NIT Pregame: #2 Illinois at #4 UCF, Wednesday, March 22nd, 6:00pm CT, ESPN2

[ChiefIlliniwek2]

When you consider their football program recently, it must just be hell going to school there in terms of sports. Too busy partying most days anyways I'd assume.

Something about glass houses....

 

[SuperintendentChalmers]

Hating Billy PACCker ? No not in the least. :rage: If you were a fan of Duke, North Carolina or the rest of the ACC in the tourney, Billy Packer was sweet music to your ears.


Big Ten fans? Maybe not so much. My peer group and I (in our 40s and 50s now) could not stand the guy. This is probably 10-15 Illini fans total out of ... 10-15 Illini fans total.

That's definitely true about PACCker. A couple of anecdotes:

One year, St. Joe’s had some amazing regular-season record, but Packer kept bashing them because they were in the A-10. On the tournament selection show, they had an interview with Phil Martelli where he said Packer was being unfair. Billy snapped back, “You can’t say anything to me, because I was point guard on a Wake Forest team that beat St. Joe’s in the 1962 tournament.” Martelli is no shrinking violet, but even he was stunned into silence wondering that the hell a 30-year-old game had to do with anything.

I think it was the ’96 Final Four at the Meadowlands where Oklahoma State was led by Bryant “Big Country” Reeves. During the open practice, Reeves shattered a backboard with a dunk. As the maintenance crews were cleaning the glass up, Packer runs onto the court, goes to his hands and knees, and starts sweeping glass fragments into his program. Jim Nantz asks what in the world he’s doing and Packer replies, “If Oklahoma State wins the title, I’ll be able to make a ton of money selling these as souvenirs.”