U of I vs. CHS; Randle update - From Tupper

[IlliniNYC]

Wednesday's game against Penn State will mark the exact date 100 seasons ago that Illinois played its first official men's basketball game, defeating Champaign High School, 71-4.
Yikes

Randle said he won't play Wednesday against Penn State nor will he play Saturday at Northwestern. But he didn't rule out the possibility of playing next week, provided he progresses in practice and that Weber gives him the green light.

Tupper 1/11/2005 (http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2005/01/11/sports/illini/1005107.txt)

And from his other article today:

Illini coach Bruce Weber left the decision to his players and they said Monday that ESPN's request to spend two weeks filming behind the scenes with the Illini will be turned down.
While I would have loved to see the segment, I think the players responses speak volumes about their attitude this season. I suspect they made the right choice...

Tupper #2 (http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2005/01/11/sports/mark_tupper/1005109.txt)

[HouseofPaign]

The coverage would have been pretty sweet. I remember when MTV did a segment on SIU WITH Weber, I was impressed with him and how he ran his program. I had a little insight before he came to the prgram, it helped ease my mind. Exposure is NEVER a bad thing, but I don;t want ANYTHING distracting our palyers from the task at hand. It IS pretty amazing that college students can see the matter at hand, and turn down an opportunity to be "bigger stars" on Tv. Speaks volumes.

[The Sprouting Divot]

71 points is a lot of points for back then. 4 is not very many points, even for back then. I must say that I'm a little dubious of the term "official" though. Is that one legitimately in our record books as our first win?

Awesome.

I agree 100% about The Season.

[Dan]

Is that one legitimately in our record books as our first win?It's fun the dive into the record book. College teams back in the day were free to play high school, ymca, even pro teams.

Illinois Basketball: The First Season

1905-06 (6-8, 3-6)
Coach: Elwood Brown
Captains: (elected each game)
Lineup: f Stewart, f Tallmadge, c Riley, g Dadant,
g Juul, g Ryan
J 12 71 Champaign High School (at Urbana) . .4 (W)
J 20 27 Indiana (at Urbana) . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 (W)
J 27 25 Purdue (at Urbana) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 (W)
F 2 19 at Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 (L)
F 5 23 Wheaton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 (W)
F 8 15 at Evanston Y.M.C.A . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 (L)
F 9 14 at Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 (L)
F 10 28 at Wheaton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 (L)
F 14 31 Oberlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 (W)
F 16 7 at Indiana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 (L)
F 17 22 at Purdue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 (L)
F 24 24 Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 (W)
F 28 25 Minnesota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 (L)
M 3 32 Wisconsin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 (L)

Source: Illini Media Guide-
http://fightingillini.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/110604aab.html

[The Sprouting Divot]

Ahh, the 1906 Evanston YMCA squad got us 51-15. Some of the old timers at my barbershop are still talking about how dominating that team was...