Today’s column from CBS Chicago …
(CBS) On Sunday night, after his Illinois basketball team blew the doors off Coppin State in a 114-56 romp at State Farm Center, coach John Groce said that he knew which version of his Illini would show up for the game.
Even if the rest of us didn’t.
“I woke up this morning and I told my wife, ‘They’re going to play today,’ ” Groce told reporters. “They played.”
With a record-tying 15 three-pointers helping to spark runs of 16-0, 14-0, 15-0 and 12-0, they certainly did. And by doing so, the Illini looked like the polar opposite of the squad that just two days earlier had struggled throughout a shaky 80-71 victory over Georgia Southern in the season opener.
Now, as for who the Illini truly are this season, well, that probably falls somewhere in between these two yin-yang performances. It’s too early for us to really tell.
But this much we do know for sure: If Groce is to meet expectations in his third year and truly cement himself as the guy to elevate the Illinois progam, then Jekyll and Hyde are going to have to stop suiting up for his Illini.
Because they’ve been in the lineup way too often the past two years.
Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …