Pregame: Illinois vs BYU (United Center), Saturday, December 17th, 8:30pm CT, BTN

[gibb52]

Kipper wasn't a heavily recruited player out of HS, ended up at Tulane.

So I'm not expecting that much out of him this year.

3rd or 4th option off the bench might be the ceiling.

If he exceeds that so much the better.

 

[BananaShampoo]

Alex Legion...

Rayvonte Rice

One of these guys lived up to the hype. Hope KN is more like the latter.

 

[TCTORNADO]

I wonder if Jimmy Butler will be there Saturday night to see his look-a-like??

 

[EfremWinters84]

I'm going to turn bearish this week. I watched part of the BYU win over Colorado. Their guards look Danny Ainge-quick....running the ball up court each possession, with a definite bounce in their step. And the big guy looks really solid (I don't think Thorne/Mav can stop him).

BYU - 79
ILL - 69

I'm still thinking we look really slow and non-athletic. With that said, I'm still rooting like hell for the Good Guys. And if we win this one, it's onward to 10-3 non conference --- and I'll be at the MD game to start the Big 10 season!

 

[TCTORNADO]

Illinois is 36-14 in the UC. :thumb:

 

[drumanimal]

I wonder if Jimmy Butler will be there Saturday night to see his look-a-like??

Somebody needs to hit his twitter account!!!

 

[TriCityBurbs]

Need big time contribution from all of our bigs Saturday, not just Leron. Finke will be the key to the game IMO. BYU bigs are very skilled and if he can at least play average defense and show the same effort all-around like he did last weekend it'll keep us in it. If he can find his shot, we win by double digits.

 

[kaptain80]

The Kipper hype is really growing. Who was the last ILL player with this much anticipated hype for a debut?

Finke

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Pretty bored, so I thought I would post our attendance (according to Wikipedia) from past United Center games and see how much the figures correlated to our opponents/our ranking at the time.

ILLINI REGULAR SEASON UNITED CENTER GAMES

1998-99: 11,084 for Illinois over Bradley
1999-00: 20,143 for #17 Duke over #16 Illinois
1999-00: 16,714 for #20 Illinois over #8 Kansas
2000-01: 21,885 for #5 Illinois over #7 Arizona
2001-02: 18,671 for #5 Illinois over Arkansas
2002-03: 13,361 for #15 Illinois over Temple
2002-03: 15,429 for #20 Illinois over Northwestern
2003-04: 15,398 for #11 Illinois over Arkansas
2003-04: 15,415 for #20 Illinois over UIC
2004-05: 21,224 for #1 Illinois over Oregon
2005-06: 19,833 for #12 Illinois over Xavier
2006-07: 16,424 for Illinois over UIC
2007-08: 19,573 for #24 Arizona over Illinois
2008-09: 12,139 for Illinois over Georgia
2009-10: 20,917 for Gonzaga over Illinois
2010-11: 13,117 for UIC over Illinois :tsk:
2011-12: 15,144 for UNLV over Illinois
2012-13: 18,136 for Illinois over Auburn
2013-14: 13,017 for Illinois over UIC
2014-15: 13,759 for Oregon over Illinois
2015-16: 5,151 for Illinois over UIC

 

[Illiniguy13]

Kipper wasn't a heavily recruited player out of HS, ended up at Tulane.

So I'm not expecting that much out of him this year.

3rd or 4th option off the bench might be the ceiling.

If he exceeds that so much the better.

No, he was not heavily recruited out of HS and it's curious. I'm not just saying that with orange tinted glasses on-- averaged nearly 19&5 his final two years for his high school squad with a state title. AAU is the head scratcher though. That King James team was stacked. Kipper was arguably their most versatile player. 3rd in scoring at an efficient clip, put up better rebounding numbers than any of their big boys in VJ King, Dererk Pardon or Butlers Nate Fowler and easily one of their best defenders.Passed the eye test as well. He's a big strong boy.

 

[MadSeason]

No, he was not heavily recruited out of HS and it's curious. I'm not just saying that with orange tinted glasses on-- averaged nearly 19&5 his final two years for his high school squad with a state title. AAU is the head scratcher though. That King James team was stacked. Kipper was arguably their most versatile player. 3rd in scoring at an efficient clip, put up better rebounding numbers than any of their big boys in VJ King, Dererk Pardon or Butlers Nate Fowler and easily one of their best defenders.Passed the eye test as well. He's a big strong boy.

I don't think it's fair to say he wasn't heavily recruited. 6 Big 10 offers, 1 ACC, Xavier and Dayton. He wasn't Tilmon by any stretch but it was major coup for Tulane at the time

 

[IlliniOllie]

Pretty bored, so I thought I would post our attendance (according to Wikipedia) from past United Center games and see how much the figures correlated to our opponents/our ranking at the time.

ILLINI REGULAR SEASON UNITED CENTER GAMES

1998-99: 11,084 for Illinois over Bradley
1999-00: 20,143 for #17 Duke over #16 Illinois
1999-00: 16,714 for #20 Illinois over #8 Kansas
2000-01: 21,885 for #5 Illinois over #7 Arizona
2001-02: 18,671 for #5 Illinois over Arkansas
2002-03: 13,361 for #15 Illinois over Temple
2002-03: 15,429 for #20 Illinois over Northwestern
2003-04: 15,398 for #11 Illinois over Arkansas
2003-04: 15,415 for #20 Illinois over UIC
2004-05: 21,224 for #1 Illinois over Oregon
2005-06: 19,833 for #12 Illinois over Xavier
2006-07: 16,424 for Illinois over UIC
2007-08: 19,573 for #24 Arizona over Illinois
2008-09: 12,139 for Illinois over Georgia
2009-10: 20,917 for Gonzaga over Illinois
2010-11: 13,117 for UIC over Illinois :tsk:
2011-12: 15,144 for UNLV over Illinois
2012-13: 18,136 for Illinois over Auburn
2013-14: 13,017 for Illinois over UIC
2014-15: 13,759 for Oregon over Illinois
2015-16: 5,151 for Illinois over UIC

All other things aside, wow, look at that stretch of Top 25 rankings. I hardly even remember what it's like to be ranked anymore, but that was a hell of a stretch.

 

[BananaShampoo]

All other things aside, wow, look at that stretch of Top 25 rankings. I hardly even remember what it's like to be ranked anymore, but that was a hell of a stretch.

Yeah. The good old days. When it was fun to be an Illinois fan.

 

[TCTORNADO]

I don't think it's fair to say he wasn't heavily recruited. 6 Big 10 offers, 1 ACC, Xavier and Dayton. He wasn't Tilmon by any stretch but it was major coup for Tulane at the time

You are correct too many people look at the Tulane and 3* thing and assume he's not good. Wisconsin was showing serious interest in him as well as OSU (they went the Mickey Mitchell/Austin Grandstaff route-how did that work out Thad??). Kipper's HS coach and Father figure (Eric Flannery) compared him to former St. Ed's star, Steve Logan, who went onto become Cincinnati's 3rd all time leading scorer. I will be surprised if he doesn't become an Illini fan favorite. Time will tell!!

 

[WeatherfordForMVP]

All other things aside, wow, look at that stretch of Top 25 rankings. I hardly even remember what it's like to be ranked anymore, but that was a hell of a stretch.

That's what I saw, too. Looked twice and realized we weren't ranked at that point in the season for 10 straight years...it was 7 straight years, with three of those years including two games at the UC. But still!

I wasn't a fan of college basketball at all until my freshman year at school (the 2004-2005 season, so...duh). I really missed out!

 

[SescIllini]

Kipper's built is two standard deviations to the right of what we have right now. His basketball skills are on minimum on par with what we have from players 5-10 right now. He will get minutes.

 

[IlliniInTexas]

All other things aside, wow, look at that stretch of Top 25 rankings. I hardly even remember what it's like to be ranked anymore, but that was a hell of a stretch.

Doesn't quite seem right. Not sure where OP pulled his info (end of the year ranks?), but wiki says we were ranked at the time of the UC game:

2010-11: #12 before that dumb UIC loss
2011-12: #19 in Weber's last year
2012-13: #12 in Groce's first year, after Maui

Pulling off a win on Saturday and then another vs Missouri and I think we can call it meeting expectations. Then, big boy basketball starts up again!

 

[TCTORNADO]

Kipper's built is two standard deviations to the right of what we have right now. His basketball skills are on minimum on par with what we have from players 5-10 right now. He will get minutes.

:thumb: His defensive skills are beyond any player we have now. Not saying much, but still an improvement.

 

[Illini1221]

Pretty bored, so I thought I would post our attendance (according to Wikipedia) from past United Center games and see how much the figures correlated to our opponents/our ranking at the time.

ILLINI REGULAR SEASON UNITED CENTER GAMES

1998-99: 11,084 for Illinois over Bradley
1999-00: 20,143 for #17 Duke over #16 Illinois
1999-00: 16,714 for #20 Illinois over #8 Kansas
2000-01: 21,885 for #5 Illinois over #7 Arizona
2001-02: 18,671 for #5 Illinois over Arkansas
2002-03: 13,361 for #15 Illinois over Temple
2002-03: 15,429 for #20 Illinois over Northwestern
2003-04: 15,398 for #11 Illinois over Arkansas
2003-04: 15,415 for #20 Illinois over UIC
2004-05: 21,224 for #1 Illinois over Oregon
2005-06: 19,833 for #12 Illinois over Xavier
2006-07: 16,424 for Illinois over UIC
2007-08: 19,573 for #24 Arizona over Illinois
2008-09: 12,139 for Illinois over Georgia
2009-10: 20,917 for Gonzaga over Illinois
2010-11: 13,117 for UIC over Illinois :tsk:
2011-12: 15,144 for UNLV over Illinois
2012-13: 18,136 for Illinois over Auburn
2013-14: 13,017 for Illinois over UIC
2014-15: 13,759 for Oregon over Illinois
2015-16: 5,151 for Illinois over UIC

Im pretty sure we were ranked when we played Auburn BP3's senior year. That game was Tracy's career high before Saturday I think. Anyway, ranked or not, Saturday is a game we need to have.

 

[urbanite]

Im pretty sure we were ranked when we played Auburn BP3's senior year.

#10 when we lost to Missouri, #12 a week later when we beat Auburn.

 

[Ransom Stoddard]

Pretty bored, so I thought I would post our attendance (according to Wikipedia) from past United Center games and see how much the figures correlated to our opponents/our ranking at the time.

ILLINI REGULAR SEASON UNITED CENTER GAMES

1998-99: 11,084 for Illinois over Bradley
1999-00: 20,143 for #17 Duke over #16 Illinois
1999-00: 16,714 for #20 Illinois over #8 Kansas
2000-01: 21,885 for #5 Illinois over #7 Arizona
2001-02: 18,671 for #5 Illinois over Arkansas
2002-03: 13,361 for #15 Illinois over Temple
2002-03: 15,429 for #20 Illinois over Northwestern
2003-04: 15,398 for #11 Illinois over Arkansas
2003-04: 15,415 for #20 Illinois over UIC
2004-05: 21,224 for #1 Illinois over Oregon
2005-06: 19,833 for #12 Illinois over Xavier
2006-07: 16,424 for Illinois over UIC
2007-08: 19,573 for #24 Arizona over Illinois
2008-09: 12,139 for Illinois over Georgia
2009-10: 20,917 for Gonzaga over Illinois
2010-11: 13,117 for UIC over Illinois :tsk:
2011-12: 15,144 for UNLV over Illinois
2012-13: 18,136 for Illinois over Auburn
2013-14: 13,017 for Illinois over UIC
2014-15: 13,759 for Oregon over Illinois
2015-16: 5,151 for Illinois over UIC

The UC game began in 94 as far as I can tell.

1994-95: 21,500 for #6 Duke over Illinois
1995-96: 15,046 for #14 Illinois over Cal
1996-97: 15,331 for Illinois over #24 UCLA
1997-98: 9,282 for Illinois over #17 Clemson

I was at that Duke game in 94. We played them close the whole way, Chrissie Collins showed off in front of his home town crowd, but Duke went on to finish 13-18 that year.

Per wikipedia.

 

[Fighter of the Nightman]

Yeah, I just kind of picked a random year to start and went by Wikipedia, so I can't guarantee the information! I also remembered being ranked before the conference season during the 2009-2013 phase more.

 

[IllinoisFanAtFSU]

The good news is that other than last year, there hasn't been any outliers lately. It seems part of the normal pattern.

The bad news is that this year will likely be around 10k, so this will be the worst two year span we've had.

 

[PhillyIllini]

After reading that Tupper article, sometimes I feel like Groce just wants to push the "we are a big, happy family" agenda a little too hard. Effort is great, but if it comes with offensive or defensive liabilities, pass please. If Kipper deserves to play on talent and skill, then the minutes should be adjusted accordingly. That's to still be seen. Play the best guys. Period.

 

[illiniguy24]

Im pretty sure we were ranked when we played Auburn BP3's senior year. That game was Tracy's career high before Saturday I think. Anyway, ranked or not, Saturday is a game we need to have.

That was such an enjoyable game to be at


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