The 2009–10 Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team represented University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Bruce Weber's seventh season at the school. They are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at Assembly Hall. The Illini finished the season 21–15, 10–8 in Big Ten play and lost in the semifinals of the 2010 Big Ten Conference men's basketball tournament. They were invited to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament where they advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to Dayton.
Pre-season
College GameDay On Tuesday, August 18, ESPN announced that Illinois will serve as one of the host sites for the network’s popular basketball series, College GameDay, during the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Two one-hour shows (10:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. Central) will originate from the Assembly Hall on February 6, 2010 for the Illinois vs. Michigan State game. This is Illinois’s first appearance on ESPN College GameDay. The series, which is in its sixth season, will make four first-time stops in 2010. Other first-time hosts include Clemson, Kansas State and Washington. The Illinois/Michigan State game will be the only Big Ten game featured this season.
Jeffrey Jordan On October 6, 2009 it was reported that Jeffrey Jordan was talking to former teammates and coaches about a possible return to the Illinois basketball team. Jordan had left the team in June, after his second season, to focus on school. October 16, 2009, coach Bruce Weber said that Jordan planned to return to the team.fightingillini.com, Jordan Returns to Illini , accessed 16 October 2009
Pre-season rankings
Various publications and news sources released their preseason rankings prior to the start of the 2009–10 season. Illinois has been ranked by the publications below. The Fighting Illini were ranked 23rd by the Associated Press in their pre-season poll released. The Illini received the 27th most votes in the Coaches poll and failed to make their Top 25.
Associated Press Coaches Athlon Lindy's Sporting News Fox SportsFinal preseason top 25 for 2009-10 , Fox Sports, retrieved 10-22-09 CBS SportsFinal Preseason Top 25 (and one): Distractions don't KO KU from top, CBS Sports, retrieved 10-22-09 SI.comKansas, Michigan State are 1-2 in first Power Rankings of 2009-10, SI.com, retrieved 10-22-09Rivals.com 23 NR NR 25 21 18 23 NR 24
Departures Illinois lost a good portion of their backcourt with the departure of 2008-09 senior guards Chester Frazier, Trent Meacham, and Calvin Brock. Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Trent Meacham 1 G 6'2" 195 RS Senior Champaign, IL Graduated/Pro for WBC Raiffeisen Wels (Austria) Chester Frazier 3 G 6'2" 195 Senior Baltimore, MD Graduated/Hired by Illini as Graduate Assistant and Video Coordinator Calvin Brock 25 G 6'5" 200 RS Senior Chicago, IL Graduated
2009 additions Freshmen Joseph Bertrand, Brandon Paul and D.J. Richardson help fill the holes in the guard positions, while freshmen Stan Simpson and Tyler Griffey will add depth to the frontcourt.
Roster
Schedule
Source:
!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Exhibition
!colspan=12 style="background:#DF4E38; color:white;"| Non-Conference regular season
!colspan=9 style="background:#DF4E38; color:#FFFFFF;"|Big Ten regular season
!colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|Big Ten tournament
!colspan=9 style="text-align: center; background:#DF4E38"|National Invitation Tournament
The March 17, 2010 NIT first-round game was hosted by Stony Brook due to a previously scheduled performance by Cirque du Soleil at Assembly Hall.
Season statistics Legend GP Games played GS Games started Avg Average per game FG Field-goals made FGA Field-goal attempts Off Offensive rebounds Def Defensive rebounds A Assists TO Turnovers Blk Blocks Stl Steals High Team high
+ Individual player statistics2009-10 Illinois Season Statistics , FightingIllini.com Minutes Scoring Total FGs 3-point FGs Free-throws Rebounds Player GP GS Tot Avg Pts Avg FG FGA Pct 3FG 3FA Pct FT FTA Pct Off Def Tot Avg A TO Blk Stl McCamey, Demetri 36 34 1241 34.5 542 15.1 191 421 .454 56 164 .341 104 147 .707 17 112 129 3.6 254 123 5 53 Tisdale, Mike 36 36 1006 27.9 429 11.9 165 282 .585 5 6 .833 94 112 .839 77 139 216 6.0 28 50 59 12 Davis, Mike 36 32 1161 32.2 385 10.7 172 364 .473 0 0 .000 41 65 .631 81 249 330 9.2 34 53 23 18 Richardson, D.J. 36 35 1112 30.9 379 10.5 124 311 .399 69 177 .390 62 80 .775 18 79 97 2.7 75 60 6 24 Paul, Brandon 36 14 682 18.9 280 7.8 93 279 .333 36 129 .279 58 90 .644 42 68 110 3.1 46 46 5 29 Keller, Dominique 35 0 399 11.4 156 4.5 66 145 .455 10 35 .286 14 27 .519 24 54 78 2.2 20 26 12 15 Cole, Bill 36 22 766 21.3 157 4.4 57 124 .460 29 77 .377 14 23 .609 38 78 116 3.2 36 24 22 24 Griffey, Tyler 32 4 270 8.4 105 3.3 42 80 .525 7 20 .350 14 16 .875 22 34 56 1.8 11 13 4 10 Legion, Alex 11 1 109 9.9 30 2.7 11 37 .297 4 19 .211 4 6 .667 0 10 10 0.9 5 4 1 3 Jordan, Jeff 33 2 454 13.8 52 1.6 22 50 .440 2 8 .250 6 10 .600 16 28 44 1.3 56 26 3 13 Semrau, Richard 15 0 67 4.5 21 1.4 9 13 .692 0 0 .000 3 5 .600 8 14 22 1.5 3 4 3 0 Chisholm, Bubba 12 0 16 1.3 7 0.6 3 12 .250 1 10 .100 0 0 .000 0 2 2 0.2 0 1 0 1 Simpson, Stan 8 0 17 2.1 4 0.5 2 9 .222 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 3 0 3 0.4 2 0 1 0 Team 50 74 124 3.4 13 Total 36 7300 2547 70.8 957 2127 .450 219 645 .340 414 581 .713 396 941 1337 37.1 570 443 144 202 Opponents 36 7300 2406 66.8 838 2094 .400 267 831 .321 463 665 .696 407 833 1240 34.4 461 433 61 221
Rankings Poll Pre-Season Week1 Week2 Week3 Week4 Week5 Week6 Week7 Week8 Week9 Week10 Week11 Week12 Week13 Week14 Week15 Week16 Week17 Week18 Final AP 23 23 20 (RV) (RV) (RV) (RV) -- -- -- -- -- -- (RV) (RV) (RV) (RV) -- -- Coaches (RV) 25 21 (RV) (RV) (RV) (RV) (RV) -- -- -- -- -- -- (RV) -- -- -- -- + Legend Increase in ranking Decrease in ranking No change (RV) Received votes
References