Pregame: Illinois vs Arkansas, Thursday, November 28th, 3:00pm CT, CBS
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The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Let's complete the Arkansas sweep.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
Keep improving at this rate and we are going to be unstoppable by January.
big one.
Next 4 games are...
(N) Arkansas
@NW
Wisconsin
Tenn
Would you rather go 3-1, but it's a B1G loss....or 2-2 with both wins coming in conference?
Give me the conference wins all day. That being said, let's just go ahead and beat Calipari on national TV.
(N) Arkansas
@NW
Wisconsin
Tenn
Would you rather go 3-1, but it's a B1G loss....or 2-2 with both wins coming in conference?
Give me the conference wins all day. That being said, let's just go ahead and beat Calipari on national TV.
I can honestly see us going 4-0 the next 4 or 1-3.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
3-1 with the B1G loss by far. That would mean we had 2/3 ranked wins and lost to either Wisconsin who's ranked or at Northwestern, which has been par for the course.
Neither....4 - 0
Id way rather go 3-1. Conference games are always weird but non con wins against Arkansas and Tennessee would be huge
I don't buy the Wisconsin hype and a northwestern should be a win so I would be feeling two confident after a 2-2 stretch with those two wins.
Now, Arkansas has some very athletic guards and Tennessee is a well coached, tough team though I don't buy them as a true title contender.
Give me the sec wins all day.
The Illini have cruised to wins over 5 cupcakes. I see steady improvement game by game and also the depth of this team will prove huge in the coming days. They haven't shot as well from 3 as I thought they might but I think they will eventually. It is time they show they can put it all together and beat some top teams. Start with Arkansas, then Tennessee and Mizzou. Still don't think they will be ranked by what I believe is a biased writer's poll but it doesn't matter, just keep pounding people and prove they don't know what they are talking about.
Ed Cooley in that poll or something?
If we beat Arkansas this week I bet you $100 we will be ranked on Monday
Biased writer's poll? We got into the top 25, with a completely unproven team, with players that aren't exactly household names and we've played, per KenPom, the 344th schedule in the country. The only solid team that we've played best us by double digits where they led wire to wire.
Not sure how you could come to that conclusion, but your last point is correct. Win games versus really good teams(not cupcakes) and get back in the national map.
Haven't seen Arkansas play this year but Torvik has us favored by 2.5. Looks like they play like a typical Calipari team though - force turnovers, rebound, get to the rim. Also looks like they're letting opponents take a lot of threes.
Seems like to me the keys will be to take care of the ball and put up more of a fight on dribble drives than we did against Alabama.
Seems like to me the keys will be to take care of the ball and put up more of a fight on dribble drives than we did against Alabama.
Bigtex
- DFW
Encouraged that against ALR we worked the ball into the paint first which led to more ball movement and cutting. They were effective on the inside which opened up the outside for good looks.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Give me 3-1 any day of the week. Sure, I would love to start out conference play at 2-0, but beating Arkansas on a neutral court and Tennessee at home would be much better for the overall resume than going 2-2 (I believe both will be in Quad 1A bucket at the end of the year). 3-1 would also have much more momentum than bookending that 4 game stretch with losses.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
Looks like 3-1 would be indicative of having a team that is as good as the talent would indicate. But even at 1-3, I wouldn't be all that discouraged. Seems to me that Coach Underwood put this non-conference schedule together (including Duke) with one purpose in mind: To have a team that has played against teams that use a variety of styles and to have this team tested and toughened for March. It's a way to help the young guys grow at an accelerated pace. To me, it's the only way forward in the current (wholesale turnover) world of college basketball if you want to run with the big dogs.
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
madillini4
Ozamataz Buckshank
- Millywaukee
Real life I live in the same town as Bob Uecker. Absolute legend.
I haven't taken anything away from the last two games. They were able to do what they wanted with no resistance from teams that would lose to decent D2 schools. I believe the next four games will give a better indication on who will be in the rotation and who will not.
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