Pregame: Illinois at Northwestern, Saturday, February 13th, 7:00pm CT, BTN

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#26      
Not as simple as that. They have more weapons than those two. Can't forget Alex Olah, who is one of the better bigs in the league.

I also noticed both Pardon and Falzon are two freshman that are contributing pretty good tick and production (about 9 ppg). Gotta keep an eye on those two as well.

Yep, they have some pretty decent players and probably would have been a tourney team if Law wasn't out for the season and if Olah didn't get hurt. Olah definitely hasn't been the same since his injury. Hope his contribution is more like their Minny game and not IU. NU may not be the best team, but I'm definitely glad that Olah and Demps will be gone next year.
 
#27      

whovous

Washington, DC
Dunno about Popeye's, but this is from yesterday's News-Gazette:
http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/...02-07/mbb-notebook-weve-got-be-there-him.html
*****
While Nunn and Michael Finke (knee contusion) both played Sunday against Iowa, the possibility big men Mike Thorne Jr. and/or Leron Black would return this season became even less likely this weekend.

Both Thorne and Black are experiencing less soreness and swelling, but Groce said part of that may have come from their lack of activity.

“I don’t foresee (Black) playing in games at this juncture,” Groce said. “He’s too far out and been out too long.

“(Thorne) has increased his workload strength and conditioning wise. (His knee) is still not feeling where it needs to be to put him out there at this point.”

And point guard Tracy Abrams will soon take another step forward in his recovery from his Achilles tear.

“Hopefully he’ll get a chance here within the next week or two to do maybe some shooting and skill stuff with non-contact,” Groce said. “To move around a little bit, it will be great to see him do that.”
*****
 
#28      

Illwinsagain

Cary, IL
It seems like we have been playing the kitty cats only once a year at their place for the past 4 years. How far off am I?
 
#31      
Should be a fun game. With the job Collins is doing in Evanston, this will be a fun rivalry for years to come.
 
#32      

icengineer

Southern Illinois
Should be a fun game. With the job Collins is doing in Evanston, this will be a fun rivalry for years to come.

I don't want it to be a rivalry. I want it to be an Illini beatdown each and every year. ;)
 
#33      
I don't want it to be a rivalry. I want it to be an Illini beatdown each and every year.

I think I'd rather have two solid programs in the state playing in games that actually matter rather than having us play for a tournament bid while they play to stay above .500 which, besides this season, is usually the case.
 
#35      

icengineer

Southern Illinois
I think I'd rather have two solid programs in the state playing in games that actually matter rather than having us play for a tournament bid while they play to stay above .500 which, besides this season, is usually the case.

I got no problem with this! There are plenty of other teams in the B1G I prefer to have 'rivalries' with.
 
#37      
I think I'd rather have two solid programs in the state playing in games that actually matter rather than having us play for a tournament bid while they play to stay above .500 which, besides this season, is usually the case.

I'd rather have us safely in the tournament at this point in the season. Don't care at all where NW is at. :hand:
 
#38      
I'd rather have us safely in the tournament at this point in the season. Don't care at all where NW is at. :hand:

Obviously I'd want us to go to the tournament every year, I'm just saying it would be fun if Northwestern also became competitive in the B1G. It would be nice if it could turn into something similar to the IU-Purdue rivalry. I think it would be good for the state.
 
#39      
I'll be pleasantly surprised if we win this game. If Thorne comes back and can give us 15 quality minutes, and our guys play one of their better games of the season, then we could pull off the upset. We just don't have much margin for error this year. For us to win on the road in the BIG vs. a decent team, Hill has to play well, Nunn has to play well, Finke has to play well, JCL has to shoot well and Maverick has to play well. If any of those guys struggle, we struggle. Just not enough options right now. Looking forward to next season. Unless Groce wants to feed some minutes to DJW and AJ and sit Lewis and Tate, then I'd pay attention to this season.
 
#40      
Northwestern just played Ohio State. They were winning much of the game, held them close, but tOSU pulled away in the last few minutes. Let's hope they are more tired than hungry when they meet us.
 
#44      
Seems like NW has always struggled with that, at least in recent years. I seem to remember an Illini game a few years back in Evanston (someone can correct me if my memory is off on this), where the Illini started pressing and were able to make a big comeback in the 2nd half.


Yep I remember that game. Afterwards most of us in the post game thread were wondering why Groce didn't press sooner. I think it was 2 years ago.
 
#45      
I'd rather have us safely in the tournament at this point in the season. Don't care at all where NW is at. :hand:

Exactly, I do not give a crap about NW. The fact that it is or has the potential to become a rivalry just reinforces the present state of our program. A longtime conference doormat with tougher admission standards than us that has never been to the ncaa tournament is now a rivalry? :hurl:
 
#46      
Exactly, I do not give a crap about NW. The fact that it is or has the potential to become a rivalry just reinforces the present state of our program. A longtime conference doormat with tougher admission standards than us that has never been to the ncaa tournament is now a rivalry? :hurl:

The current state of our program has literally nothing to do with this becoming a heated rivalry. It's really up to Northwestern and it's not like this has just recently become any sort of rivalry recently. They've always been our rivals, I'm just saying if NW could get good, it would be a lot more fun. As long as we're good again, I couldn't care less how Northwestern does. Just saying it would be great for the state to have 2 highly competitive B1G programs.
 
#47      
The current state of our program has literally nothing to do with this becoming a heated rivalry. It's really up to Northwestern and it's not like this has just recently become any sort of rivalry recently. They've always been our rivals, I'm just saying if NW could get good, it would be a lot more fun. As long as we're good again, I couldn't care less how Northwestern does. Just saying it would be great for the state to have 2 highly competitive B1G programs.

My wife is a NW alum, so I prefer us beating them down 4/5 time!::thumb:
 
#48      
My wife is a NW alum, so I prefer us beating them down 4/5 time!::thumb:

Understandable. I don't personally know any NW fans so I don't share the hate for them that others do. I definitely enjoy beating them though :thumb:
 
#49      
Here is my view. It should not matter whether he is playing in Chicago/Evanston or Columbus, Ohio. The desire to excel should be the same no matter the venue.

You might be thinking selfishly.

Kendrick has family and friends who would like to see him play and they sometimes might not be able to afford to travel to columbus to do that.

Every year the Fighting Illini do their part to make sure that northwestern never makes the ncaaa basketball tournament.

this year is no acception.
 
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