Shockwaves

Jim Benson covers Illinois State for the Pantagraph of Bloomington, twin city to Normal, home of the Redbirds.

Q: Have the Redbirds emerged from a tumultuous week a better team, as the win at Drake might suggest? Or are the Redbirds in a bad spot after the Lloyd Phillips leave of absence and return?

A: I definitely saw a better team in the last week. With the Phillips leave of absence and Sead Odzic’s knee injury, the team found some depth it didn’t seem to have a week earlier plus it played more as a team. There was a chemistry on the court that was missing. Whether it had anything to do with Phillips is the big question.

Q: How do you expect coach Tim Jankovich to handle his starting lineup when Phillips returns?

A: Jankovich will probably keep Shipley in the starting lineup and bring Phillips off the bench for the next couple games and maybe the rest of the season. Phillips probably will get Odzic-type minutes, which is about 10-15 minutes a game. The interesting part will be if the game is close down the stretch, whether Shipley or Phillips get the call. Not sure right now how that would play out.

Q: WSU’s bench outscored Illinois State’s bench 23-2 in Koch Arena. Will the ISU reserves play better at home, or is that still a problem for the Redbirds?
A: Brandon Sampay has really played well in the last three weeks or so, plus now Brandon Holtz and Alex Rubin had good games last week without Phillips around. If Phillips come off the bench, that should give the Redbird reserves even more punch. ISU looked like a seven-player rotation two weeks ago, but now it could be 9-10 deep the rest of the season, especially when Odzic returns in a couple weeks. Jankovich has more confidence in some of his subs now.

Q: How much enthusiasm is there for the BracketBusters trip to Niagara around the Redbird basketball office?
A: Actually, the Redbird coaches seem to like the idea of going to Niagara. I think some of them haven’t seen Niagara Falls, so that’s one perk to the trip. Plus, they like getting on ESPN2. ISU volunteered to play on Friday night so it could have an extra day of rest because the Redbirds play Northern Iowa on the following Tuesday. ISU really has nothing to lose at Niagara. The only way the Redbirds go to the Big Dance is by winning the Valley tourney, so a loss won’t bust anything.