Purdue At Illinois GameThread: FINISH HIM!

Could tonight's victory be a double win? What if Bruce Weber returns as Matt Painter's top recruiter, forming a formidable coaching staff where Weber and Micah Shrewsberry can handle the recruiting and free Matt Painter to devise the perfect zone defense that pitches the first shutout in college basketball history because no one expects us to play a zone?

Okay, its a little farfetched, but after a text conversation with my cohort Joe Kutsunis over at Hail to the Orange it is clear: Bruce Weber will be fired after this season if the Fighting Illini don't make the NCAA Tournament, and they won't make the tournament if they lose this game. Joe even went so far as to call them mentally despondent, which is basically worse than calling them callow (Mallrats reference!)

Let it be known, Bruce, that this is strictly business. We have to handle our own, and we'd expect the same if the roles were reversed. The time has come for Purdue to stop messing around and to start taking care of the business of making the NCAA Tournament.