Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan, Friday, January 14th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

pruman91 · Jan 14, 2022

alamocityillini said:
See post #252 above. Illinois 78-69

I believe your post was # 253 , but I based my thoughts on your post ........I think we score more on the fact that we will rebound back to shooting 3's at a higher % tonight.......

Bacon Butkus Swanson · Jan 14, 2022

doowink said:
I will stick with my original prediction.....we shoot well from 3 we win by double digits.....shoot poorly from 3 and we win...but barely....
thinking that we've not shot real well from 3 the past couple games...specialy AP....think they'll collapse on Kofi and force him to kick it out to the perimeter....we hit a few perimeter shots and that opens things up for the big guys inside

This.... Me thinks the Covid layoff may have weakened over all leg strength temporarily. Great shooting starts with the legs/base.

hoopsfan47 · Jan 14, 2022

trtl said:
The line is up to -10. What the heck?

Easy to discern that their fans are not willing to wager on a 7-6 team. And the ones addicted to gambling see far bigger problems than an 8 pt. head start can solve. You may see that come back down late today, but Wolvs could be saying "no mas" by halftime. What is scary for Illini fans is their talent level which can rear its head at any time and explode. Illini need to be ready for a 40 min. slugfest...and if Mich. guys tire of the effort...take the win.

21ChampaignSt · Jan 14, 2022

I think Kofi and Hunter neutralize each other and this comes down to guard/wing play. And I'll take our guys with 5 years over their guys with 5 stars every day.

Starting my happy hour around 4pm before heading to SFC. Coach's orders

75-66 Illini

lstewart53x3 · Jan 14, 2022

One of the keys to the game (and the season) is an efficient Kofi.

Teams have doubled him less the last few games, giving our shooters less space to work with.

And his 8-18 against Nebraska didn’t make them pay for guarding him 1on1.

If he’s efficient and forces Michigan to double him, that’ll leave our shooters open to get back into a rhythm.

altgeld88 · Jan 14, 2022

21ChampaignSt said:
Starting my happy hour around 4pm before heading to SFC. Coach's orders

That's 5 p.m. here so you're good.

Lincster27 · Jan 14, 2022

In case you were wondering how at least one Michigan fan thought this season would play out after last year, this came from UMHoops, a post dated July, 2021. It hasn't aged well:
------------------------
Early call (we’re out of “Way Too Early” range now, I think)

Tier 1

Michigan - Very close to being their own tier
Purdue
Ohio State

Tier 2
4. Michigan State
5. Maryland

Tier 3 (one or two teams from this tier will rise up, but these teams have more significant question marks than MSU and Maryland, I think)
6. Illinois - Obviously will get bumped with Kofi. Smaller bump if they get Dawson Garcia.
7. Indiana
8. Rutgers
9. Wisconsin

Tier 4
10. Iowa
11. Northwestern
12. Nebraska
13. Penn State

Tier Minnesota
14. Minnesota

Tacomallini · Jan 14, 2022

altgeld88 said:
That's 5 p.m. here so you're good.

and 2 p.m. here but still good

hoopsfan47 · Jan 14, 2022

jrichisamazing said:
I haven't watched any Michigan games this year so I went to barttorvik.com to try to find out why they are so inconsistent. It seems to all boil down to Caleb Houstan. His 7 best games (according to the efficiency stats) have all been wins. His 6 worst games have all been losses. The media has been talking about his shooting woes, but he hasn't been consistently bad. It's more like, game to game, he is either red hot or can't hit the broad side of a barn. So to me that is one of 3 keys to the game.

1) Don't let Houstan get going. That probably means sticking Damonte on him to start. Hopefully Damonte can get in the freshman's head. But it will probably be a team effort with Hawkins and Grandison also shutting him down.

2) Kofi needs to play smart defensively. I know he will want to lock down Dickinson, and I hope he does. But sometimes that means being over aggressive and picking up silly fouls. It's more important for Kofi to stay on the court. I'm okay with Kofi giving up 25 to Dickinson, because if Kofi stays on the court he will get that 25 or more back on the other end. But it could be trouble if Dickinson gets 25 while Kofi sits on the bench in foul trouble for half the game.

3) Need the crowd to be loud! I'm a little nervous about the home court advantage because of the snow coming plus having no Krush. Hopefully the snow doesn't keep people away.

Snow? Since when did snowfall have anything to do with Illini fans attending a game....especially to see a talented and improving Illini squad? In my life, I have never met an Illini hoops fan who would not drive an hour or more on two lane snow covered highways to see a game in Assembly Hall. I cannot fathom that it would be a factor in deciding to see them beat Michigan...not on this planet in the past two centuries.

CDRUSN · Jan 14, 2022

This game is a must win for Michigan to turn their season around and start giving themselves a chance to make the tournament. They are well rested, want revenge for how we embarrassed them on their home court last year, and we will get their very best effort. If we play to our potential, we should handle them, but a bad shooting night could result in a loss. I'm sure our staff and senior leadership will have the Illini ready to compete hard.

Ga65 · Jan 14, 2022

BretMyBeachHouse said:
Well, I'm hoping for 112-28, so yeah.

Rather not see it that close.

altgeld88 · Jan 14, 2022

hoopsfan47 said:
Snow? Since when did snowfall have anything to do with Illini fans attending a game....especially to see a talented and improving Illini squad? In my life, I have never met an Illini hoops fan who would not drive an hour or more on two lane snow covered highways to see a game in Assembly Hall. I cannot fathom that it would be a factor in deciding to see them beat Michigan...not on this planet in the past two centuries.

This ^

Blizzard conditions and -40 wind chill wouldn't deter.

RML · Jan 14, 2022

lstewart53x3 said:
Illinois vs Maryland (after the Minny game):

Kofi Cockburn - 28 min. 23 points. 18 points.

Seemed to be alright in that one.

Good point! How could I have forgotten that? Though he still didn't seem like he was as active as usual against Nebraska.

GallopingGhost · Jan 14, 2022

Deep said:
Why do I have this feeling that this will be a dog fight as Michigan will have all their guys and probably have used the last 2 weeks to reset themselves.

How come when we come off a COVID pause, we are all scared of rust, but when another team comes off one, it’s a reset?

We are at home with a huge crowd, rivalry juice, and tbh our team is just performing better than theirs. Their defense is so shaky and their offense at times too. A loss would be disappointing but I don’t think we come out flat at all.

InDaAZ · Jan 14, 2022

Lincster27 said:
In case you were wondering how at least one Michigan fan thought this season would play out after last year, this came from UMHoops, a post dated July, 2021. It hasn't aged well:
------------------------
Early call (we’re out of “Way Too Early” range now, I think)

Tier 1

Michigan - Very close to being their own tier

Purdue

Ohio State

Tier 2
4. Michigan State
5. Maryland

Tier 3 (one or two teams from this tier will rise up, but these teams have more significant question marks than MSU and Maryland, I think)
6. Illinois - Obviously will get bumped with Kofi. Smaller bump if they get Dawson Garcia.
7. Indiana
8. Rutgers
9. Wisconsin

Tier 4
10. Iowa
11. Northwestern
12. Nebraska
13. Penn State

Tier Minnesota
14. Minnesota

I think he meant to say: Michigan - Very close to drowning in their own tears

Ga65 · Jan 14, 2022

RML said:
Good point! How could I have forgotten that? Though he still didn't seem like he was as active as usual against Nebraska.

Something certainly seemed off. 0/5 fts and and 8/18 from the field just isn’t what we have seen. As BU has said “Kofi doesn’t have bad days”.

GallopingGhost · Jan 14, 2022

jrichisamazing said:
I haven't watched any Michigan games this year so I went to barttorvik.com to try to find out why they are so inconsistent. It seems to all boil down to Caleb Houstan. His 7 best games (according to the efficiency stats) have all been wins. His 6 worst games have all been losses. The media has been talking about his shooting woes, but he hasn't been consistently bad. It's more like, game to game, he is either red hot or can't hit the broad side of a barn. So to me that is one of 3 keys to the game.

1) Don't let Houstan get going. That probably means sticking Damonte on him to start. Hopefully Damonte can get in the freshman's head. But it will probably be a team effort with Hawkins and Grandison also shutting him down.

2) Kofi needs to play smart defensively. I know he will want to lock down Dickinson, and I hope he does. But sometimes that means being over aggressive and picking up silly fouls. It's more important for Kofi to stay on the court. I'm okay with Kofi giving up 25 to Dickinson, because if Kofi stays on the court he will get that 25 or more back on the other end. But it could be trouble if Dickinson gets 25 while Kofi sits on the bench in foul trouble for half the game.

3) Need the crowd to be loud! I'm a little nervous about the home court advantage because of the snow coming plus having no Krush. Hopefully the snow doesn't keep people away.

$50 bucks says BU will have Coleman guarding Houstan. Now whether it works or not, I will not bet on… lol

Joel Goodson · Jan 14, 2022

Juwanna bet that they're gonna have a lot more than 7 players available?

Deep · Jan 14, 2022

GallopingGhost said:
How come when we come off a COVID pause, we are all scared of rust, but when another team comes off one, it’s a reset?

We are at home with a huge crowd, rivalry juice, and tbh our team is just performing better than theirs. Their defense is so shaky and their offense at times too. A loss would be disappointing but I don’t think we come out flat at all.

I guess I have been nut punched too many times being an Illini fan.....

Retro62 · Jan 14, 2022

Joel Goodson said:
Juwanna bet that they're gonna have a lot more than 7 players available?

I love that...does he think he's gonna scare us? "Oh no!" scUM at full strength!" No one is gonna fall for that lame ruse. Now if they really do have only 7...well, I'll just point and laugh.

TheDudeAbides · Jan 14, 2022

Kids got the Covid so the Dude will be watching from home tonight instead of my usual seats

. Prediction: we kick the shite out of them!!

Bigtex · Jan 14, 2022

jrichisamazing said:
I haven't watched any Michigan games this year so I went to barttorvik.com to try to find out why they are so inconsistent. It seems to all boil down to Caleb Houstan. His 7 best games (according to the efficiency stats) have all been wins. His 6 worst games have all been losses. The media has been talking about his shooting woes, but he hasn't been consistently bad. It's more like, game to game, he is either red hot or can't hit the broad side of a barn. So to me that is one of 3 keys to the game.

1) Don't let Houstan get going. That probably means sticking Damonte on him to start. Hopefully Damonte can get in the freshman's head. But it will probably be a team effort with Hawkins and Grandison also shutting him down.

2) Kofi needs to play smart defensively. I know he will want to lock down Dickinson, and I hope he does. But sometimes that means being over aggressive and picking up silly fouls. It's more important for Kofi to stay on the court. I'm okay with Kofi giving up 25 to Dickinson, because if Kofi stays on the court he will get that 25 or more back on the other end. But it could be trouble if Dickinson gets 25 while Kofi sits on the bench in foul trouble for half the game.

3) Need the crowd to be loud! I'm a little nervous about the home court advantage because of the snow coming plus having no Krush. Hopefully the snow doesn't keep people away.

Hope williams is only guarding Houstan on a switch otherwise wouldn’t be surprised if houstan put up mcgowens numbers up

pruman91 · Jan 14, 2022

TheDudeAbides said:
Kids got the Covid so the Dude will be watching from home tonight instead of my usual seats. Prediction: we kick the shite out of them!!

Hope all will be ok with you and your's , my friend......

Remember , if you DON'T cough , you DON'T get off.......................................circa , late 60's....................

RML · Jan 14, 2022

Ga65 said:
Something certainly seemed off. 0/5 fts and and 8/18 from the field just isn’t what we have seen. As BU has said “Kofi doesn’t have bad days”.

And his rebounding wasn't as consistently dominating as I expected against a team that's awful on the glass.

Oldskoolkoach · Jan 14, 2022

Any picture leaks of scUM walk through at SFC today?