No time to rest on your laurels

Not if your the Hoosier basketball team going into the hornet's nest that has been Illinois' Assembly Hall. Not with a crowd ready to boo for as long as they have breath. Not with the Illini desperately needing a quality to revive their flagging hopes.

Indiana has gotten some love, and deservedly so after a nice 9-1 stretch where their only loss was a close one at Ohio State. Indiana's ranked in both the AP and Coaches Polls, for the first time this season. DJ White garnered a conference Player of the Week award, and even Big Ten Wonk has a "who are these guys?" rundown.

But here's the rub, that all can go away pretty quickly with a loss at Illinois.

Now, Bruce Weber will probably try to get his guys fired up, but the Illini are hurting.
Brian Randle will not play, and Shaun Pruitt may very well not play either. Jamar Smith and Chester Frazier are hurting, so I hope Calloway and Bassett are aggressive tonight in trying to make them move and finding the gaps.

But besides that, these Illini fought very hard in close loss to Wisconsin, but haven't had a lot to show for this season so far. If Pruitt is out, they are in trouble. It'll be a tough game, but like the UConn game, Indiana needs to go in, execute, and take their best shot while trying to come out with a win.

Go Hoosiers!