My Jan. 8 column from CBS Chicago …
(CBS) Buckle up, Illini fans. And, well, Bucky up, too.
Because, remember, this isn’t going to be a smooth ride.
Did you think that it was?
“You have to have amnesia,” Illinois basketball coach John Groce said late Wednesday night after his squad was humbled defensively, offensively and in pretty much every other way you can think of during a 95-70 train wreck at the Kohl Center against unbeaten Wisconsin.
“But, you have to learn from it,” continued Groce, who saw his Illini fall to 13-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten. “It’s very important to learn from it. You can’t have a hangover; that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got confident guys, and they’ll respond. We’ve got great kids.”
And I still think that Illinois has a very good chance to earn an NCAA Tournament berth come March, which is really the goal for this season. Beating the No. 4 team in the nation on its home court isn’t.
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …