Illinois guard Chester Frazier is listed as doubtful for Friday night's Big Ten tournament quarterfinal game against Michigan.
Frazier suffered a severely bruised hand in practice on Wednesday. The senior, who is clearly Illinois' best defensive player, has built a reputation of playing through injury during his collegiate career. If Frazier can dribble, he'll play. But the reports I'm hearing don't sound good.
If Frazier cannot play, who will guard Michigan's Manny Harris? Harris scored 18 points in the Wolverines' 75-43 win over Iowa today, and he is clearly Michigan's best offensive threat and one of the better guards in the Big Ten.
This might be sophomore Jeff Jordan's big opportunity to show that he can fill Frazier's shoes at the Illini's defensive stopper on the perimeter next season.
Michigan/Illinois is going to be a great game tomorrow.
I can't wait to watch this one.
Michigan has gotten much better in recent weeks, and that's a credit to the job John Belein has done. I know Ed Dechellis the Big 10 Coach of the Year, but I would have picked Belein instead. He has gotten the most out of that Wolverines roster.
I think Michigan has an extremely talented roster. That roster is among the top three in terms of raw talent in the Big Ten. In fact, I think MSU and Purdue are the only two that are more talented.
Michigan has been extremely inconsistent this year. They have some great wins, like Duke and UCLA. But they have maddening losses too, such as the game they choked away against Iowa. I would not have voted for Beilein as coach of the year. He's a good coach, and he's done a decent job this year. But not good enough to win coach of the year, IMO.
I have no quarrel with the choice of Dechellis.