Indiana vs. Illinois, Round 3

The view from The Cheap Seats…well, there isn’t one right now. Come Friday evening, though, the view should be filled with the colors of the Big Ten’s newest, and possibly most heated, rivalry. Barring a miracle upset by the Nittany Lions of Penn State, the Indiana Hoosiers will be taking on the Fighting Illini from the University of Illinois in Chicago’s United Center.

Now, I don’t need to tell you that there will be plenty of Orange and Blue in the building, as Chicagoland is U of I’s home away from home in the non-conference schedule and in the postseason. What some may not realize is that Chicago has one of the biggest – if not the biggest concentration of IU alumni outside of the state of Indiana. In fact, for a little historical reference, the Chicago branch of the respective schools’ alumni associations started IU and Purdue’s traditional football rivalry. Believe me, the Indiana fans will show up in force.

Just to spice things up a bit, there will probably be a few Wisconsin and/or Michigan State fans watching with plenty of interest to see whom their team will be facing on Saturday. To put that little detail into perspective: Michigan State and Illinois have battled quite a bit over the past few years – one could imagine that their fans have grown a slight distaste for the other school’s colors; one of Wisconsin’s three Big Ten losses came at the hands of Indiana, complete with IU students rushing the court; Michigan State may have gotten a share of revenge with the primetime victory over IU a couple of weeks ago, but you know the Green and White are still smarting from the blowout they suffered back in January in Bloomington’s Assembly Hall.

Plus, there’s the little detail that tickets are kind of expensive for the Men’s Big Ten Tourney. You think those fans are going to leave before what could be an epic for the ages? Neither do I.

Here’s my mildly biased preview of the game. Indiana’s chief problem against The Chief has been outside shooting this season. In fact, IU has been very inconsistent with 3-point shooting outside of Assembly Hall. One might say that the Hoosiers will be fine because they’ve found their touch again in games against Penn State and Northwestern. I say that the Hoosiers will be fine for two big reasons: Mike White and Ben Allen. Allen finally found the basket against Minnesota and has been pulling down rebounds and getting a few blocks in the last weeks of the season. Mike White has turned himself into a dominant inside force with some tough low-post moves and solid dunks. When you put one of those guys inside with DJ White and his turnaround jumper, the options will open up for the Hoosiers.

All I know about Illinois is that they have only one or two good players (Pruitt and Randall), their mascot just got canned, and I don’t like their coach. That said, Weber will have them ready to take on the Hoosiers and their fans will be making plenty of noise. My prediction: this one will be close and it could even go to overtime, but I think Indiana will take this one and move to the Big Ten semifinals.