned in their usual stellar performances so far, and area fans will get their only chance of the indoor season to watch the Redhawks compete at home when they host a meet Friday at the Student Recreation Center.

Several squads will join Southeast for the meet, which will begin with field events at 6 p.m., followed by running events at 7 p.m.

Southeast will use the competition as a tuneup for the following weekend's OVC Championships in Charleston, Ill., as the women look to continue their recent conference domination and the men try to reach the top spot.

It would be neat if a nice crowd turned out Friday to cheer on the Redhawks, who often get overshadowed by Southeast's more high-profile sports but have been incredibly successful under longtime coach Joey Haines.

* Kudos to the Southeast women's tennis team for picking up its first win of the season last weekend at Evansville, in just its second match. That equals the Redhawks' victory total from all of last year.

I'm a big tennis fan and I really think second-year coach Jay Pacelli -- who didn't have much time to recruit for his first season last year that ended 1-21 --is going to turn the program around, although it's likely to take some time.

No question the Redhawks are much improved from last year, and I'm looking forward to watching as many matches as I can when they begin their home schedule next month.

* Former Southeast basketball player Damarcus Hence, who completed his four-year career with the Redhawks last season, is doing well as a member of the St. Louis Flight of the American Basketball Association.

Entering the weekend, D-Money -- as he was known at Southeast -- was averaging more than 12 points per game for the minor-league professional squad.

* Congratulations to my good buddy Tom Reinagel, who last Saturday was inducted into the Notre Dame High School athletic hall of fame.

Tom, a former standout pitcher on various levels -- including at Southeast and with the Capahas -- has been best known in recent years for his tireless work and financial contributions toward the area amateur baseball scene, including a stint as head coach of Cape Girardeau's American Legion team.

* Southeast Missourian sports writer Jeremy Joffray recently wrote a nice article profiling some of the impressive young boys basketball coaches working at area high schools.

Although he works outside of our newspaper's coverage area, Caruthersville's Brian Brandtner is certainly another of the region's fine young coaches.

It's great to see Brandtner, of whom I think a lot of and consider a good friend after getting to know him well during his days as a Notre Dame student and assistant coach, doing so well at Caruthersville, which is headed to another highly successful season.

Despite losing a competitive game to powerhouse Poplar Bluff on Tuesday night, the state-ranked Tigers still had an impressive 15-6 record entering the weekend. They're considered legitimate final four contenders.

* Well, the Eagles did not win the Super Bowl -- as I had predicted -- but they did cover the point spread, which I had also predicted, and made me quite happy (wink, wink).

Once again, the Patriots simply seem to do whatever is necessary to come out on top, even if they're not always dominant or flashy. They are some kind of team.

And Philadelphia's Terrell Owens is some kind of player. To come back that quickly from his serious injury and play that well was truly remarkable.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.