With finals upon us and winter break fast approaching, I have mixed feelings about the men’s basketball team. The Illini are 9-1, with their only blemish a two-point loss to Clemson … a game they should have held on to win.

Last year’s team stood at 6-4 through its first 10 games, but three of those losses came to Duke, Maryland and Arizona. This year’s team has posted a couple of decent victories, but nothing too impressive.

And the team knows it.

“I don’t think we belong in the top 25 yet,” point guard Chester Frazier said after Monday’s win against Hawaii. “No disrespect to any of the teams we beat, but we haven’t beat anybody to deserve to be in the top 25.”

Man, that Clemson game would have looked so good.

This team deserves its 9-1 record. There’s no doubt about it. Illinois is scoring 70.9 points per game while allowing only 56.3.

Most recently the Illini limited David Holston and the 80-point-per-game Chicago State Cougars to only 50 points. But let’s be real. It’s Chicago State.

As far as I’m concerned, Illinois is taking care of business. The Orange and Blue are beating all of the teams they should beat, separating them from last year’s bunch, which lost home games to Miami (Ohio) and Tennessee State.

I expect Illinois to be 12-1 heading into the Big Ten portion of the season. In the three remaining games until Big Ten play begins, Illinois sandwiches two home games against Detroit and Eastern Michigan around the Busch Braggin’ Rights game against Missouri in St. Louis.

I guess I just can’t trust the Illini until they post some big wins … real big wins.

Up until now, it’s been bothering me that I can’t pinpoint this team’s identity.

They’re pretty darn good on defense, are capable of significant offensive scoring runs and can still win games despite being outrebounded, 43-14.

I’ve been looking for the leader of this team, but really, there appear to be a few.

Stat leader

Sophomore Mike Davis has been the team’s rock so far. He leads the team in scoring (13.9 ppg), as well as the Big Ten in rebounding (8.7 rpg). He leaves it all on the court, and it’s paying off for the starting forward.

Floor general

Chester Frazier has been playing through a deep thigh bruise for quite a few games. He’s the best defensive stopper on the team, if not the entire Big Ten. The point guard also has a solid 3.4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Big-game leader

Demetri McCamey always seems to turn it on for the big games. His problem is the little games. I wonder how much Illinois fans would pay to see McCamey go all-out, whether it’s against Purdue or Detroit?

I still think this team is better than last year’s group of individuals, but will that translate into wins?

Ryan Dixon is a senior in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]