Pregame: Illinois at Michigan State, Saturday, February 7th, 7:00pm CT, FOX

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#401      
fuggles
Where is Illinois favored? The best I could find was Illinios +0.5.
 
#402      
madillini4
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#407      
Fighter of the Nightman
Not directing this at anyone in particular, but let’s drop the idea that defending Goodman’s take is the natural perspective of the *reasonable* folks. I haven’t seen many people doubting we’d get MSU’s best shot. The point is Goodman was remarkably dismissive of Illinois given the last month or so, and his reasons for his opinions sounded so vague and pretty much like he didn’t give it much thought … and yet he delivered them with a blowhard arrogance only he can have. I don’t know if he’s still salty about the 2005 comeback given he’s an Arizona grad, but this is hardly the first time he’s had this weirdly dismissive attitude toward Illinois.

Anyway, I like this pattern laid out below. We have four ranked wins away from home this year.

(1) W 75-62 vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
(2) W 75-69 at #19 Iowa
(3) W 88-82 at #4 Purdue
(4) W 78-69 at #5 Nebraska

And this is what each of those teams did the game before ours.

(1) Tennessee lost on the road to a bad Syracuse team to extend their losing streak to 2 games.
(2) Iowa lost on the road to a bad Minnesota team.
(3) Purdue was upset on the road by a struggling UCLA squad.
(4) Nebraska lost an emotionally draining heart breaker on the road to Michigan in its first loss of the year.

All four returned home angry, refocused and desperate for a signature win vs. a ranked Illini team. All four had fired up crowds that understood the stakes. And all four times, it didn’t matter … because those factors weren’t enough to beat our Illini.

No one is doubting that Izzo will have his guys ready or that the environment won’t be intimidating or that we won’t get MSU’s best shot early … we are RIGHTFULLY doubting that this time it will be enough to beat our Illini. 😎

#5 Illinois 76
#10 Michigan State 66
 
#408      
TheDukeUIUC
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Not directing this at anyone in particular, but let’s drop the idea that defending Goodman’s take is the natural perspective of the *reasonable* folks. I haven’t seen many people doubting we’d get MSU’s best shot. The point is Goodman was remarkably dismissive of Illinois given the last month or so, and his reasons for his opinions sounded so vague and pretty much like he didn’t give it much thought … and yet he delivered them with a blowhard arrogance only he can have. I don’t know if he’s still salty about the 2005 comeback given he’s an Arizona grad, but this is hardly the first time he’s had this weirdly dismissive attitude toward Illinois.

Anyway, I like this pattern laid out below. We have four ranked wins away from home this year.

(1) W 75-62 vs. #13 Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
(2) W 75-69 at #19 Iowa
(3) W 88-82 at #4 Purdue
(4) W 78-69 at #5 Nebraska

And this is what each of those teams did the game before ours.

(1) Tennessee lost on the road to a bad Syracuse team to extend their losing streak to 2 games.
(2) Iowa lost on the road to a bad Minnesota team.
(3) Purdue was upset on the road by a struggling UCLA squad.
(4) Nebraska lost an emotionally draining heart breaker on the road to Michigan in its first loss of the year.

All four returned home angry, refocused and desperate for a signature win vs. a ranked Illini team. All four had fired up crowds that understood the stakes. And all four times, it didn’t matter … because those factors weren’t enough to beat our Illini.

No one is doubting that Izzo will have his guys ready or that the environment won’t be intimidating or that we won’t get MSU’s best shot early … we are RIGHTFULLY doubting that this time it will be enough to beat our Illini. 😎

#5 Illinois 76
#10 Michigan State 66
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And Alabama lost to Purdue in the game before us and came in eager to not lose back-to-back ranked matchups to the Big10. Alabama ended up beating us by 4 away in a semi-neutral game at the UC. We're not perfect in these situations.
 
#409      
CleverHandle1
At Purdue, I expected a 7-point PU victory--and thankfully, I was wrong.

At Nebby, I expected a 5-point victory--had a good feeling.

Tonight? I have NO idea, although my heart says Illinois with a 4 - 7 point victory. Whenever they're in E. Lansing, I always feel the refs will "assist" the Spartans in some way, which puts them over the top with a win.
 
#410      
jamie13197
I like ESPN dude saying, Keaton making a shot from, "earth". 😂 😁! No longer called Horse for Mr. Wagner. Its called Globe or Earth moving forward. Kid hits 30 footers like I hit sugar cookies. Often and expertly.
 
#411      
ejam21
Dang oregon hanging with purdue at mackey

56-55 with 6 to go...purdue up
 
#412      
jamie13197
So which is it? We lose or win. Seriously, we lose to this version of sparty, I'll be ticked off at our boys and probably the referees! Michigan st.. is not a good team, some of the teams they beat are overrated. They can't shoot and are as dirty as a famous person. Leaving a Pdiddy house party!
 
#418      
blife
Don't let them get out in transition and own them on the boards. Let's roll
 
#419      
Fighter of the Nightman
TheDukeUIUC said:
And Alabama lost to Purdue in the game before us and came in eager to not lose back-to-back ranked matchups to the Big10. Alabama ended up beating us by 4 away in a semi-neutral game at the UC. We're not perfect in these situations.
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I didn’t count that because it wasn’t a road game for us where the other team was coming home to a friendly crowd in a “must win” game with all of the factors seemingly against us. In fact, I attended that game and the 95%+ Illini crowd should make the crowds we’ve had in Champaign feel ashamed!

However, let’s amend things. I would argue we have been a totally different team since the UConn loss … even with the slow start in the first Nebraska matchup, we have just been much better and a totally different animal with Keaton’s ascendance. Let’s instead say that since UConn, we’ve been just fine when very good teams return home to host us even when they have extra motivation.
 
#423      
IlliniChin14
Second place is 1st loser said:
I'm not a big Jeff Goodman fan, but he's right. It's unfathomable to think that an Izzo coached team will come out flat, at home, in a backs totally against the wall, us against the world scenario......laying an egg. Their starts to these last few games are what have killed them.

We're homers. Of course we're going to disagree with him. However, if they were playing literally anybody else, we'd feel the exact same way.

This is the most emotionally charged game that we'll have all year. For us to win, we're going to need an out of this world performance. I'd say the exact same thing if MSU was playing Arizona.

Can we win? Of course! Would I ever bet against an Izzo team in this situation. No way. I totally see where he's coming from.

I would not be shocked to see us winning, I would not be surprised us losing a close one and I wouldn't be surprised if we got run out of the gym.

This is literally one of those we couldn't have picked a worse time to play them games.

I think both guys can be right, thus the -1.5 spread.
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Quite the prognosticator!
 
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