The match-up everyone wanted to see this season is finally upon us. Regardless of what players and coaches have said, there will be extra intensity Sunday when Illinois and IU face off at Assembly Hall - Bloomington.
I previewed the game and Mike wrote about the EJ saga for Friday's paper. In his column, Jon examines what might have been had EJ went to Illinois. While there is rightfully a lot of attention paid to the relationship between EJ and Bruce Weber, there are some other story lines worth paying attention to.
DJ White and Shaun Pruitt will battle down low tomorrow. Two of the best men in the Big Ten, the duo were pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated earlier this season as the magazine named IU v. Illinois one of the rising rivalries in the nation.
Illinois has struggled scoring of late, but still have been one of the better defending teams in the conference according to IU coach Kelvin Sampson in his weekly press conference. Then again, Sampson was doing his best to talk about anything other than the EJ recruiting saga.
IU will likely be without starting point guard Armon Bassett, who is suffering from bone chips. Sampson did not give an indication of when he expects the sophomore guard to return to the line-up. With Bassett out, the Hoosiers have been playing point guard by committee - EJ, Crawford and Ellis. Ellis has done the best job protecting the basketball of the three as the two freshman have low assist-turnover ratios.
Sunday's game is at 4:30 on CBS.
