This time of year most Fighting Illini sports fans are rejoicing at the end of football season and the beginning of basketball season. This year, however, has been a different case because of the football team's success (the Illini's Rose Bowl appearance) and the basketball team's failures.

The Illini men's basketball team is usually a stellar team, which frequents the national polls. This season, however, has been a different case. The team has had limited success, with a disappointing record of 8-8 after tonight's 70-60 loss at Wisconsin.

The previous three losses were at home against what I feel were highly beatable opponents. These were to Tennessee State (60-58), Ohio State (74-58), and Penn State (68-64). Tennessee State is a school from the small Ohio Valley Conference. This type of team is usually what is called a "cupcake," which is pretty much an automatic win for a team like Illinois.

When a team performs like Illinois has, fans, players, and coaches begin questioning what is going wrong. Well, from what I have seen, I have found two sources of their problems. First, the Illini flat out can't rebound. In their game against Penn State they were out-rebounded 40-16 at one point. This gives opponents many opportunities to score and keeps the ball out of the Illini offense's hands.

The Illini also have had abysmal recruiting. They have had two great freshman — Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon — show significant interest only to sign with other schools. Gordon had even verbally committed at one point only to attend for Indiana. Each has made a large impact at their respective colleges, Memphis and Indiana.

The Illini, however, have had bright spots, like freshman guard Demetri McCamey. He was the only reason the Illini stayed close in their game against Penn State, making several clutch threes.

As for the rest of this season, coach Bruce Weber probably put it best.

"We shouldn't be in this dilemma," he said after the Wisconsin loss. "If we played this hard back at the time, we wouldn't be in this position, and this wouldn't be a major catastrophe. … We've done all kinds of things. We've just got to find a way to hang together and get a win."