Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular and Big Sports Radio

March 4, 2025

All season, Ked, Brad and I have been saying this Fighting Illini basketball team has an incredibly high ceiling and a very low floor. Moments like destroying Oregon and Michigan on the road stand out as high points for this team. Conversely, the Illini have been reversed and slammed by Michigan State, bombed by Wisconsin and destroyed by Duke.

It makes me feel like we knew what we were talking about.

Let’s take a deeper dive into that subject…

Heat Check #1 – What Should We Learn from the Michigan Game

The Illini owned the Wolverines with 8 straight victories over the Wolverines heading into what would be their 9^th straight win. This win was a 20-point destruction powered by the Illini providing a second half beating to Michigan in Ann Arbor.

The Illini shot a blistering hot 61% in the second half. It isn’t hard to score 62 points in a half when you hit 11 3-pointers in a single half. I hope the lesson that the players take away from the win is NOT that they should keep “bombing away from the 3-point line”.

That’s not the lesson that I took from the victory.

In my eyes, the lesson was “take care of the ball”. The Illini only had one turnover in the half.

You read that right, one.

The Illini didn’t provide additional opportunities for Michigan to score. Michigan had to earn their points. Despite Michigan shooting 47% in the half, the Wolverines could not keep pace with the Illini. Thanks to Illini discipline, the Wolverines didn’t get extra FG attempts or easy layups to fuel their offense. With the Illini blazing away at the other end of the floor, Michigan needed the help. It didn't come.

When the Illini choose to take care of the ball, they become a much tougher team to beat. Careless turnovers offered up by the Illini have been the energy for many opposing offenses. Illinois proved that valuing the ball and maintaining possessions are critical for winning.

Let's hope it continues.

Heat Check #2 – Boxing Wades into Professional Wrestling Territory

In a chain of events that would’ve made Vince McMahon proud to have scripted them, Gervonta “Tank” Davis should’ve lost his first fight ever as a professional. Davis is uber-talented, but his still undefeated record (30-0-1) is less impressive when you put it under a microscope. He’s been a champion since winning the IBF Super Featherweight Title in 2017. What he’s managed to do is avoid most of the talented fighters in his weight class ever since. Davis is much more likely to get into a “battle of thumbs” on X than engage punches with a highly ranked fighter in the ring.

In the 9^th round, Davis voluntarily took a knee after quick jab from opponent Lamont Roach. That in and of itself constitutes a knockdown. For some reason, referee Steve Willis didn’t call this a knockdown. Based on scoring in a boxing match, scoring that a knockdown would’ve resulted in Roach winning a majority decision as the two judges who ruled it a draw would’ve given Roach the win with the additional point caused by the knockdown.

But wait, there’s more!

Then Davis wheels to his corner and gets them to wipe off his face as there was some sort of “grease” from his hair obscuring his vision. If a fighter gets help from the corner without referee approval, that is grounds for losing a point or even being disqualified. Of course, neither happened.

This whole fight was on pay-per-view, but somehow, the replay referee couldn’t get a replay of the round to review in the moment. Maybe someone could've paused the broadcast and let him watch that? With no review, the knockdown did not happen, and the corner interference didn’t either. Boxing fans apparently didn’t see what we thought we saw.

This is like the WWE when a wrestler KOs the ref in the ring, cheats, and then wins when the ref wakes up and misses the dastardly deed that caused the loss. There is one huge difference though. The WWE ref is supposedly incapacitated when missing the rule breaking. Steve Willis was clearly conscious, noted what occurred verbally to Tank while they were in the ring, and chose to ignore it. He should never referee a fight again.

I’m not a huge one for reversing decisions, but this was clearly a case of multiple screw-ups happening in front of everyone – and Roach being denied a hard-earned upset win over a long-time champion. I think a rematch will be mandated, but that is more WWE than it is boxing. And in any event, Roach should be the winner, so make him the winner. All the evidence needed is there. Don't ignore it.

Or maybe I have it the wrong way and the WWE is really striving to be boxing?

Heat Check #3 – Illini Football Feeling Good in the Offseason

The Illini football team is ranked from around #10 to #15 in the preseason rankings. What is happening?

I have an idea what’s happening, and more importantly, I like it!

Bret Bielema has figured out a way to augment his team by keeping key players in the Orange and Blue – whether Johnny Newton, Patrick Bryant or Gabe Jacas. By specifically targeting key players and critical positions, the Illini coach is making sure to maximize his limited NIL funds.

The Illini staff have also dabbled in the transfer portal. They’re not trying to make the biggest splash possible, but to put players on the roster who are talented at a position of need. Think of last season without J.C. Davis and Melvin Priestly. The Illini play well in the portal. They go for quality over quantity. Talent evaluation is critical when you don’t have Ohio State’s $20 million dollar NIL budget to play with.

Illini high school recruiting has gradually improved as well. All roads lead to a Bielema strength, the importance of talent evaluation. And we soon could be seeing the effects of winning over time coming into play for the first time in decades for Illini football. What could happen if more players want to come to Illinois?

It’s not hard to imagine it becoming easier to talk players into staying longer, having more success in the transfer portal and more high school students classifying Illinois as a “destination” for players wanting to have collegiate and even NFL success.

There’s a reason Bret Bielema is positive and confident approaching the 2025 football season.

It should be fun.