Well, here we are. One thing left to do.
Pregame: Illinois vs Arkansas, Thursday, March 16th, 3:30pm CT, TBS
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sacraig
- The desert
Awesome! Fairly short drive for most "local" fans. It took us 5 and half hours to drive to the Illini/MSU bowl game...and I live in Florida. We should fill that place up with a lot of Orange and Blue.
sacraig
- The desert
It's been a wacky season nationwide.
wettsten
- Chicago
tape the game? what decade is this?
Interesting to see some of the numbers in comparing us to Arkansas. The big thing I wish is that we were more like them when it comes to realizing the three isn’t dropping. How much more diverse would we be and how many more games would we have won if we didn’t settle for shooting the three ball so much. This isn’t an Underwood thing. This has always been an Illinois thing as long as I remember. “Live and die by the three”.
I will say I do think we have done more driving the last few years which is so great to see us going for again. It helps when we have more size obviously. Shoot, I remember when Underwood first came and was saying he just wanted someone taller than him to bring onto the team and we would all get excited by just having anyone on our team dunk in a game. We have come a long way with Underwood. Will be fun to see where we are after another few years.
I will say I do think we have done more driving the last few years which is so great to see us going for again. It helps when we have more size obviously. Shoot, I remember when Underwood first came and was saying he just wanted someone taller than him to bring onto the team and we would all get excited by just having anyone on our team dunk in a game. We have come a long way with Underwood. Will be fun to see where we are after another few years.
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Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
To be fair, this is the only forum I've ever been on where threads can't just be started by anybody.
I'm kind of like you. Watch 10+ hoops games each week from all over the country. I am interested to see how their younger freshman(Smith Jr, Black, and Walsh) will handle the big stage like this? I do like our experience over theirs
I like your thinking as KU is not very deep. We match up well with KU and if we watch how Texas played them, there is no reason why we cannot get to the Sweet 16.
oof, it's gonna be tough to beat UCLA twice, but I think we have a chance!
Really not sure why people think this is a terrible draw. In my opinion this is bar far the best draw we could have hoped for in the 8/9 grouping. Arkansas is TERRIBLE at shooting 3s. Just awful. As such they will have issues spreading us out and taking advantage of our biggest weakness, which is our perimeter defense. As well, they turn the ball over more than we do, they are great at guarding the three but only good at guarding the 2, and they rely on 2pt buckets and taking off the dribble, things that we have defended extremely well for the most part this season. Plus they're as bad a free throw shooting team as we are. And they are one of the most handsy and undisciplined fouling teams in the country. This is a team that plays to our strengths more than just about anyone else in the tourney. In my opinion, this is beyond great matchup and one that I have optimism in us winning. And this isn't the kool-aid talking. Not only can we beat this team, on paper, I think we should be able to beat this team so long as we decide to go inside from the get go.
This is a terrific Round 1 matchup for us! And as for Kansas, they also are not a good 3pt shooting team and have only 1 high volume shooter who is efficient at shooting them. They also turn the ball over a decent amount and similarly play to our strengths in wanting to go inside and having only good but not great 2pt defense. Compared to the other #1s not named Purdue, on paper, Kansas is the team we match up best against.
This is a great draw, everyone. A phenomenal draw. One that we could actually do damage with if we decide as a team to go inside and force them to stop us without fouling. And as an added bonus, we get to play both in nearby fairly easy to travel to Iowa (hell, Kansas wouldn't even have semi-home advantage over us there)! We absolutely can do this! I truly believe that we actually have a viable path to the Elite 8. Love this draw.
This is a terrific Round 1 matchup for us! And as for Kansas, they also are not a good 3pt shooting team and have only 1 high volume shooter who is efficient at shooting them. They also turn the ball over a decent amount and similarly play to our strengths in wanting to go inside and having only good but not great 2pt defense. Compared to the other #1s not named Purdue, on paper, Kansas is the team we match up best against.
This is a great draw, everyone. A phenomenal draw. One that we could actually do damage with if we decide as a team to go inside and force them to stop us without fouling. And as an added bonus, we get to play both in nearby fairly easy to travel to Iowa (hell, Kansas wouldn't even have semi-home advantage over us there)! We absolutely can do this! I truly believe that we actually have a viable path to the Elite 8. Love this draw.
Arkansas' fans travel really well too. I expect a good representation from both schools.Awesome! Fairly short drive for most "local" fans. It took us 5 and half hours to drive to the Illini/MSU bowl game...and I live in Florida. We should fill that place up with a lot of Orange and Blue.
The most beatable 1 seed is Purdue. Too bad they won't matchup conference foes with one another in the 2nd round.
Wait, are you taking a boat or a plane?
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Auburn would've been a better draw. But, that would've required Illinois to win 1 or 2 more games so they, and not Iowa, could get an 8 seed. Oh well.
And if you were told we'd be playing UNC, you would have probably thought it would be the final.
You have to be kidding.
Auburn would've been a great draw as well for us on paper, but they're also a 9 seed. I'll still say though, Arkansas is a very very winnable great matchup for us. Whether we do it or not is up to us, but all you can ask for is a favorable opportunity and we have one. We have a great one.
Truth
Kansas is going to bring a monsoon of people. If we're going to represent, get out and buy your tickets ASAP.
One thing that stands out in Arkansas' advanced stats...
They have one of the worst FT rates defensively. If we get in attack mode, hopefully the fouls will pile up and we can get some free points.
They have one of the worst FT rates defensively. If we get in attack mode, hopefully the fouls will pile up and we can get some free points.
Also, I know the B1G is known as the physical league. But watching some SEC games this year, it looked just as physical, if not more so. I wonder if that line of thinking is a little dated.
It will be like a watching a Big 10 game, so low scoring and grind it out affair. First team to 70 wins?
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