Not to get ahead of ourselves, but if we win Saturday I’ll legitimately become more excited for our Illini than I have been since we smoked #2 Michigan on the road in 2021 with Ayo out hurt. 2022 was a great season in its totality - Big Ten banner! - but it never had a crazy high. Even after beating #2 Texas last year, I think I was still adjusting to so many new faces.
Winning at Tennessee and avoiding a comedown speaks not just to this team’s ceiling … which is VERY clearly high (i.e., beating Final Four caliber teams). It speaks to our FLOOR being low. I’m starting to get REALLY excited about this group. In the words of my Dad’s text to me tonight, who is always ready for the next shoe to drop:
“Ok, even I think these guys could make some real noise this year.”
Agreed. That '22 team almost always played well, but was always beatable and never could really get into high gear.
This team feels different and I think you can hear the excitement when BU speaks about this group. He has a hungry, experienced team that wants to get better. He doesn't have the head cases he has last season. And he sounds excited to tinker with this team to see what he can build come March.