Harris: Exciting Illini Year Potentially Lacks One Thing
By Adam Harris
With a 6-1 record and a 19th overall ranking in the country, and a good mix of veteran and young quick talent, it looks like the Fighting Illini could meet their high expectations for this year.
However there is one factor essential to a college basketball team which this team might lack: true leadership.
The Illini have four seniors on their team this year, some with bigger roles than others, but none of which have shown true leadership skills which every great college basketball team needs.
The first person everyone expects to lead this team is senior guard Demetri McCamey who has shown a lack of discipline and attention to the program and Coach Bruce Weber in the past. McCamey is someone whom I would want taking the last shot in a game, however the laid back, "who cares" attitude can be a cancer in the locker room which leads to careless play late in games from everyone. McCamey is not a true leader.
I would put senior forward Mike Davis into this boat as well. Watching these two grow through the program throughout the years, I have seen disobedience and carelessness toward the team. They are great basketball players, and they know it. This hurts the Illini silently.
This brings me to senior forward Mike Tisdale who has some fine tuning to do on his down low game, but is a quiet leader in the locker room. His personality has blossomed over the years, but I would say his leadership skills come from his work ethic and not his voice. This will get a team only so far.
The last senior I will talk about is Bill Cole. His leadership will be seen in practice but never to step up on the court. He will play roughly 16 minutes a game and do his job, but not effective enough to be looked at as the leader on the team.
I'm in no way trying to bring the hype down about this exciting season to come, but I will follow this team with a cautionary mindset. I know what elite basketball programs look like, and Illinois has never been that.
The teams that go far in the tournament are ones with true leaders at heart and who lead on and off the court. Michigan State has senior guard Kalin Lucas, Duke has senior forward Kyle Singler, and Ohio State has three senior leaders in David Lighty, Dallas Lauderdale, and John Diebler.
These three programs show a history of being successful in the NCAA Tournament and throughout the season. The Illini have this potential coming up with great freshman and sophomore talent in Brandon Paul and DJ Richardson, however this year may be too early to hope for really big things in Illini nation. Wait a few years to put the Illini in the elite basketball talk.
