The Latest Illini Basketball Mess

It was great to see Brian Carlwell sitting on the bench for the Illini on Sunday, less than a week after lying in a hospital bed in critical condition with a concussion. Though he was reported earlier in the week to be on his way to a full recovery, this was a tangible sign that he was alright.

Just don’t expect to see Jamar Smith on that bench. Ever again.

Officially, Smith, the driver of the car that crashed to give Carlwell his concussion, is off the team for the rest of the season to deal with the emotional, legal and academic ramifications that will surely arise from the incident. Officially, it was a joint decision between coach Bruce Weber and Smith’s family in Peoria.

Unofficially, my Champaign connections tell me the hot rumor down there is that Smith is off the team forever.

If that’s true, it sounds very much like a Bruce Weber decision. And it’s a decision that took some guts – Smith started when he was healthy and was the team’s fourth-leading scorer, with 8.1 points a game, as a sophomore.

But it’s the right decision. So far Smith has been charged with nothing more than improper lane usage, but it’s well documented that he drove more than a mile back to his apartment after the crash before someone called 911. For whatever reason, he was willing to risk the life of his teammate to avoid taking responsibility for whatever he had done. You simply can’t keep a team together with that level of selfishness in the mix, so anyone who would do that to a teammate must go.

I’ll be looking forward to seeing Carlwell play in the Big Ten tournament, and the NCAA tournament after that, and to seeing a Smith-less Illini team continue to make the tournament for years to come.