Illinois ranked #24 in AP Poll (Jan. 13th)

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#54      

PNWIllini

P
PNW
PNWIllini
Zorak said:
You just know they'll come in ready to knock us out of the top 25.
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Northwestern was some IU referee home cooking away from beating them. We better be ready to bring our best game. There are no breathers this year in this conference.
 
#55      

kyillinifan

K
kyillinifan
How can a team be so good at home and be just the opposite on the road? I know teams play better at home, but PU is just the opposite. We should have beat Md on the road and beat Wi at their place. Would love to beat Pu at their place.
 
#56      

PNWIllini

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PNW
PNWIllini
kyillinifan said:
How can a team be so good at home and be just the opposite on the road? I know teams play better at home, but PU is just the opposite. We should have beat Md on the road and beat Wi at their place. Would love to beat Pu at their place.
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The Big Ten is 5-31 on the road this year. We have one of the 5 W's. We almost had 2.
 
#58      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
haasi said:
Here’s what’s true IMO:
1. MSU is better than we are and outplayed us significantly when we played them at their place, but we can beat them on a good day especially at home and especially if we learn from some of the things that doomed us last time around.
2. Purdue is much much much better at home than on road. Basically two different teams.
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While true, this also assumes that a team's ability is immutable throughout a season. It's certainly possible that we improve substantially between the two games and the matchup is more even on paper than previously. It's also possible that doesn't happen.
 
#59      

JFGsCoffeeMug

JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
JFGsCoffeeMug
rhymeswithorange said:
There have been a lot of 'almosts' from a lot of road teams. I think we can only safely brag about the one we did have (which is still good)! (y)
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Yeah, our road win is against the one team that has picked up two road wins (Wisconsin). We should feel good about that.
 
#60      

RML

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RML
Ga65 said:
Trying to figure which way this goes: We killed PU, they killed MSU, so in the rematch MSU is toast. Or PU killed MSU, MSU killed us, so We are toast in the PU rematch. Guess both could be true.
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Home court in the B1G is apparently worth 20 points.
 
#61      

NScale

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NScale
RML said:
Home court in the B1G is apparently worth 20 points.
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Which is what Illinois scores by halftime. They should head to the south farms and take aim with practice balls at the broadside of any barn there.
I have 2 observations with our low scoring. Underwood sez if we can't hit any 3's, just shoot more 3's.
Geez. Back in the day we shot 2's because there was no 3 point line. And the shooting percentages were a lot higher. Simple statistics. And physics.
Second, the only player for the last 2 seasons who has any cojones is Feliz. Who will drive the lane fearlessly when he leaves the program?
 
#62      

PlayAZ

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PlayAZ
clusterbuster75 said:
I'm waiting to hear from them!!
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I don't know about at the time wanting him fired, but the discussion was at hand based on a few lackadaiscal, non energized games and gameplans. Based on previous 2 years, the conversation was warranted imo ( I participated ) and will always be around. Justified or not, just like us at #24 and ranked, justified or not will get talked about. Glad we are ranked again, and glad Ayo has turned it around and proven "WhyNotMe" has been worth it.
 
#63      

alaskaillini

A
alaskaillini
I just got around to watching the MSU game for the first time last night. Had put it off until we got a couple of wins and I felt better about the team. Actually liked what I saw overall with the exception of our 3 point shooting. Thought Ayo played well. Thought our defense looked reasonably solid. Maybe it was just due to the fact that the last game against Rutgers was so ugly, that the MSU game didn't look so bad. But we merely looked like a good team having an off night shooting, rather than a team being overwhelmed by a much better team.
 
#64      

ChocolateThunder

C
ChocolateThunder
Rap73 said:
This is great news and I wonder what the posters who wanted to fire Underwood 10 days ago think.
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Our last two victories could of easily gone either way
Several years ago a friend of mine asked me how I collected my winning when betting online
I told him I had never collected
I told him I always won money betting on football, but than lost it all betting on Big 10 basketball
I am still going to take the season one game at a time.
 
#69      

thehass

T
thehass
Love where we are but this will be a roller coaster season. We are a poor 3 point shooting team but a decent rebounding and good transition team. There will be a lot of nailbiters and wtf games . Hopefully we will come out on top most of the time. We are like a box of chocolates.
 
#70      

bartwa

B
bartwa
Epsilon said:
I don't think the ranking today vindicates anyone. We had bad losses and there was simply no justification to rank us until now. I always felt the potential to be good was there, but hadn't really put it together consistently on either end of the floor. To me, it was turning into another disappointing season (especially after the Miznoz loss but couldn't believe how badly MSU shredded us). At least we can lean on defense now - hopefully we find a way to improve our 3% shooting too. If we do, look out!
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Tru dat. If the Illini can’t get up to at least 10% shooting, regardless of their rebounding prowess, I can’t believe they’ll win many more games.
 
#71      

Hopingfor500

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Hopingfor500
thehass said:
Love where we are but this will be a roller coaster season. We are a poor 3 point shooting team but a decent rebounding and good transition team. There will be a lot of nailbiters and wtf games . Hopefully we will come out on top most of the time. We are like a box of chocolates.
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Decent rebounding team?
 
#72      

ILLjuice

ILLjuice
ILLjuice
NScale said:
Which is what Illinois scores by halftime. They should head to the south farms and take aim with practice balls at the broadside of any barn there.
I have 2 observations with our low scoring. Underwood sez if we can't hit any 3's, just shoot more 3's.
Geez. Back in the day we shot 2's because there was no 3 point line. And the shooting percentages were a lot higher. Simple statistics. And physics.
Second, the only player for the last 2 seasons who has any cojones is Feliz. Who will drive the lane fearlessly when he leaves the program?
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Ever watched Ayo play? Granted he wont be here next year, but he drives and finishes more than Feliz.
 
#73      

Centennial Illini

C
Centennial Illini
alaskaillini said:
I just got around to watching the MSU game for the first time last night. Had put it off until we got a couple of wins and I felt better about the team. Actually liked what I saw overall with the exception of our 3 point shooting. Thought Ayo played well. Thought our defense looked reasonably solid. Maybe it was just due to the fact that the last game against Rutgers was so ugly, that the MSU game didn't look so bad. But we merely looked like a good team having an off night shooting, rather than a team being overwhelmed by a much better team.
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Alaska, you are pretty spot on, we had

15 more shots than MSU
Tied them in total rebounds
Had 9 more offensive rebounds
Had fewer turnovers
Had only 13 fewer free throws

but if you can't throw it in the ocean from the beach, it's probably going to be a long night
 
#74      

jmm

J
jmm
Ranked and Cockburn with Big 10 Freshman player of the week again!! Pretty good 24 hours for Illini Nation
 
#75      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
NScale said:
Back in the day we shot 2's because there was no 3 point line. And the shooting percentages were a lot higher. Simple statistics.
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Simple statistics bear out, fairly clearly, that the shots worth shooting the most are paint shots (layups, dunks, short pull-ups), 3s and free throws. The days of the long 2 are over, because shooting percentages on those shots are a lot lower, especially when adjusted for the point value of the shot.
 
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