LamarCheeks

Candy Stripes 68 Sparty 63

So this happened 32 years ago today. I was a junior at the time. Was watching with my roomie in my rented house on Walnut Street. After Jay hit that shot, we ran around the house and screamed our heads off. Lyndon and Jay couldn't have squeezed another millisecond out of that play. You know RMK loved that one. He was good friends with Johnny Orr back in the day, but really hated Michigan after he left.

I got ya.

The only thing that bugged me about that was on the very next possession, Minnesota missed and Rob walked the ball upcourt. I was channeling my inner Salt-N-Peppa and screaming: Push it. Push it real good.

When we're playing possessions like this late -- Trey shouldn't be in when we have the ball.

Announcer: "Indiana with a comfortable 14-point lead." Um, with this squad, there is no such thing as a comfortable lead ...

Would it kill TDJ or Race to get an and-1? Any time they draw contact, they just cannot finish.

Why are we having such a difficult time cutting off those drives???

Man, I wanna see that again. I'm not convinced that wasn't a backcourt violation.

Race has been short on three straight FTs. ... I just don't understand that.

I think Race was throwing that one to me.

Did Al think we were ahead, there were 6 seconds left in the game and he needed to dribble out the clock? Otherwise, I cannot possibly fathom what happened on that final possession.

WTF, Al!

That or they'll keep calling fouls and we'll miss a ton of FTs -- like we usually do.

We STILL don't have the ability to realize when something's not available. Jerome trying to back his defender down from 20 feet away. TJD driving with two guys draped on him. Kick it back out if it's not there.

TJD has shown a nice touch on his first two buckets ...

Mash Jr. just mushed past Al.

Hoosiers 68 Rodents 61

Northwestern got a big deficit (I think it was 17 at its largest) down to 1 once late in the second half, and to 2 another time, but Illinois just kept hitting huge shots. Dosunmu hit the dagger -- about a 30-footer -- to stem the tide once and for all. Illinois wins by 7 -- 73-66. Relatively entertaining game.

If everybody's in an all-fire hurry to dump adidas, I say we go old school -- really old school. Let's ride the Pony!

Northwestern -- bless their hearts -- is giving Illinois a helluva battle to try and end that skid. They were getting poleaxed early, but keep fighting back only to see the Illini pull away. It's down to 1 now.

I like the No. 32 Galloway version. One slight adjustment I'd like to see would be put the IU on the side of both legs of the shorts (like they are now) and have the candy stripes from the waistband across the bottom of the legs. Another change I wouldn't mind seeing -- if we have to change anything; again, I'm fine with the way our unis are now -- is to have the "Indiana" in script across the front.

I, for one, don't understand the trees. I'm sure they're paying homage to their timber industry, but at the same time, I'm pretty certain every state has trees. Oregon is the Ducks -- so maybe they should have outlines of Donald, Daisy and Daffy. Or maybe Huey, Dewey and Louie.

I've said this before and will continue to do so: I think our uniforms are fine, and I have a difficult time believing changing them would have any effect whatsoever on recruiting. However, I wouldn't mind seeing an alternate style we wear every once in a while, as long as they aren't black -- after all, our unkempt neighbors a hundred miles to the north wear that color. But if we are gonna change unis, I will insist on one addendum: Belts!

Technically, izzo isn't even a MSU guy. He played ball at Northern Michigan. I guess Dakich mentions him because he has spent most of his coaching career in East Lansing ...