Up In Flames

Illinois usually schedules an early season non-conference game in the UC for a few reasons. Primarily, Bruce Weber likely finds it beneficial for his team to play in an NBA-style arena, like the United Center, in order to prepare them for the venues they might be traveling to in March (i.e. Big Ten tournament, NCAA tournament). Secondly, I'm sure Bruce also likes the opportunity to showcase his team to Chicagoland Fighting Illini alums. And lastly, Weber probably jumps at the chance to get out of central Illinois for a few days, and frankly, I don't really blame him. Ironically, Illinois has always played well in their annual Chicago trip. They beat Gonzaga at the Madhouse a year ago, and so far this season, Illinois looked to be cementing itself amongst the Big 10's elite. But Illinois found itself committing the cardinal sin in sports Saturday afternoon in the Second City--never, under any circumstances, underestimate your opponent.

Behind the stellar play of Robo Kreps, whose name sounds like either a knock-off brand of Turtle Wax or a slight deviation from pop sensation Bruno Mars, the Flames upset the Orange and Blue 57-54, marking Howard Moore's first signature win as the leader of the Flames. In Illinois' defense, the game was only being televised locally on WCIU,which is normally only good for reruns of Hanging With Mr. Cooper, and it was a Saturday matinee affair against a low-level division 1 opponent, so you can partially understand why the Illini weren't revved up like they just heard a superb rendition of William Wallace's Braveheart speech. But Illinois looked sluggish from the get-go. Their guards were getting ripped like voided checks, and UIC built an early lead and really 'never let go'. At least someone was listening to Jack Dawson's final words in Titanic. Surely losing to UIC on a neutral court will be judged as a bad loss for Weber's Wonderkin, but it might just be exactly what the Illini need to snap them back into reality.

Going into the annual Busch Braggin' Rights game in St. Louis Tuesday, Illinois wont have time to lick their wounds. Sharing the court with them Tuesday night will be the 10-1 Missouri Tigers, who is a team fresh off hanging 116 points on Scottie Pippen's alma mater. Mike Anderson's Mizzou squad is long and athletic, which is why they have become so successful playing the mid-90's Arkansas "40 Minutes of Hell" track meet-style of basketball. The Tigers are currently sitting in the 13 spot in the national polls, just one spot behind Champaign's finest. This 'Braggin' Rights' game has everything you could ask for in a good rivalry game--two wildly talented, evenly matched teams, a neutral site, and a sponsorship from a below-average beer. What is this Nascar? Regardless, Tuesday's game should be the first meaningful event to happen in Missouri since Mark Twain's departure from the 'Gateway to the West'. I just hope Illinois shows up.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man picked another winner Sunday as Matt Ryan's play propelled the Falcons over the Seahawks. For Monday night, the Pulse Man likes the under in the Bears/Vikes Monday night showdown which is set at 33.

Pick of the Day: Bears @ Vikings, total points-33-UNDER

Record:(41-27-0)

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost

Street-wise

It's the third Friday in October, and for that reason, most Chicago sports fans are presumably thinking about how Illinois managed to recruit an African American quarterback with the last name Scheelhasse (sounds like a member of the Gestapo), why Northwestern lacrosse players aren't half as lewd as Duke lacrosse players, and how is it that the Texas Rangers can have a skipper who got caught with coke yet they make it to the LCS and neither Chi-town club can sniff (no pun intended) an October baseball game. While all those were interesting story lines sometime this fall, the first cool breeze of October may remind us of a few things: it's not windbreaker weather anymore (put away your track jackets Pulse Man), and college basketball season is lurking in the near future. During these next few days in mid-October is generally when teams begin to participate in organized practice. What a great time of year--3 hours in Assembly Hall listening to Bruce Webers strangled voice..ehh, not for me. A little pre-season trash talk between the new coaches from Chi-State and UIC..ok, let's get this thing going.

Normally, I would reference the point that both Chicago St. and UIC are meaningless programs to me. Neither school has been relevant since pogs and beanie babies controlled my life in the mid 90's and Chicago St. making fun of UIC is like Creed calling Nickelback lame or Snooki telling Jessica Simpson to "go read a book". But, with 3 of the 4 city slickers (DePaul, UIC, Chicago St./ No Loyola) under new winter management, I suppose we can entertain the idea that a rivalry could be a good thing and a little bad blood is just what the doctor ordered (once again, no pun intended).

Chicago St.'s new coach, Tracy Dildy was once a player at UIC himself and then went on to be an assistant coach for the Flames for a few seasons. However, somewhere during his "educational career" someone forget to explain the theory of logical rationale to T. Diddy. He recently made the brash presumption that "UIC is scared to play Chicago St." and that is why they took the mighty green Cougars who were perennially one of the worst D-1 schools in the country not long ago, off the schedule this year. First of all, the two teams haven't met since the 2005-06 season and even then, it was a meaningless game between 2 sub .500 teams. Also, that game generated less buzz than a public intox ticket in Old Town. You couldn't have given Sweet Dick Willie from "Do the Right Thing" a free 40 oz Camo Ice to attend that game. Perhaps with both teams trying to rebuild a new face for their program, it would have been nice to see the rivalry restored but to tell UIC that they're 'scared' of Chicago St.'s talented bunch that went a whopping (9-23) last year and last to Olivet Nazarene AT HOME...I don't think so T. Diddy. Maybe you wanted to settle an old score with Howard Moore, or wanted a chance to get back at your alma mater. But publicly calling out UIC has a better chance of getting settled in a back alley off Diversey Parkway rather than at the Pavilion or the Jones Center.

As for Pick of the Day, K-State made a statement in Lawrence last night beating their in-state rivals 59-7 giving Pulse Man his 24th win. It's Friday again, and that means its time for the Pulse Man to drain the contents of another Saturday 6 pack and fall asleep on his parent's couch while leaving the oven on again. The picks of the week are posted below.

Saturday 6 Pack:

2 Team Parlay:
1. NC State @ East Carolina (+7.5), ECU
2. Arkansas @ Auburn, Total Points (60.5)-UNDER


3 Team Parlay:
1. Iowa @ Michigan- IOWA, moneyline
2. Ohio St. (-4) @ Wisconsin- OSU
3. Air Force (-1) @ San Diego St.- AIR FORCE

'Big Ticket' Pick of the Day:
SMU (+1.5) @ Navy- SMU

Now I'm done. Rack me

Frost

We Want Some Moore

Growing up just blocks from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Howard Moore made the proper decision to ditch the Horizon League basketball scene on the Near West side and opted to picket with groups of hippie-liberals (often referred to as 'hiberals') in Madison while also suiting up for the Badgers from 1990-1995. Ironically, some 20 years later, Howard Moore will be trying to sway kids into staying under the shadow of the Hull House, and choosing to dress in the red and blue while staying at home to play for UIC.

Former UIC head man Jimmy Collins didn't exactly have UIC competing with Illinois in his time with the Flames, but he didn't have them going winless and hiring a new coach every time the Goo Goo Dolls dropped a new single in the late 90's like Chicago St. either. In Collins' tenure, he coached the Flames to Horizon League titles in 2002 and 2004 and also competed in the National tournament on three occasions. However, with conference rival Butler coming off a season in which it was the National Runner-up and produced a top 10 overall NBA draft pick and UIC's all-time tournament wins total is stalled at the same number of times Wendy Williams has ordered a salad instead of KFC (0), Howard Moore has a lot ahead of him, or, at lot on the horizon (no pun intended).

For Moore, it all starts with recruiting. Now I'm not saying that Moore will be pulling down your Evan Turner, Sherron Collins, Jacob Pullen type recruit to come play in an arena that features a royal blue curtain as a stadium wall and attracts more people for a Godsmack concert than a basketball game in the next few years. However, being a former Public League player himself, he should know that enough workable basketball talent comes out of that city to make a competitive roster. Throw in a few foreign import big men (or beers) from Latvia or Belarus and you have a nice squad. (side note: when is the last time you've heard of a European guard in D1 college hoops? They're all makeshift centers. I'm just envisioning everyone above 5'11'' doing the Mikan Drill at 7 AM in their driveway as vespas race around the block at 45 mph) Also in coming from Wisconsin, if Howard Moore gets his kids to buy into the Bo Ryan "Swing, Swing" system and get after it on D, the strategy works for itself. For example, Bo Ryan has had good years with the likes of Joe Krabbenhoft, Greg Stiemsma, and Brian Butch as his big men...just sayin

It's clear Howard Moore wants to be at UIC based on the waterworks he shed at his press-conference that resembled the pathetic T.O. "That's my Quarterback" interview that led us to never take him seriously again. In defense of Moore, he paid his dues as a longtime assistant coach and finally landed the head gig for his hometown team, go ahead and shed a few Howie. There's no place like home.

As for Pick of the Day, when I saw that the Dave Bush led Brewers were leading the Mets behind 6 innings of 3 hit baseball, it prompted me to pruposely use CAPS LOCK for the first time since about my sophomore year in high school and triggered this text exchange between me and the Pulse Man. Me: "DAVE BUSH IS PITCHING A 3 HIT SHUTOUT!?!?!" Pulse Man: Are you sure it isn't a single A game? Either way, we were burned by the hair of the dog that bit us (or however that saying goes). Tonight, trying to rid himself of this 2 game skid, the Pulse Man likes the UNDER in the Texas A&M/Oklahoma St. Thursday night special set at 66.5.

Pick of the Day: Texas A&M @ Oklahoma St.-Total Points 66.5-UNDER (-110)

Record:(22-15-0)