Illini Demetri McCamey and Jereme Richmond fighting for their careers

“It’s a painful lesson. A guy like Jereme Richmond, who is obviously not getting good advice, he’s probably walking around in a daze. He probably didn’t expect to be in this situation. But whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. It humbles you. There’s nothing wrong with being humbled. You can stay angry or get to work. Hopefully, they will get to work and will be ready when all this is resolved.” – Stephen Bardo, color commentator for ESPN and Illini Sports Network, former Illini guard.

At the beginning of the 2010-2011 NCAA basketball season, the Illinois Fighting Illini had been projected to do great things in the Big Ten. While most believed Ohio State or Michigan State would end up with the conference title, the Illini were thought to be, at the very least, a contender with even greater potential. Dick Vitale ranked the Illini 10th nationally in his preseason rankings. If everything went right, they had a chance.

Along with several highly-recruited young talents, notable components Demitri McCamey,Mike Tisdale, and Mike Davis were returning to the team for their senior season. It seemed like the perfect compilation of ability and age. If the Illini were able to win or make a good run at the title, it seemed as though they would be a significant contender for years to come.

McCamey, the team’s star point guard, had just come off an excellent junior season in 2009-2010, after which he considered leaving the Illini early and entering the NBA Draft.

In retrospect, maybe that would have been the right move. At the time, he was confident that he could only raise his draft stock, following in the footsteps of Deron Williams, the team’s last great Illini point guard, who had been a high lottery pick after reaching the NCAA title game under Bruce Weber.

Going into his senior season, heavy expectations to lead a very talented team far into the Big Ten and NCAA championship tournaments were pinned on the point guard. The Illini had already been a heavy disappointment the previous year, failing to reach the NCAA tournament at all.

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With a great season and a return to contention in the NCAA tournament in 2011, the failures of the previous season would be forgotten and McCamey would enjoy the boost he sought in his draft stock.

After the first week of the season had drawn to a close, the Fighting Illini had quickly compiled a 3-0 record after wins over easy non-conference opponents. Going into Week 2, they were ranked 13th in the nation in the AP Poll, and 16th in the Coaches Poll. Heading into their first true test of the season with a matchup against the ranked Texas Longhorns, things were looking up. Maybe it was going to be a good year, after all.

The Illini ended up losing their first game of the season in that matchup, but did take the Longhorns by storm, competing hard into overtime. Afterwards, the Illini won seven straight, six from the comfort of their home court at Assembly Hall. They easily dispatched both Gonzaga and the University of North Carolina, and moved up a spot to 12th in the AP rankings.

At that point, McCamey appeared to the real deal. After 11 games, he had averaged 15.8 points per game, 7.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 1.2 steals and had connected on 25 of 46 three-point attempts (54.3%).

If he had continued with this level of individual performance, along with the team’s potential postseason success, he would certainly be viewed as a borderline lottery pick.

What followed the team’s 10-1 start, though, should serve as an example of how quickly a season can derail — especially in college basketball, where even the most experienced players are still just college students.

The Illini went a disastrous 4-4 over the next eight games, a stretch that began with a match up against their lowly sister school, the Flames of the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Early on in that Flames loss, it appeared as though the Illini thought they couldn’t lose, the effort simply wasn’t there.

They ended up dropping what in all likelihood should have been a warm-up for their next game: the annual match up with the Midwest rival Missouri Tigers. As the season progressed, various players’ efforts were questioned on multiple occasions.

The rivalry game gave the Illini an immediate opportunity to erase all the doubts raised from the previous collapse. Instead, they folded down the stretch after a back-and-forth 30 minutes. Their inability to close out the previous game only added pressure to the situation, and they were unable to come through when it mattered most, falling 75-64.

Despite the setback, however, they kicked off the Big Ten schedule with a 4-2 record. With plenty of time to right the ship, the Illini appeared to be on the path to doing so with a good start in a competitive conference.

The lone negative spot came in the form of freshman Jereme Richmond, who missed a key road game against Wisconsin for “personal reasons”. In the previous three games, he received only 13 minutes per game — a considerable drop-off from the 22 he averaged in the first 14 games of the season.

Coach Weber, it seemed, was fiddling with the rotations after the two recent losses, and Richmond appeared to be the victim of circumstance.

Rumors that Richmond already wanted to transfer from the Illini began to circulate. True or not, before long everyone had heard the rumor, and people believed that the first-year swingman was upset at his playing time over the course of the three-game span prior to the Wisconsin matchup. Richmond was forced to release a statement that he was indeed committed to the Illini long term, which has since turned out to be false.

The Illini were still ranked in the Top 25 headed into the most important game of their season; a matchup with the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes. Unfortunately, from that point on, things unraveled for both the team as a whole and its individual parts.

In the most important game of the season, a slim five-point loss, McCamey scored just five points on 2-11 shooting. It was a disaster made worse by the fact that if he had shown up, it’s likely the Illini would have won, potentially altering the entire course of the season and with it his own reputation.

Ironically, it was during this game that Richmond showed off his star power for the first time – and on the national stage, no less. Richmond scored 18 points and 10 rebounds on 75% shooting, all in the spotlight. He quickly erased the negativity that had swarmed him, and even followed up this performance with two straight double-digit rebound games.

At this point, the fans and media were looking for someone to blame and they came down hard on McCamey, who had struggled in the biggest game of his career.

With the pressure on him mounting after the Ohio State loss, the point guard struggled mightily in the next two games, scoring just six points in each. In the course of just one month, McCamey’s draft stock had completely reversed.

After a three-game stretch averaging 5.6 points, McCamey’s woes continued and he found himself passively deferring to teammates where he previously would have shown more aggression with the ball.

It appeared that McCamey and Richmond were headed in opposite directions.

Over the course of the season, it was soon established that sophomores D.J. Richardson andBrandon Paul could lead the team in seasons to come as they matured, but were still too inconsistent to be relied on from game to game. And though Richmond had put together a solid stretch of games, his production soon waned.

Mike Tisdale, the starting center with a shooting touch, didn’t appear to have improved much from the previous season. Mike Davis, the team’s top forward, appeared similarly stagnant.

The circumstance didn’t help McCamey as his team struggled with inconsistency around him, making his job as point guard all the more difficult. Like a chef trying to cook with make-do ingredients, his efforts simply weren’t enough. Despite this, the blame trended in his direction and at times, the burden of expectations, combined with the spotlight that shone down, weighed far too heavily.

The team started losing consistently, dropping further and further out of the Top 25. Eventually the national media begun questioning their will to win, and in essence questioning McCamey and his teammates themselves.

Weber tried everything he could to right the doomed season. He benched the lackadaisical McCamey on several instances, which probably only hurt his stock more in the long run (and didn’t help the team, they finished 9-9 in conference play).

Sure, his star player simply failed to show up on a daily basis, but he certainly wasn’t the only one to blame.

Richmond ended up getting suspended at the end of his short Illini career, during the NCAA tournament for reasons undisclosed. Since he had been suspended as a senior in high school for his participation in a fight, speculation arose that a similar altercation took place, but there were never any answers to the questions.

Richmond’s silence and the lack of solid information regarding the rumor’s validity only led to decreased draft status.

When it comes to the NBA Draft, perception can be everything. Why would an organization guarantee money to a player with so many question marks? As a result of the uncertainty both players went undrafted.

It’s certainly surprising that McCamey didn’t even go in the second round, considering his pure ability and the numbers he put up over the course of his Illini career. Considering that he plays point guard and has good size and strength, teams may eventually regret passing on McCamey.

Richmond was also surprised that he wasn’t drafted. His family has even come out, angrily wondering why he wasn’t drafted.

In the case of Richmond, he appears to value himself as an NBA prospect far more than anyone else does. There is no doubt that he has a ton of potential — but he left school far too early after failing to consistently perform in the first place.

“In Jereme’s case, it’s a tough thing because he had another option,” Weber told ESPN Chicago regarding the decision of the freshman to make it in the pros. “[The option to return] was certainly emphasized in talking to his family, and they made the decision and now he has to take a shot at the D-League or look overseas.”

It’s truly disheartening to see such an amazing talent make such a poor decision. When players like Matt Howard, Jacob Pullen and LaceDarius Dunn go undrafted, it’s hard to believe that Richmond was advised he was a Draft Day-lock. With two to three years more seasoning at Illinois, Richmond could have developed into a lottery pick.

Certainly, both McCamey and Richmond were victims of perception, but nobody ever said that ability was the be all and end all when it comes to NBA prospects. In that regard, both Demitri McCamey and Jereme Richmond are certainly great talents, and probably deserve to be on an NBA team.

Justly or not, the Fighting Illini’s many failures over the course of the 2010-11 season have become, in part, McCamey and Richmond’s failures and a great deal of negativity surrounds both.

Will they ever do the work required to improve at the NBA level? Will they dust themselves off and try to prove everybody wrong?

In the end, each is too gifted on the basketball court to be overlooked completely and each has the ability to become a key component of a winning organization.

After the lockout is lifted, McCamey and Richmond will likely both get invited to try out for several NBA organizations. The question is – when that day comes, will they finally be ready to impress?

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