Just last week we reported that the Illinois Coaches Caravan was about to make a stop right in the backyard of in-state rival Northwestern, however earlier today the owner of the bar this coaches meet & greet was supposed to happen at gave it the boot. 

Why? According to the ESPN.com post the owner didn't want to upset the community that they are in and after the outcry and organization of a "welcome" party by Northwestern students he thought better of it. 

Smart move eh? Nothing like pissing off the one demographic you are really trying hard to market to. 

Now, selfishly I wish the event would've gone on as planned, because who wouldn't want to see that bitter/awkward/avoidable scene play out. Can't you just imagine the clash of the blue-blooded elite Illini alum's clashing with the soon to be blue blooded elite's of the future from Northwestern? I bet that cat fight would've been hella fun to witness in person or via YouTube. 

All jokes aside, at least the owner did the right thing and as of now there has been no specific location announced, but the stop will be made somewhere in Chicago for sure.

There's rivalry shenanigans and then there's what the Illini are about to pull in a few weeks. Chicago has long been a fighting ground for the college sports fans hearts - after all, it's the number one location for grads of Big Ten schools in the country - but for decades it's been the battle ground for Northwestern vs. Illinois. However, yesterday the Illini decided to poke the Wildcat with their announcement of the "Chicago Coaches Caravan." 

Normally, no big deal, there's probably about 10,000 different places the caravan could stop inside Chicago. What's the big deal? Well, of those tens of thousands of places the Ilini deliberately chose a bar that's literally three-blocks from the Northwestern campus. 

The best part of all of this news? The $25 dollar a person event's registration has already been shut down. It's believed because the tickets were about to be taken over by Northwestern students and fans.

Instead according to this article, they have been taken down and those wanting to attend must get them through contacting the local Chicago I Fund chapter. 

Throughout the month of April the Big Ten will spend a Friday night and a lot of Saturday afternoon's in front of crowds going through spring football games. As things wind down we will bring you the thoughts of those plugged in to the programs - fellow bloggers and beat writers. 

Last week we put a bow on the Nebraska Cornhuskers' spring game and today it's all about the Fighting Illini. Here to help us sift through last Friday night's game and spring as a whole is Robert from A Lion Eye. His insight is very well thought out, so make sure to check out ALionEye.com and follow them on twitter @ALionEye.

Coming off a horrid start to his time in Champaign there was plenty of change in store for Tim Beckman's crew, so what went down this spring and where are things heading for the basement dwellers from 2012? Let's take a look at what was an interesting spring for the Illini. 

If you've been following along with us all season long then you know that we tend to do things that aren't always done by other outlets and one of those things is taking a look back - back to what they said when previewing a season - and frankly we find that a bit odd. 

I mean, you are brazen enough to go out on a limb and predict the season, but aren't willing to tell your viewers just how good, bad, or mediocre you were in your predictions? Well, that doesn't fly here at The B1G Time. So, strap yourself in as we bring you a look back at each team and how their season faired and give you the lowdown on how we did in predicting things for each team. 

Up first is a team that saw transition in 2012-13 as John Groce came from Ohio to the Land of Lincoln in hopes of getting the program back to elite status and stop with the "sleeping giant" moniker that's hung around the program for so long.  How did Groce and his players do in his 1st year at the helm? Let's explore an interesting year in the life of the Illini program, shall we? 

On a blustery Friday night in Champaign improvement was easily recognizable despite the crazy amount of injuries going into and during spring. Well, improvement was the name of the game for the offensive side of the ball at the least as the Blue team, led by Nathan Scheelhaase, won 35-28 over the Orange team led by Riley O'Toole.

The old adage is that you can never read too much into a spring football game and that can be very true, especially when you are dealing with things on the micro-level. However, when you are the Illinois Fighting Illini and 2012 was what it was, any signs of positive growth have to be good, right? 

Obviously we haven't been attendance at every practice and seen every drill, but a few things are abundantly clear about this team following Friday night's spring game. 

Observations:

- Nathan Scheelhaase looks completely reengerized after going 24 of 32 for 210 yards passing with 1 touchdown. If he hasn't already put to rest the questions about a possible QB battle go ahead and throw on this game when it comes back on and tell me ho looked better? It's not even close and here's your proof:

- O'Toole threw 52 passes, completing 66% for 362 yards, but threw 4 INT's to 3 TD's - that's not going to get it done in a battle with a veteran like Scheelhaase.

- One of the big questions was if the QB's would have anyone to throw the ball to on a consistent basis. Well, a great toe-tapping TD catch by Ryan Lankford, who had 9 catches for 77 yards, and an overall amazing effort from Justin Hardee (6 receptions for 104 yards) should help ease those concerns. 

- The offensive line showed a lot of improvement (in the running gam especially).... either that or the Illini D-Line is in some serious trouble this fall and both are likely to be true when it's all said and done. 

- Donovonn Young really showed more in terms of a being a north/south runner in this game and on the last of three touchdown drives for him it was all him. He ended the spring game averaging a very impressive 4.8 yards a carry. Overall he had 86 yards on just 16 carries with those three touchdowns. Add in a returning Josh Ferguson and perhaps, maybe, possibly the Illini may just have something of a running game ahead of them. 

- Finally, when this team is running at full throttle and playing the tempo they want under new OC Billy Cubit it's so, SO much better than a season ago. Offense is likely to be the least of the Illini's problems in 2013 based on the spring game from top to bottom.

As if we didn't already know its - the Big Ten is the best conference with the best basketball in all the land. We all knew the Big Ten tournament could provide us with some crazy basketball, but kicking it off like this? 

Yep, it's going to be a wild ride to Sunday's championship if this keeps up. Brandon Paul had 25 of the Illini's 51 points for the game and while it may not have been high scoring, it certainly wasn't boring thanks to Paul and the vocal stylings of one Gus Johnson.

Hopefully this isn't the last of the good games we see, but with how this season played out, its highly doubtful we've seen the last of the crazy finishes. But, DAMN what a way to tip things off, huh?

On Monday Illinois head coach Tim Beckman announced that he was suspending star wide receiver Darius Millines from the team for a violation of team policies. He wouldn't elaborate on that suspension, other than to say his status would be re-evaluated in May.

O.k., so maybe calling Millines a "star" at any level other than on the Illini roster is a bit much, but nonetheless for a team starved of talent and production at the skill positions any player being suspended is bad news bears.

Millines was second on the team with 319 yards receiving and had 32 receptions last season. It's not as if those stats will knock your socks off, but you've got to consider the disaster that was the 2012 Illini season. I mean, leading receiver Ryan Lankford only had 469 yards to his name and RB Donovonn Young led the team with just 38 receptions. 

This is a team that needs all hands on deck if it's going to climb it's way out of the black hole that was last year and not having Millines is a blow this team can't take right now. 

With Beckman giving a timeline for a possible return you have to expect that this situation - whatever it may be - is one that is correctable in the coaches mind and he could be back in time for fall camp. However, there are no givens and on a team looking to right the ship it's clearly shape up or ship out for Beckman.

It's that time of year already... Yep, it's time to put the pens, papers, and YouTube videos down and it's time actually talk about the coaches and players doing what they do best - at least for another month or so. That's because it's spring football time!! Over the next several days we'll be previewing what each team in the Big Ten will be facing this spring - from putting out fires to building champions and everything in between - we've got you covered from every angle here at The B1G Time!

Up first is the worst team last year and it just so happens to be the team that needs the most help coming into spring practice as well. No, we aren't talking about Indiana for a change, but we are talking about a team that starts with a I - yep, we are talking about the Fighting Illini of Illinois as they prep for their first practice on March 5th. 

Pretty sure it's a safe bet to call 2012 a complete tire fire in Champaign-Urbana. After all, this is a team that went from bowl eligible to losing 10 games in the matter of 8 months. In fact this is a program that has lost 16 of it's last 18 games over the past two seasons. 

So, can spring drills bring renewed hope and optimism to a program that desperately needs something to go right for it? Or did the Illini make a mistake in hiring Beckman in the first place? Only time will tell for those questions, but as we enter spring there are plenty of other questions that need to be answered. 

Could this be the new logo for the University of Illinois? 

Apparently the University of Illinois needs a new logo - or some on campus at least believe that. Why? Well, remember that whole NCAA ban on native american logos unless they get the permission of the tribe? Ya, it's made this logo:

BANNED!!!

So, it appears as if a campus group, called Campus Spirit Revival, is looking to get the administration to look into a new logo. Well, boy did they pick out a ton of winners for the 46 submissions. Some are better than others so we'll let you decide, but here are a few of our favorites/never should've happened. 

If you haven't seen "Groundhog Day", first off - what the hell? Second off - shame on you. Lastly, you have seen it and you just don't know it yet. That's because we're witnessing a big time case of it with 2012/13 Illinois Fighting Illini basketball team and some of us, if not most of us fell for it once again this year - so I guess it's shame on all of us. 

Just how groundhogs day is this team? Let's play a little game of guess the season shall we?

Illinois started the season off hot, winning two games against teams that will make the NCAA tournament only to lose to rival Missouri. What Illini season are we talking about?