The McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, Cole Era Is Over

 

That was a pretty fitting ending to the McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, Cole era last night. Keep the game close for about 35 minutes and watch it slowly slip away in the end.  It is what they have done all year and it left me with the same feeling that these four have left me with as players, disappointment.

2011 was supposed to be the year that the Fighting Illini ascended back to the top level of college basketball, with four seniors leading the way and two strong recruiting classes in a row. These four guys were the most blaring reasons that this team didn't perform as expected. The seniors were supposed to lead the way for this team and they just never stepped up. Let's take a look at their stats from the last two years:

Demetri McCamey

2009/2010 - 34.5 min, 15.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 7.1 apg

2010/2011 - 33.4 min, 14.6 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 6.1 apg

Mike Davis

2009/2010 - 32.3 min, 10.7 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 0.9 apg

2010/2011 - 33.0 min, 12.7 ppg, 7.1 rpg, 1.7 apg

Mike Tisdale

2009/2010 - 27.9 min, 11.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 0.8 apg

2010/2011 - 26.3 min, 10.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.3 apg

Bill Cole

2009/2010 - 21.3 min, 4.4 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 1.0 apg

2010/2011 - 20.7 min, 4.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.3 apg

As you can see, there was no real improvement by any of them, and as far as I could tell, no real "senior leadership." They just coasted along, doing what they have always done.  

Bruce Weber and McCamey have never seen eye-to-eye and it resulted in numerous spats between the two and McCamey being benched multiple times.This conflict really hurt this team and was basically the biggest problem they had to face. McCamey has been the appointed "leader" of this team for the last two years, but who do the players follow? The "leader" and best player on the team, or the coach? We know how good things can be when a coach and a star player are on the same page (just look at the Bulls), so it makes sense that things would go sour when they just don't get along.

Well, those problems are behind them now. The Illini have new problems - like figuring out what their lineup and rotations are going to look like next year and finding some leaders on a team that will have no seniors. Actually Sam Maniscalco, who is a transferring from Bradley, will be a senior, but it's tough to become a leader when you are new to a team. I assume that Brandon Paul, DJ Richardson and Jereme Richmond will be starting next year, but that still leaves two open spots. Crandall Head started to play more late in the season and Meyers Leonard is a big body, but I don't know if either one of them are ready to be starters. 

 

Who knows, they may end up finding a starter from what appears to be a strong recruiting class (11th in the country according to ESPN), but I guess the Illini Nation will just have to wait to see what happens in 2012.