I did not get an email yet, so holding out hope that means it is a Yes.
Pregame: Illinois vs UConn, Saturday, April 4th, 5:09pm CT, TBS
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Was Wagler in foul trouble or something? He only played 14 minutes, but prior to that he was playing like 30 minutes a game and after that he was playing like 35 minutes a game.
That’s just the one-sided viewpoint from that game. We missed layups, free throws, and just about every wide open 3. It was awful.
FWIW, I remember the announcers saying at halftime that we should’ve had the lead.
What was their gameplan you specifically liked?
oddly enough, the 30-0 run people associate with the brad quote of going at Clingan. The 30-0 run actually was very few two point shot attempts, and by and large missed jumpers.
I'm not saying it was our finest moment or whatever. But i do think trying to blame "scheme" and "adjustments" in every single Illinois loss had led to some pretty toxic mindsets around the staff (that hopefully this run has cured a bit of) that just isn't reflective of how basketball or sports actually work sometimes.
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Orangetool
Give me back my Afta, heh heh
Yup, plus WINT.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Does anyone know if the team is having a send off party like they had when they returned home? And if so what time and where? I’m sure they’re not flying to Indy lol… I’m off tomorrow and would like to go to it since I had to work Sunday when they came home.
I work for a business who's in the top 25 donors and we only had the 2 ticket allotment, same as everyone else. I am wondering if the top 5-10ish were actually held at 2 tickets though - like who's telling Larry Gies he can only have 2 final four tickets??
I have a lasagna stand way up in section 629. Come on by and grab a slice. No napkins or plasticware included
Yes, picked up his second foul with 12:03 left in 1H after already being subbed for a few minutes. So just about 5 minutes in the first half.
Started second half and picked up his third about two minutes in. Stayed in for a bit, went out, came back in. With about 10 minutes left, game was out of reach and he went out for good. Never got untracked.
I hope not. The time for fanfare is over. This isn't a high school football team. They'll be dealing with enough chaos with the media when they get there. At this point, know that you belong to be there, you deserve to be there and the sole focus should be on winning.
Will Michigan, Arizona or especially UCONN have send offs? My guess is those fans have the expectation of winning the whole thing. Act like we've been there before.
TL/DR: UConn had a magical run wildly exceeding betting expectations in the NCAAT in 2023 and 2024 (and still did well in 2025 vs expectations). While that magic has almost disappeared so far this year, they've still arguably been ~2pts better than expected. Maybe that wipes out the advantage implied by the current spread, but almost everyone was expecting a close matchup anyway. Plus we've beaten the spread by 9pts this NCAAT, so there's that.
Here are Hurley's UConn NCAAT games against the spread (ATS). The shading alternates for each tourney/year.
They were really bad ATS in their 1st round exits in 2021 and 2022, then out of this world in 2023 and almost as good in 2024 (higher scoring margin but were much more heavily favored). They took a big step back last year but were still pretty good ATS. Their performance this year looks almost indistinguishable from randomness, but is slightly positive on average.
I was curious if betting markets have finally accounted for their magic, or if UConn just isn't overperforming their metrics as much. Here's their yearly NCAAT average against the Torvik predicted margin and the spread along with the difference between Torvik and the spread (negative means sportsbooks had UConn more favored than Torvik):
UConn's NCAAT overperformance vs Torvik really did peak in 2023/2024 and has come way back down to just "good" so far this year. Betting markets may have compensated up to a couple points since 2023, and looked really dumb for not giving UConn more credit in 2024 (and the end of their 2023 run). But so far this year (and to a lesser extent last year), betting markets have been much more accurate than if they had expected the full 2023/24 magic to continue.
FWIW, this NCAAT we have beaten the spread by 9 points on average, but I don't want to jinx us, so I'm not expecting that to continue.
Here are Hurley's UConn NCAAT games against the spread (ATS). The shading alternates for each tourney/year.
They were really bad ATS in their 1st round exits in 2021 and 2022, then out of this world in 2023 and almost as good in 2024 (higher scoring margin but were much more heavily favored). They took a big step back last year but were still pretty good ATS. Their performance this year looks almost indistinguishable from randomness, but is slightly positive on average.
I was curious if betting markets have finally accounted for their magic, or if UConn just isn't overperforming their metrics as much. Here's their yearly NCAAT average against the Torvik predicted margin and the spread along with the difference between Torvik and the spread (negative means sportsbooks had UConn more favored than Torvik):
UConn's NCAAT overperformance vs Torvik really did peak in 2023/2024 and has come way back down to just "good" so far this year. Betting markets may have compensated up to a couple points since 2023, and looked really dumb for not giving UConn more credit in 2024 (and the end of their 2023 run). But so far this year (and to a lesser extent last year), betting markets have been much more accurate than if they had expected the full 2023/24 magic to continue.
FWIW, this NCAAT we have beaten the spread by 9 points on average, but I don't want to jinx us, so I'm not expecting that to continue.
Found it in the Spam folder. I am going to the Final Four.
I don’t understand why he’s saying Andrej was in his second game back after missing 7 weeks. His second game back was Texas Tech. First game back was FGCU.
UConn was his seventh game back.
This week be an interesting rematch. Both teams are very different than they were in December. My very simple thoughts are this ... Illinois length , offensive efficiency, sometimes very good shooting and the fact you don't foul much is a problem. I also think what's not talked about enough is how good you guys have become defensively . Connecticut is a streaky shooting team who more often than not is subpar . I think that if Connecticut shoots the three well , Reed avoids foul trouble along with playing two good halves ( Connecticut is a one good half kind of team) I think the Huskies eke this one out. I will say that I don't think that those things are all going to happen , I think if we play this game 10 times Illinois wins six of them but I do think Illinois pulls this one out 75-67 . I'm ok with a loss in this situation. After beating Duke the way we did and making a Third final four in 4 years , I'm good with the season we've had. I know you guys along with most of the country aren't fans of Danny Hurley but I can tell you that he absolutely loves his players and they love him too. He's a great coach and he's a very good man , he just gets a little wild sometimes. Lol. Good luck on Saturday. Whoever wins this game has a very very tough task on Monday. Those teams are buzzsaws but everyone can be beaten.
I'm guessing that's the best Spam you've ever received!
If we could not give up a 30-burger run on Saturday, I like our chances!
The OT game against Maryland in Dec 2017. It was very obvious this was not a John Groce team by the balls-out intensity they played with. And by the stunned look on Turgeon's face at the end he must have agreed. With Brad's hiring of Chin and Antigua and Gentry, the coaching was there. We just needed to level up with our talent, and the night Ayo committed was the turning point there, it just took time to get him and other good players on the roster and in the system.
Get loud!!!
Lol I watched a replay of that game just to confirm what I thought I saw in the stadium.
I still think that was the worst officiated 2nd half I've ever seen. Duke shot 18 free throws in the 2nd half against a Wisconsin team that basically didn't foul anyone(kind of like Illinois this year) while playing incredibly physical defense on the other end and not getting called for anything.
I don't think Duke gets the same absurdly favorable whistle they got with Coach K but that part of the reason I'm happy Duke lost to UConn is so we don't have to see Boozer throw all of his weight into Mirk and Mirk somehow get fouls called on him.
I suppose a team can be INEFFICIENTLY explosive.
Anyone that has the American Express Platinum card can call the Concierge and obtain tickets...its included as part of our astronomical annual fee...
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