Pregame: Illinois vs Nebraska, Saturday, December 13th, 3:00pm CT, Peacock/YTTV

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#101      
Barfolomew
skyIdub said:
25,000 Opposing Fans Loyalty Bonus Points for taking the time to spell (and pronounce) this dudes name correctly.

“N” really does stand for “Nowledge”!😜

You can redeem these special points for cottage cheese, Blazing Hot Takes, Insider tips, strawman arguments, puns, and most importantly…gifs.
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Ozzy Osbourne Conan Obrien GIF by Team Coco
 
#106      
RollChief
Bigtex said:
Illinois as the #12 team in NET playing:

Nebraska #14
Nebraska longest winning streak in nation

Team shouldn't have any motivation problem preparing for Nebraska.

Guess someone needs to define letdown game. For me it is a Q2/Q3 team that is good but Illinois should win home or away. Maybe because of the situation Illinois doesn't take team as a threat and has a let down. Not saying Illinois couldn't lose to Nebraska but for me not as a let down but as poor execution.
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The thing that makes me the most nervous about Nebraska at this current point in time is that last night, they tied the all-time record for most consecutive wins, with 14 coming off the NIT championship last year to 10-0 last year. You can't ever discount a team playing for an all-time record.

That said, they're coming into our house on effectively no rest, I think it'll be a dog fight but I think Nebraska will ultimately be outgunned.

The only other thing I'll say about the whole letdown thing is every loss is a letdown when the team is this good, no point or good in trying to define it or predict it.
 
#107      
jrichisamazing
GBR said:
Husker fan checking in...

Excited about the matchup but definitely nervous, no question you are the toughest team we've played yet this year and it's at your house, probably our first real hostile environment. Plus I don't think we faced anybody with a front Court like yours, so that should be a really good test.

We really really like this team, very much a team that has a bunch of different guys that can do it on a given night.

Mast is obviously the key player. He can definitely play big inside but the best part of his game is a high post distributor and he's a very respectable three-point shooter. We will use a ton of spacing and take a lot of threes if given... Otherwise, we showed against Wisconsin that we are happy to play in the paint if it's open.

We are a strong defensive team as well, tons and tons and tons of movement and switching. We do have another big guy in the starting lineup who is the only terrible outside shooter in the starting 5, Berke Büyüktuncel (pronounced bear kay) but he is a full effort defense and rebounding guy.

Pryce Sandfort you're probably familiar with since he transferred from Iowa, he can shoot out of the gym of course but he has become much more of a guy who goes to the rim this year and is pretty good at it.

Lawrence is our guard and he's decent but not a pure scorer. He's more of a spot shooter and distributor.

Then of course there's Sammy Hoiberg the coaches kid. Feels like he's been there for 6 or 7 years. He's the ultimate scrap player, there was definitely a reasonable question about his role on the team in years past but he is really shown that he can make big plays this year. He's never going to pop on the stat sheet, but he's quicker than people think and he's a really really good defender and lately he's falling in love with the dribble drive and has been pretty effective.

Off the bench the big-time player is Brandon Frager. Probably one of the most athletic kids on the team. Long, can shoot from distance or go to the rim. True freshman though and sometimes makes true freshman plays.

I know Nebraska basketball has a history about as long as Indiana football did as of 2 years ago... But this is probably our best team in a while... Maybe back to the 90s.

All that being said, I don't think we come into your house and win. You guys are a good team for sure and a totally different matchup than what we've seen all year.

Good luck Saturday and for the rest of the year. Hopefully someone can take down Michigan and certainly wouldn't mind if it were you guys! Haha
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Thanks for the info and welcome!

Do you think this Husker team will be better than 2 years ago?
 
#108      
EmeraldCityIllini
personally, I like having this game when Nebraska is rolling and have the great record, high NET, Kenpom, etc. Zero reason to underestimate this team.

First true road game for Nebraska, and somehwat of a homecoming for illinois - it's odd we've had about a 3 week stretch without a home game.

This 3 game stretch I thought would be huge - OSU, Nebraska, Mizzou - those games/wins don't grab headlines, but they're incredibly high quality ones.
 
#109      
Retro62
GBR said:
Agreed. It's cool to see what the team is like from an obsessive fan point of view haha

I would be respectful on anyone's board except Iowa, screw those guys ;):ROFLMAO:

But I've actually never felt any bad blood with you guys. A year or two ago I came in to talk football and I like Bielema's brand of physical football. I visited Illinois to watch baseball a couple years back and had a great time. Plus you guys have a much much better basketball program than we do overall (as do most schools)
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The two schools I have the least animosity toward are Nebraska and Minnesota. Now, that may be because they haven't been as much of a threat over the past several years, but I also think Hoiberg is a great coach and a solid guy.
 
#112      
Illini 993
This may not age well, but I see this game as more of a letdown game for Nebraska than Illinois. They are on a huge high after the Wisconsin game, shot an unsustainable efficiency number, and might be feeling that they are a lot better than they are. Their 10-0 record was built with all home games (although 1 home game was in Sioux City, Iowa.) Illini by at least 15.
 
#113      
altgeld88
ChiIllini75 said:
Am I crazy though, I needed much more help with the pronunciation of the last name!

"Berke Büyüktuncel (pronounced bear kay)"
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RML said:
Also "bear kay."
Or so I want to believe.😁
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Right you are: Bear-kay Buoy-yook'-toon-jel.

Fun fact: Apparently Büyüktuncel means something like "large bronze fist."

So if he lives up to his name he can be a handful.

He's from Bursa, which is across the Sea of Marmara form Istanbul. Has wonderful food and large mountains behind it that host some pretty good skiing.

I spent a lot of time in Turkey over 20 years. And, coincidentally, had to deal with my Turkish ex-wife last evening for the first time in a while. :cautious:
 
#114      
Scoregasm
altgeld88 said:
Right you are: Bear-kay Buoy-yook'-toon-jel.

Fun fact: Apparently Büyüktuncel means something like "large bronze fist."

So if he lives up to his name he can be a handful.

He's from Bursa, which is across the Sea of Marmara form Istanbul. Has wonderful food and large mountains behind it that host some pretty good skiing.

I spent a lot of time in Turkey over 20 years. And, coincidentally, had to deal with my Turkish ex-wife last evening for the first time in a while. :cautious:
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Airplane Movie Reaction GIF by filmeditor
 
#115      
Vinegarben
I didn't think the Illini played offense very well at OSU. Lot of free throw shooting that they made, 11 3's when we needed them. I think Tommy, Kylan show up against the Huskers and the Illini win late 89-81
 
#117      
Todd99
altgeld88 said:
Right you are: Bear-kay Buoy-yook'-toon-jel.

Fun fact: Apparently Büyüktuncel means something like "large bronze fist."

So if he lives up to his name he can be a handful.

He's from Bursa, which is across the Sea of Marmara form Istanbul. Has wonderful food and large mountains behind it that host some pretty good skiing.

I spent a lot of time in Turkey over 20 years. And, coincidentally, had to deal with my Turkish ex-wife last evening for the first time in a while. :cautious:
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I’ll be watching the game on Saturday with some friends, having a few beers. I’m going to casually work these facts into the conversation as if they were common knowledge! :ROFLMAO:
 
#118      
altgeld88
Todd99 said:
I’ll be watching the game on Saturday with some friends, having a few beers. I’m going to casually work these facts into the conversation as if they were common knowledge! :ROFLMAO:
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Büyük = large
Küçük = koo-chewk' = small
Çok güzel = Choke' Gyew-zell' = very beautiful
Aslan = Ahz-lahn = lion
Hayır = Hah'-yer = No!

I included the final one for those inclined to panic when Ben squares up from three. (Kidding, kidding...)

I do what I can for you, my friends. In this case, turn lemons into lemonade. :ROFLMAO:

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#119      
hoopsfan47
Illini 993 said:
This may not age well, but I see this game as more of a letdown game for Nebraska than Illinois. They are on a huge high after the Wisconsin game, shot an unsustainable efficiency number, and might be feeling that they are a lot better than they are. Their 10-0 record was built with all home games (although 1 home game was in Sioux City, Iowa.) Illini by at least 15.
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I would be shocked if the Illini prevail by 15 or more. But of course, that is my hope. Mast is the key. We have to somewhat and somehow limit his 3 pt. shooting and inside efficiency both in rebounding and scoring. But he is a smart player and will make a plus contribution. Of course there is the obligatory "career best game" from someone else with which to deal. This should be a 5 pt. back and forth game but I have no predictions as to which team will win as I do not wish to give the hoops gods another chance to beat me down....and don't call me paranoid!!! I am smart enough to fool them. ;)
 
#123      
Birdus
Greg on Sleepers picked Nebraska. I get the love. They are 10-0 but who have they played? I think this game will answer a lot of questions about the consistency of this team and if we are truly contenders we will win these must home games. This GAME SHOULD be a win. No excuses. Vegas has it -4.5 Illinois at the moment.
 
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#124      
GBR
jrichisamazing said:
Thanks for the info and welcome!

Do you think this Husker team will be better than 2 years ago?
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I do. We don't have a guy like Brice who you could just clear out and let him create, but we're so much more balanced with legit 3-4 guys that can make plays on offense and play really decent team defense (saw a stat where we're one of the top in the country in "opponents shot distance from basket"). But as I said before I don't think we've played anyone who can challenge us in the frontcourt like you should be able to so it will be interesting to see.

I'm curious how you'll defend Mast. Most teams need to double him in the post but he's a GREAT passer so he's super deadly when teams do that. But you guys might have the dudes to frustrate him 1v1.

There's been a couple posts on here about being tired and maybe emotionally but honestly we didn't have to play our starters most of the 2nd half vs Wisconsin (crazy to type that). I think Mast and BB only played 10 min or so in the 2nd half. We pretty much subbed everyone with 7-8 minutes left. I'm not super worried about physical tiredness.

But I could see an emotional let down. Creighton is always a huge game for us and I know the players were really up for Wisconsin because they kinda handed it to us last year. So will they be up emotionally for a road game against Illinois? We'll see.

Speaking of Brice, ironically as good as he was he wasn't a great fit for Fred's offense. Brice's game was long range jumpers (and he was probably one of the best from 15 ft to ever wear a Husker uniform) but Fred's offense is all 3's and in the paint. The long range jumper is really frowned upon. Fred adapted what he wanted to do for Brice, but I think now he's operating an offense much closer to what he wants to do.

I see the game Saturday as a really good measuring stick, even more than Wisconsin. We should have an idea if we really are competitive for the top 5ish in the B1G which I'd be thrilled with.
 
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