Mike Nadel: That's why they're the FIGHTING Illini

Finally, some fight in the Illini. Of course, it would be better if the fight took place on the court against the opponent instead of amongst themselves.

Bruce Weber screamed at his players. The players screamed at each other. For all I know, Chief Illiniwek was in a politically incorrect teepee somewhere screaming at his politically incorrect squaw. It was that kind of sorry Saturday, a day that epitomized this sorry season of Illinois basketball.

After Purdue turned up the pressure in the second half and the Illini generously responded by repeatedly giving away the ball, Weber unleashed two months' worth of frustration during an NR-17 rated locker room diatribe. Let's just say it got so bad that Bobby Knight would have blushed.

"I wasn't very happy," Weber said after the 74-67 loss dropped his team's record to 9-10. "I tried not to blow up. I did, probably, a little bit. We just have mental breakdowns, whether it's (not) taking care of the ball, fouling or losing the guy for a layup on a play that we actually talked about in the huddle. You can't do that ... but we've done it all year."

Later, in a quiet hallway in Mackey Arena's underbelly, the coach expounded upon his emotional reaction to the worst Illinois season in a decade.

"I was just disappointed," he said. "We're just trying to make some steps. We had a decent week last week (in narrow road losses to Wisconsin and Indiana) and then we beat Michigan and then we had a good half here ... and then we fell back into the same bad habits that have killed us.

"We have too much immaturity. At halftime, we're up by eight and it's like, 'We've won the game.' Uh, no, we have 20 more minutes. That's what I keep telling them. That's what's so disappointing. We've been through it before. We keep repeating it. We don't make strides. It's lack of maturity, leadership, all those things."

All those things ... and infighting, too.

"We had a couple of miscommunications and some outbursts on the court between one another, which is never good during a game," said Brian Randle, the team's senior captain. "You can deal with fighting hard (against the opponent) and if the game doesn't turn out, it's better that than fighting or being mad at one another during the game. It's really a competitive nature. Everybody on this team wants to make plays. Emotions get going and sometimes they get out of control."

Weber said his players haven't developed enough trust in one another.

"We've got to stay together and help each other," he said. "But when you lose, that's not always the easiest thing to do."

One can feel for Weber ... but only so much.

This is his team. This is his offense, his defense. He's the one whose only passable point guard is a freshman, Demetri McCamey, who had a nightmare second half and ended up getting benched for the final 10 minutes.

"Demetri has played real well, so it was too bad he took a step backward," Weber said. "But we knew this could happen. We told him yesterday: 'If you don't play strong and you play casual, they're gonna take advantage of you.' And that's what they did."

Still, when McCamey caves in under pressure it can be explained as part of a freshman point guard's hoops education.

But when the seniors and juniors also fall apart - when they treat the ball as if it's covered in Crisco, dribble into double teams, commit silly out-of-position fouls, get lazy on defense and fire up enough free-throw bricks to build a new arena - it reflects poorly upon the coaching staff.

I mean, this was the season's 19th game! What has the team learned?

For the remainder of this lost season - forget about the NCAA tournament, Illini Land - Weber's challenge is getting his players to believe in themselves and in each other so they can play with poise and teamwork during crunch time.

To sum it all up: Battling the opponent to the final horn, good; immaturely sniping at each other, not so much.

Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.