Pregame: Illinois at USC, Wednesday, February 18th, 9:00pm CT, BTN
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In ‘89 the Illini were undefeated in the game they won against Georgia Tech and Gill was injured in. They reached #1 that next week and went on to lose 3 of their next 4 games while Gill was out with injury.
Interesting comparison/symmetry...hopefully a better sprint to the finish line!
This wasn’t the first time Illinois beat Indiana on Feb. 15 to get to 21-5. It also happened in 2009; this is the Illini’s best start since then. That team ended up losing five of its last eight games, culminating in a first-round upset against Western Kentucky in the Big Dance.
There are no guarantees, as Illini fans understand well. Maybe too well.
chicago.suntimes.com
This wasn’t the first time Illinois beat Indiana on Feb. 15 to get to 21-5. It also happened in 2009; this is the Illini’s best start since then. That team ended up losing five of its last eight games, culminating in a first-round upset against Western Kentucky in the Big Dance.
There are no guarantees, as Illini fans understand well. Maybe too well.
Illini freshmen (better than last year?), NCAA potential (better than 2024?) shine through in rout of Indiana
With Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic and others cooking, the Hoosiers had no shot. Just how good are these Illini?
chicago.suntimes.com
I think most Illini fans would acknowledge that team was fools gold. This year's team is light years ahead of that team.Interesting comparison/symmetry...hopefully a better sprint to the finish line!
This wasn’t the first time Illinois beat Indiana on Feb. 15 to get to 21-5. It also happened in 2009; this is the Illini’s best start since then. That team ended up losing five of its last eight games, culminating in a first-round upset against Western Kentucky in the Big Dance.
There are no guarantees, as Illini fans understand well. Maybe too well.
Illini freshmen (better than last year?), NCAA potential (better than 2024?) shine through in rout of Indiana
With Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic and others cooking, the Hoosiers had no shot. Just how good are these Illini?
Clearly the staff and Fletch felt like his morning workout was good enough that he should at least travel. That’s a major positive given Brad’s comments. If they felt like he 100% could not play in either game, he would not travel.
This is just my opinion and I’m sure as heck not a doctor, but I would not even THINK about having him play until he is as healthy as he can possibly be. If that isn’t until March, I don’t care.
Look, the reality is Illinois is going to be a 2 or 3 seed in the Tournament barring a complete collapse, and there is very, very little difference between a 2 and 3 seed. Just want to avoid a 4 seed.
If Andrej plays too soon and sprains it again, he’s done. They need to be ULTRA cautious with this.
Keatin has been very very awesome but i hope he gets a bit more rest if we get a lead. His FT shooting has really dropped to 79.5% and he needs to rests some. I hope another pg gets a few minutes of tick with us up.20!
Brad’s comments about not knowing Andrej wasn’t going to play until 30 minutes before the Wisconsin game seemed like it was a jab at him/calling him out. He went on to further state that it would have been something that they would have planned differently for and tried avoiding having Mirk matching up on guards all night. To be “close” to playing against Wisconsin to now missing multiple games, it just seems like the player and coach are not aligned with the status of the injury. I do think pride plays a factor. Andrej is already having a down year compared to what he was expecting and then to go out there and play through an injury and not be able to be his best, feels like protecting his image is the driving factor at the moment. Just my opinion from someone who doesn’t really follow all the ins and outs of Illinois basketball.
That dude loves to block shots so much. It's a joy to watch.
drsmitty74
- Rochester
Ace (showing my age) and other ticket scalpers have been gone for awhile. All mobile entry.
I have to think AirTran is trying to say the absence forced the team to grow in ways that made them better when he returned than they would have been without the absence. Not that they were better without him. Am I right? Or maybe they're saying the team struggled in those first few games then became better even without him? Who knows
Not even a doubt that Keaton and David are a better pair than Kaspar and Will....at least IMHO. Both started from day one and have been consistently strong all season.Interesting comparison/symmetry...hopefully a better sprint to the finish line!
This wasn’t the first time Illinois beat Indiana on Feb. 15 to get to 21-5. It also happened in 2009; this is the Illini’s best start since then. That team ended up losing five of its last eight games, culminating in a first-round upset against Western Kentucky in the Big Dance.
There are no guarantees, as Illini fans understand well. Maybe too well.
Illini freshmen (better than last year?), NCAA potential (better than 2024?) shine through in rout of Indiana
With Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic and others cooking, the Hoosiers had no shot. Just how good are these Illini?
David does so many things, but he can score when needed, guard and board. Keaton is a ditto. KJ was streaky but who knows what he could have done consistently if not injured? Will took a while to get used to defense and rebounding, as well as finding his way around the basket, but he became a dependable scorer. Both pairs were/are Illini greats, but this year's duo are elite. We may never see a pair of frosh so dependable again...and we are a bit spoiled. Sure wish Wagler would be around for 4 seasons....I can't get enough.
Anyone would have to be blind not to see Boswell's affect on the defense or the overall intensity of the team.
I was referring to the comment about how the 89 team got better with Gill out. 3 of our losses were under 10 points including one to the preseason #1 B10 pick, Iowa who had B J Armstrong, Marble and Horton. 2 first round NBA picks and 1 second round. We lost the last game we played before Gill came back to Wisconsin by 20.
BTW the 89 team finished 2nd at 14-4 behind Indiana (15-3) and ahead of Michigan (12-6) and Iowa (9-9). We gave Indiana 2 of those losses One by 10 points in our 2nd game without Gill and the other on Anderson's killer shot!
At that point (when Kendall got hurt) they eactly 2 what we would call today Quad 1 wins - Michigan and Missouri. We had to go to double OT to beat Ga Tech (at home) and they barely made the tournament. My point is that Lou Henson doesn't get the recognition he deserves for that team. After Kendall got hurt he used several different starting line - ups and he integrated Marcus Liberty, Larry Smith and Earvin Small both on offense and defense. It was something they talked about on the radio constantly that year. And when those players had to contribute in the NCAA tourney (McNeese St, Ball St, Louisville - Battle was hurt, Syracuse - Lowell Hamilton was hurt) they did. You may not remember this, even Nick Anderson didn't start every game in '88 - '89. When Kendall came back they played really well as a team. I don't think we make to the final 4 if those 3 players didn't get the opportunity to fit in when Kendall Gill was out.
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
I was never a Patrick Ewing fan per se but he would occasionally catch em out of the air in the old days. Also in that famous 82 title game the first 8 North Carolina points were scored cause of Ewing goaltends.
89 team lost to Minnesota (who made the final 16 with Burton and bond) and Iowa who was #9 in country at time..they were not slouches
Curbelo Fanboy
BERTBALL IS LIFE
And weren't all the regular season losses when Gill was out? I believe that is the case. The 89 team maybe gets lost in the fog of history but that is one of the best teams of the modern era to not win a title. UNLV 91 is probably the leader, then maybe 15 Kentucky, 89 Illinois & 05 Illinois pretty high up there also.
Not to mention their style both in play & fashion was pretty much revolutionary at the time.
I’ve never gotten the impression this staff isn’t overly cautious with players, however I don’t think they really hold players back if they want to give it a go.
And agreed that the difference between a 2 or 3 is minimal however, we could get stl as a 2 seed. Might be a minor advantage, but an advantage nonetheless. Similarly I’d rather play one of the current teams on the 3 line rather than the 2, though obviously minimal.
But you’re right, I’d rather everyone be as close to 100% healthy and ready for March rather than risk a more serious injury. If that means giving up a 2 seed so be it.
Have we gotten any deeper insight to Andrej’s status?
Brad said that Andrej hit a PR on the force plates before Indiana game, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe there’s a rare circumstance out there, but anyone who has used a force plate would agree that the chance of hitting a PR a couple days after a high ankle sprain that has kept him out over a week is pretty rare.
Brad said that Andrej hit a PR on the force plates before Indiana game, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe there’s a rare circumstance out there, but anyone who has used a force plate would agree that the chance of hitting a PR a couple days after a high ankle sprain that has kept him out over a week is pretty rare.
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There can be only 1 Freshman
. And after he leads us to the promised land, I'll remove the Freshman part (it's already about to be) 
I was on a date with a UK fan during that Final Four game. I was rooting hard for Wisky. Let's just say she didn't appreciate that and we never went on another one...
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