I feel the same way Bulls, Bears, Sox, but Illinois basketball is the most frustrating of all because they have actually had the talent to take the prize but just haven't gotten it done come tournament time.
I think that Freddy Adu is the one player that could possibly make the MLS somewhat popular in this country. With good runs in the World Cup and Olympics and just peoples general fascination with him I think he could make soccer much bigger in this country. Alot needs to go right though.
Lilly is expendable when you have Mulder, Hudson, Zito, Harden, and I'm sure they're planning on bringing up Blanton this year. They need some hitting so this isn't a bad trade.
Yeah, you guys have a great recruiting class coming in, but I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of high school players go pro this year including Josh Smith. Even without him you still have a top 5 class though. Personally I see up to 7 HS players going pro this year.
I'm a little biased but I think Illinois is slightly underrated in these rankings. I mean behind OU, you have to be kidding me. They lost their starting backcourt plus a major contributor in Ebi Ere, Illinois returns 4 starters and the only big loss is Cook. Harrington is easily replaced. The only thing concerning me right now is the problems Spears and Head are having.