Illini lose at home to Penn State

Much like any individual game before February, the Illini concluded their season-spanning “fake rally” a little too early on Saturday, dropping a home game to illustrious Big Ten basketball powerhouse Penn State. Time to throw those far-fetched NCAA Tournament dreams out the window, folks!

To add insult to injury (or to distract us with happy memories), the Flyin’ Illini were trotted out at halftime. There was also some sort of unofficial Chief Illiniwek appearance.

So that was pretty tight. We’ve now lost five straight games.

To Penn State.

Here are some sad highlights:

The wind knocked a bunch of stuff over yesterday

Spotted in Chambana had a field day:

Immigration Activism Focus Of Upcoming Symposium In Champaign

(Christine Herman / Illinois Public Media)

Illini baseball starts season 6-0

And they just cracked the top 25. This might be the year they finally reach the NCAA tournament, folks.

Bugs are bad but these pictures are good

(Julie McClure / Smile Politely)

Rose Bowl Tavern undergoing new ownership March 1st

Will be interesting to see what happens to one of the only country music mainstays in Central Illinois.

(Patrick Singer / Smile Politely)

Board on Urbana schools: Money mismanaged, orders ignored

Earlier this year three administrators were stripped of their titles. Today, we get to know a little more about why.

(Lyndsay Jones / News-Gazette)

Moody’s sees C-U as bright spot in a dim state

Flex.

(Tom Kacich / News-Gazette)

The Art Theater launches $25,000 fundraising campaign to remain open

How many times is The Art Theatre going to have an ’emergency’ where their closure is certain unless they get thousands of dollars in donations right away?

How long until the general public becomes fatigued with multi-thousand-dollar bailouts?

I pose not as rhetorical questions, but as legitimate concerns.

The Art is great. It should live and prosper. Anyone who wants to donate absolutely should, and hopefully they raise enough money to stay open. It just seems a little disingenuous when they ask for a massive sum of money for some sort of immediate crisis every few years. It’s really hard to believe that these crises pop up instantly, and can’t be foreseen in any way.

(Patrick Singer / Smile Politely)

Tatyana McFadden, the best athlete in C-U, featured in Nike commercial during the Oscars

Tigers out to show top seed is no fluke

Urbana hasn’t won a basketball Regional since 1989. If seeding is correct, that should change this week.

(Colin Likas / News-Gazette)