Cal Irvine at Illinois

The Fighting Ilini has a lot to look forward to this season. They open the season ranked No. 13 in the nation against UC Irvine at home. The Illini have not been to the dance in two of the last three seasons, but with almost all the pieces back from last year's NIT team, things are looking up again. Demetri McCamey, now a senior and All Big-10 guard a year ago will lead the Illini attack. His backcourt running mate is D.J. Richardson who was voted the top newcomer of the year in the Big-10 a year ago, so the Illini have a pair of lethal guards. The front court is stacked as well, and with the Illinois Player of the Year, Jereme Richmond, in uniform, the Illini are talented and deep. UC Irvine hopes that new coach Russell Turner can turn around a 14-18 season as he takes the helm at UC Irvine. New systems sometimes take awhile to come together, and it will be a monumental task against an Illinois team on a mission. I like Illinois to win and cover this one.