Pregame: Illinois vs Northwestern, Wednesday, March 13th, 8:00pm CT, BTN

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#101      
Two recent All B1G freshmen in the backcourt and a top 40 monster coming in at center to join Giorgi down low and we lose very little compared to the largest majority of the league in AJ and ADLR. It's not your vision, it's your vision. I see said the blind man:)
Still a lot of what ifs next year. Who in your eyes do we jump in front of in the bigten? I can see maybe Minnesota.
 
#102      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Still a lot of what ifs next year. Who in your eyes do we jump in front of in the bigten? I can see maybe Minnesota.
Minny, IU and Iowa quickly come to mind. Maryland isn't a stretch IMO. That Frosh-Soph leap is huge and half our team has the opportunity to make it at the same time.
 
#103      
Haven't been on here for a few days, but was there ever any reason given for AG and TJ not getting any minutes last game? I don't understand it. At all.
 
#104      
Minny, IU and Iowa quickly come to mind. Maryland isn't a stretch IMO. That Frosh-Soph leap is huge and half our team has the opportunity to make it at the same time.

The way our fresh->soph improved this year I'm skeptical that leap will be "huge". Prove me wrong Illini.
 
#107      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
I made this statement on another site but, an 18 yr old does not have the physical stamina that a 20 year old has. No matter how hard one tries, it is like wading through water. It doesn't mean that one doesn't have the desire or the talent. It simply means that an 18 yr old body hasn't reached the maturity that a 20 yr old has reached and no longer has the quickness that one had earlier.

This post made me feel a lot older than my 67 years old age.....I'm old as dirt.....
 
#108      

Deleted member 236589

D
Guest
You obviously only consider points scored as important. AJ had to deal with guards looking for their shot and no desire to pass to him unless they couldn't get a shot off. He did a great job in running the options of the offense. He did an outstanding job of getting his hands on balls on D and many other things.You are probably one of the guys that felt Cassius Winston would not make 1st team All Big Ten while he was Player of the Year and 1st team All American.
I guess I'm probably that guy then. Like I said, it's semantics on how you want to take my comments.

I pointed out 1)Points, 2) Rebounds, 3)Assists and 4)Shooting percentage.

Those are measurables. Numbers are the only way to measure productivity.

You threw in the fact that his teammates didn't want to pass him the ball? Validate that. Prove that to me. Then, the amount of balls he touched on defense. How many steals per game did he have? That's a measurable.

Please don't put AJ in the same book as Cassius Winston. That's silly and you should probably stop.

What you're talking about is intangibles and I don't disagree with you.

As I said....his productivity can be replaced, his leadership, attitude and work ethic....much tougher.

This is an 11-20 basketball team. For them to be a 20-11 basketball team, they need more from that position. It's a fact that you may not like, but it's true.

AGAIN, nobody is questioning his intangibles. That was the basis of my initial response.
 
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#111      

Deleted member 11241

D
Guest
His first FULL recruiting class would have to cycle through with absolutely no improvement for him to be on the hot seat.

He's nowhere close.

Yep. And firing coaches after 3 years (unless there is a scandal) is not a good look to attract a good coach to come here knowing the leash is so short
 
#115      

pruman91

Paducah, Ky
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/col...cle_fa16e371-a0c5-5afc-ac7f-f05ad8fce3f1.html

Chances existed for Illinois to avoid the dreaded first-round tournament game and to have an extra day of preparation and scouting before beginning what will be a challenging tournament.
Instead, the Illini (11-20) lost five of six to close out the regular season to set up a third game against Northwestern scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday at the United Center in the first round of the tournament.

“It’s going to be fun,” freshman Ayo Dosunmu said. “We know we have to take each game at a time. We know what we can do. It’s actually fun and getting me excited, just knowing, because really, no one thinks we can do it. We really have nothing to lose.”
 
#116      
Minny, IU and Iowa quickly come to mind. Maryland isn't a stretch IMO. That Frosh-Soph leap is huge and half our team has the opportunity to make it at the same time.

I’d say Nebraska, Northwestern. Though technically we won’t jump them as they fell way back this year. They both lose a lot of seniors.

Minny is possible, they lose Murphy, but return everyone else of consequence.

Can’t see us being better on paper than IU, Iowa, or Maryland.
 
#117      
Season's not over yet, so let it play out. If we make a run in the BTT, people's mood will change. And if we don't, well, that matters too.
 
#118      
Season's not over yet, so let it play out. If we make a run in the BTT, people's mood will change. And if we don't, well, that matters too.

Yep, limp by NU and Iowa - two teams struggling mightily - and all of a sudden we'll have people wondering if we can upset Michigan. We do NOT have an impossible task ahead of us. That doesn't mean I am optimistic, but we really can get to Friday if we get back to the way we were playing basketball during that winning streak. That task only sounds close to impossible because it isn't what we have been doing lately, and as fans we often expect the worst. However, these team has the tools and talent to upset some good teams ... teams playing better than NU and Iowa. Let's take care of the Wildcats tonight and then make Iowa our season ... and then Michigan ... etc.

Illinois 75
Northwestern 69
 
#121      
Anyone going to the game today? I’ll be there for both games. It’s a night game(for once) and tickets are only $6 with open seating so I’m hoping to see a decent amount of fans there.
 
#123      
Apparently, tickets are out there for $1 on stubhub? Tay and Carp had a funny bit about it yesterday.

They also brought up something else interesting. There has been a lot of talk about how much better we can/will be next year. They pointed out that the only time in program history that we’ve gone from a record like 11-20 to a record like 20-11 and being a tourney/bubble team the next year was 1999. Those guys all returned and the added Frankie, Marcus Griffin, and Cook.

Even if we return everyone (which is unlikely) and add Kofi and some 5th year guys I can’t see us making a turnaround like that. Maybe we get to .500.
 
#124      
Minny, IU and Iowa quickly come to mind. Maryland isn't a stretch IMO. That Frosh-Soph leap is huge and half our team has the opportunity to make it at the same time.

IIRC Maryland has a younger team than us. They should also benefit from that Fr-->So leap...
 
#125      

mattcoldagelli

The Transfer Portal
First conference tourney for a freshman (beginning with a team he's had success against this year) should be plenty of fun. Beating NU again and potentially making a little run sounds like a good time.

Guys, I get it. I hope Ayo goes for 30.

My point was that we're playing NW on the first day of the BTT at 8:00 in what will surely be a lukewarm-at-best United Center. Not ideal!
 
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