Tatelines Unedited

Is Mark Smith in danger of losing his starting spot? Will Aaron Jordan ever miss? What will Ayo Dosunmu's role be next season? And can the Illini beat Missouri? 51-year columnist Loren Tate answers those questions and more in this week's podcast.

How to fix Illinois football? That's the question posed in this week's Tatelines: Unedited. And Loren Tate has answers, from improved quarterback play to an easier schedule to a more experienced roster to another late recruiting push. 

Big-time college coaches spend more time evaluating talent during the AAU season than they do during the high school season. Derek Piper of Scout.com tells Loren Tate of the changing landscape of college basketball recruiting in this week's 'Tatelines: Unedited.'

In his 51 years on the beat, Loren Tate has covered some awfully good Illinois basketball teams. In today's 'Tatelines: Unedited,' we asked him to tell of the five teams he enjoyed covering the most. Surprisingly, not one Bill Self-coached…

The former athletic director at the University of Illinois agrees with the current AD: Lovie Smith's the right man for the football job. Ron Guenther, who for nearly two decades ran the UI's athletic department, joined Loren Tate in News-Gazette Media's studios to discuss Illini football, the Big Ten's football title game — which he helps put on — and college football's playoff.

Last week's recruiting fiasco involving the Illini and Talen Horton-Tucker didn't do the UI-Simeon relationship much good. What are the long-term ramifications? Recruiting expert Joe Henricksen weighs in with Loren Tate in this week's 'Tatelines: Unedited.'

Martin O'Donnell knows what Lovie Smith's Illini are going through. He came to Illinois when the football program was at the bottom. But before the talented offensive lineman graduated, Ron Zook's program had risen to a Rose Bowl level. Can Lovie do the same? Now a radio analyst for the Illini, O'Donnell talked Xs and Os with Loren Tate, who has been covering games at Memorial Stadium for 51 years.

The NCAA recently let North Carolina's powerhouse basketball program — which beat Illinois in the 2005 title game — off the hook. Veteran columnists Loren Tate and Jim Dey weigh in on the Tar Heels and their coach, Roy 'I didn't know a thing' Williams.

On the beat for 51 years, Loren Tate has seen a youth movement or two. But this year's Illini approach – with so many true freshmen in the lineup — has our longtime columnist intrigued.

Loren Tate talks with local lawyer and UI law prof Steve Beckett on the most recent college basketball scandal. Beckett first got involved in NCAA turmoil during the Deon Thomas case in the early 1990s.