Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Wednesday, February 16th, 6:00pm CT, BTN
- Status
If we play like we are today in the second half we’re going to lose this by 15+
Welcome to the party RJ!
Joel Goodson
- ties will be resolved
We'd better play a whole lot better than we did today.
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
In before someone calls this a trap game. At this point, everyone in the B1G knows Rutgers is tough, especially at the RAC. After the recent run of success, hopefully, the Scarlet Knights are due for a letdown.
OurMottoisOskeeWowWow
- Illinois
No game is guaranteed when you're playing on the roan in the Big Ten.
We're gonna get RAC'd/Jersey Mike'd if we come out with the same idiotic turnovers we did today. Need to clean that up and fast.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
I fixed it for you......
Observation- Grandison and Williams could see a reduction in min. in played in favor of R.J. Curbelo is not ready for an increase in min.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
I'd like to experiment (for at least one game) with the Bruce Weber offensive scheme from 2005 (with Augie/Kofi getting a minimum of 12 shots/game). We have
comparable outside shooting to that team.
Give me some constant player movement, screens, back doors and lots of excellent passing..........let's try a true offensive set.
When we run the weave, we typically waste 15-18 seconds off the clock and we end up having Trent with the ball up top, with just 12 seconds left on the shot clock.
comparable outside shooting to that team.
Give me some constant player movement, screens, back doors and lots of excellent passing..........let's try a true offensive set.
When we run the weave, we typically waste 15-18 seconds off the clock and we end up having Trent with the ball up top, with just 12 seconds left on the shot clock.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Agreed, but we never seem to.
Win this one, and I feel great about a share of the title. RU is ON right now. Here are the standings as we head into next week, my friends:1. #13 Illinois: 11-3
2. #3 Purdue: 11-4
3. #14 Wisconsin: 10-4
4. #17 Michigan State: 9-4
5. #16 Ohio State: 8-4
6. Rutgers: 9-5
Amazingly, RU is actually technically in contention for the Big Ten Championship, and they definitely lost a few they shouldn't have ... here are those teams' games this week:
TUESDAY - #17 Michigan State at Penn State, Minnesota at #16 Ohio State
WEDNESDAY - #13 ILLINOIS at Rutgers, #3 Purdue at Northwestern
SATURDAY - #13 ILLINOIS at #17 Michigan State, Iowa at #16 Ohio State
SUNDAY - Michigan at #14 Wisconsin, Rutgers at #3 Purdue
Needless to say, this week will have a VERY big impact on the conference championship race. We are still one week away from when I will start becoming obsessed with that awesome simulator tool for BTT seeds.
Very tough 4 game stretch coming up. Going 2-2 will have us in contention for at least a share of the Big Ten title, but would keep me holding my breath. 3-1 and we're in a really great position. 1-3 = no outright championship, maybe a share if we're lucky.
Will never understand this logic, especially if Rutgers plays bad or worse than we did today. Every game brings something new. Rarely does a team play the same game back to back. Michigan made everything against Purdue and looked like they were about to take off and then last night they got dominated by Ohio St and couldn't hit any shots.
illini80
- Forgottonia
I really wanted to be the first to say if we play like that against Rutgers we will lose. 
This game does make me nervous, but more because of how inconsistent we’ve played lately. We are mostly playing hard but the effort isn’t great. 50/50 balls Underwood teams should dominate and we aren’t. Rebounding effort comes and goes. Mentally we just don’t seem locked in as evidenced by the turnovers trending higher than we were a couple weeks ago.
Hopefully we play like the title is on the line because this isn’t a game I want to lose with what we have coming at us the rest of the way.
This game does make me nervous, but more because of how inconsistent we’ve played lately. We are mostly playing hard but the effort isn’t great. 50/50 balls Underwood teams should dominate and we aren’t. Rebounding effort comes and goes. Mentally we just don’t seem locked in as evidenced by the turnovers trending higher than we were a couple weeks ago.
Hopefully we play like the title is on the line because this isn’t a game I want to lose with what we have coming at us the rest of the way.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Not sure I can come close to the Vegas line on this game. Perhaps somewhere between -2/+2?
Best Guess: EVEN
Best Guess: EVEN
sacraig
- The desert
We can always rely on someone posting exactly this in the pregame threads, usually on the first page. But this is the first post. Well done, @Pikeillinifan... or something.
chrisRunner7
- Spokane, WA
Rutgers -3 my guess
This game, and at Breslin, will be very, very tough. BIG is a meat grinder.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
OK, I’ll play your silly game… What happens if we play like we did in the first half?
- Status