That's why I sort of like/appreciate them. I dislike the blue bloods in both college football and basketball with all their advantages. Like when Coach K or Scheyer has a team full of five stars and gets favorable officiating added in. When a team comes from no where and does what UConn has done it fills me with hope for our Illini.They had occasional modest success for decades but played in a meh conference (Yankee) which finally dropped basketball and they became independent. Calhoun showed up in the mid-'80s and made them what they are today. Their powerhouse status is the result of the 20-plus year run of tourney success he had and spillover for a couple seasons with Ollie after he retired and before Ollie got them into NCAA trouble and got canned. Hurley got them back to the top quickly. They've had a nearly unbroken 35-season run. Only UCLA, Carolina, Duke and Kansas can touch that (off the top of my head).
But UConn is a relatively recent Hoops phenomenon. UConn = Jim Calhoun.
'Cause it's likely to hap(Apart from the obvious answer:
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Pregame: Illinois vs UConn, Saturday, March 30th, 5:09pm CT, TBS
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And both are just as good as anyone else. We are at the point where every team left has to be highly respected. Any other view is just wishful thinking or blind arrogance.The winner of this game gets the winner of Alabama/Clemson to reach the final. Just sayin’.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Same for Duke, which came from nowhere. Duke was nothing when I was a wee lad. Bill Foster (he of eventual Northwestern coach-hood) took them over in the mid-'70s and took them to the FF in '79 where they lost in the title game to a juggernaut Kentucky team. He left to take over for the legendary Frank McGuire at South Carolina (who was also responsible for taking UNC to the top originally in the '50s before he was turfed out for cheating.)
Duke hired Coach K and the boosters and fans tried to run him out of town after 2-3 seasons. He righted the ship the same year the Illini got jobbed in Rupp Arena ('84) and the rest is history.
So if we're sitting here in 1975 no one conceives that Duke will ever be a blue-blood hoops powerhouse. If any upstart from the ACC looks likely to do that it's NC State. HOF coaches...
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Alabama vs Clemson tickets going for around $25 right now on stubhub.
Illinois vs UConn going for $315.
Illinois vs UConn going for $315.
My bad I thought it was reported we were #1.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I don't get it. Who would pay that much to see a blowout?
It gave me flashbacks to when Joakim Noah was with the Bulls and would try and run the fast break.
We are a team that plays to its competition, which seemingly would be a good thing going against the overall #1. All the pressure is on them, and it's showing by the way their fans are chirping. Grateful to have the opportunity to watch the Illini on the next to last weekend of the season!
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
But then we immediately had a stop at the other end, even tho' ISU had numbers, and I said to myself "all is forgiven."
Dude plays with a kind of ZFG flair and joy that embodies our team. I mean... think of the sheer chutzpah that behind-the-back dribble into traffic took. I literally can't be angry with him, even when he's bricking FTs. I assume he'll go 0-for-2 on every shooting foul and am delighted when I'm wrong.
Not a surprise at all. I'd be surprised if the arena in L.A. is close to half full tomorrow night. Two teams on the entire opposite side of the country. If it had been UNC (due to how well their fans travel no matter where they play) or Arizona (due to how close they are to L.A.) playing in the West regional final, the ticket prices would have been a lot higher.
A potential preview of tomorrow night?:
So they mentioned on commentary last night how UConn's win was the biggest in the Sweet 16 since Kansas in 2017, when the Jayhawks defeated Purdue 98-66. The other Sweet 16 matchup in that regional (Midwest in Kansas City) was 3 seed Oregon defeating 7 seed Michigan 69-68. In the Midwest regional final, Oregon defeated Kansas 74-60. The Final 4 that year was also in Glendale, Arizona.
So they mentioned on commentary last night how UConn's win was the biggest in the Sweet 16 since Kansas in 2017, when the Jayhawks defeated Purdue 98-66. The other Sweet 16 matchup in that regional (Midwest in Kansas City) was 3 seed Oregon defeating 7 seed Michigan 69-68. In the Midwest regional final, Oregon defeated Kansas 74-60. The Final 4 that year was also in Glendale, Arizona.
Vic Bubbas coached Duke to its first NCAA Final Four in 1963. Bubas' 1964 team lost in the NCAA National Championship game to UCLA. So there is a bit more to Duke's history in NCAA basketball than Foster and then Mighty Coach Kruschev ... uh, Krapavinsky .... hmmm ... forget it, whatever, after the first letter who knows: Coach K.
sacraig
- The desert
Well, yes... if the two fanbases were playing the game. I would suspect the Huskies themselves are taking the Illini more seriously.
sacraig
- The desert
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Fair enough. But its ‘78 run was seen as an outlier and no one, even then, saw them as a perennial power. In 1980 they were the Texas Tech of the late teens.
sacraig
- The desert
The game is being played in the heart of UConn's fan territory, so... not surprising.
The one consistent thing I keep reading from people is that Illinois has not seen a team like UConn, but fail to acknowledge that UConn has not seen a player like Shannon - and there is really no way to simulate his speed.
There is a 0.00001% chance that TSJ did that. He has the best character of all Illini players since Brian Cook, IMO. My faith in humanity would be completely destroyed if that sliver of a chance ends up being true.
I remember that "pimp daddy Hugh Hefner" had picked the Illini and UNC in the championship before the season even started. I know this because I read the articles in his magazines, among other things
Kramerica Industries
- Greenville, SC
UCONN fans who engulf the area?
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