Pregame: Illinois vs UConn, Saturday, April 4th, 5:09pm CT, TBS

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#751      
ChiefGritty
RabidDawgClassic said:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until I die… I HATE the “we’re playing with house money” phrase. That immediately creates an acceptance for losing. Besides… once the chips are in your rack, they’re now YOUR money.
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IMO it's about the pressure being off.

This team has had an anchor around its neck for two months with the idea they were wasting a golden opportunity. They have conquered that. This team goes down in history, they did it. Now go play free.
 
#752      
Second place is 1st loser
thefalcon5 said:
I can’t believe so many people are in on the “house money” or “it’s all gravy” statements. To me, that makes it sound like we’re an 11 seed mid major who’s caught fire late. Of course, this year was a success regardless for the next weeks outcome.

You make a final four you should absolutely be thinking natty. This teams absolutely capable of beating any of the teams remaining. I want it all.
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I think that Arizona and Michigan have been the overwhelming favorites all year. You can probably put Duke in there before the injuries. Getting to a Final Four is INCREDIBLY difficult. A lot has to go right.

Plus, there's only one winner.

I don't think anyone is saying that we're just happy to be there. That said, like you correctly said, this season is an outrageous success regardless of outcome. That's the case for all four teams there.

The initial goal is to get to the Final Four. You've got a banner and you're a regional champion at that point. After that, it's a complete crapshoot. At this point, there is an element of luck goes into winning it all. Foul trouble, a tough shooting night, shots rimming in and out, prayers going in, etc. In a one game, win or go home tournament.....there is an element luck all of the way through. Look how UConn even got here.

The feeling of house money does come into play. Unlike ANY other game this year, if we lose, we'll feel bad for about 12 hours, then truly understand what the team did. Three of the four teams there are in the exact same boat. While I don't love the term of playing with house money either, what he's saying is correct. Toss the ball up and let the chips fall where they may.

Going back to the Arizona/Michigan situation.....they are undeniably better than every other team and are clearly the favorites. Now, the winner of Illinois vs UCONN only has to play one them, not both. It only takes one night to be better. That's it. If we played Arizona, we might lose 75 out of 100 times. All we need is 1.

Playing free, loose with a nothing to lose attitude gives us our best chance.
 
#753      
wc_illini
NarrowJ said:
I would venture to bet the casual fans of just about every team we've played thinks that

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Especially that home whistle!

I said this a few times leading up to the Houston game- see how every team shown gives up fewer FTs at home than on the road (except Harvard- WTF?). That's the biggest source of home court advantage.
 
#755      
Illini2010-11
ChiefGritty said:
On balance they probably did make more bad calls on our side, but they were brutally inconsistent. Called the two halves totally differently and never established what players were allowed to do on the perimeter.

That last touch foul on our high screen that gave us free throws was horrible, I don't blame Iowa fans for being apoplectic, they hadn't called that all game.

I defy Iowa fans to tell me there was a worse whistle than the one on Stojakovic when Stirtz crossed over and jumped straight into him though.
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That is 100% my biggest gripe about the officiating. It seemed like a rugby match in the first half where they let the teams play physically, and then there were touch fouls galore in the second half. It was almost as though the officials determined at the half that they had to make an adjustment to their approach to the game.

I will say, based on the style of play, the first half officiating assisted Iowa much more, as the Illini would have been shooting tons of free throws had the game been called similarly to the second half. With that said, I was fine with the first half officiating, as long as it was consistent throughout the game. The second half flow was downright terrible in the first 10 minutes. Without some touch foul free throws in the final 10 minutes, Iowa only scored 6 points (two threes) -- meanwhile they shot 8 free throws. Really hard to see how any Iowa fan can blame the game on officiating. Iowa literally had no game inside the perimeter for the last 10 minutes of the game, and without free throws, they would have been blown out even worse.
 
#756      
RichardKeenesCousin
RabidDawgClassic said:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until I die… I HATE the “we’re playing with house money” phrase. That immediately creates an acceptance for losing. Besides… once the chips are in your rack, they’re now YOUR money.
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The Office Thank You GIF
 
#757      
HensonHall71
ChiefGritty said:
We avoided all the celebrity villain refs against Iowa and the officiating was horrible. I am anti-ref-ology tbh.
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Agree they weren't good against Iowa, but I do think having non-big ten refs is much better for us. The flopping they call in the big ten is brutal and all the ghost calls we got against Wisky in the Big Ten tournament can ruin a game. It's been a breath of fresh air not seeing the flopping as much in the tournament and I don't think UConn flops that much, but for us as a team who's whole strategy is predicated on not fouling - we just need the game called reasonably

High Knees is the only ref I think we need to avoid at all costs - he has literally cost us games in the past, and it seems to be so bad that there is too much bias/history there now. Anyone else I don't think will matter

I also think when it comes to the FF - coaches should get one or two "ref bans" that they feel there is too much history with and they don't get them in their games, there's too much on the line at this point. I would hope they would respect the coaches take on somebody they don't want on their game
 
#758      
Perry Range's Van
1970 John said:
Don’t we? Funny thing is that from my experience, those who do undergrad work at Illinois and grad work elsewhere (such as my wife with her doctorate at Maryland) remain true to the Orange and Blue.

But those who come to Illinois for grad work often change their allegiances. I’ve seen it too many times to believe otherwise.
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True here.. My wife and I claim degrees from 5 schools. We fly 2 flags out front, Illinois and whomever is winning out of the other 6 (4-us, 2-kids)
 
#759      
hangdog
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it until I die… I HATE the “we’re playing with house money” phrase. That immediately creates an acceptance for losing. Besides… once the chips are in your rack, they’re now YOUR money.
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Acceptance for losing? By who?
 
#762      
FromTheLogo
My worry about this game is foul trouble for our bigs, including Mirk. I know, I know, "we don't foul", but I don't think we can leave their shooters in order to help with Reed, which puts our bigs on an island. Also, they have very quick guards who can put rim pressure on us and if we challenge them hard, it leaves Reed open on the weak side for dunks. I hope these scenarios don't lead to ticky-tack fouls.

That said, I like our matchup.

Illini: 76
Hurlers: 71
 
#766      
aaeismacgychel
Kramerica Industries said:
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In Final Four Ref Watch, I think there's definitely a possibility us or UCONN gets an official that reffed them in a prior round, but if we operate under the premise that there's a higher likelihood we won't get repeat officials, that leaves the following refs as most probable for our game:
More probable: (0 UCONN, Illinois games)
Ron Groover -
Jeffrey Anderson - [Mich EE, R32]
Doug Shows -
Kipp Kissinger - [AZ S16]
Gregory Nixon - [Mich EE]
Lee Cassell -
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Less probable: (At least 1 UCONN, Illinois game)
James Breeding - UCONN S16
Paul Szelc - ILL S16
Marques Pettigrew - ILL S16
Keith Kimble - UCONN S16, [AZ R64]
Doug Sirmons - UCONN R32

I don't think Jeffrey Anderson will be given a 3rd Michigan game, so if he's been slated to ref I think odds are we get him.
 
#767      
Champaign88
Agree with everything here, except Ty shot zero jumpers. He missed 3 layups and 2 floaters (all 5 shots in the paint).
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Yes, I meant it more as they dared him to shoot jumpers (he didn't) than him actually shooting them. Ty would be at the three point line and Clingan stood at the rim.
 
#768      
RockfordIllini
UConn is very good and very tough and we will have to play well to win. But the more I dive in the more I like the matchup. Below is a list of teams/players that have given us trouble and where I think UConn sits:
1. Teams that can match our size and, in particular, negate our advantage on the offensive glass - UConn has pretty good size in the front court but their last 2 opponents who have size and rebounding strength similar to ours outrebounded UConn by 9 and 6 respectively, with each getting 40% of their misses back.
2. A big athletic guard to bother Keaton - Ball and Demery are both good, physical defenders but both are 6’4. He’s been effective against similar players.
3. Size and athleticism on the wing to guard Andrej - same thing. Their 2 best defenders are 6’4 and Andrej has been shooting right over the top of players of that size all tournament. Ross has good size off the bench but isn’t much of a scorer.
4. An athletic, physical 4 to guard Mirk. Karaban is tough but only 220 pounds. They sent help when he was guarding Mirk in our last game which led to some of our best shots. Think we can expect similar results.
5. A 5 with foot speed - I do think Reed is a problem for us. That said, I’m guessing we will live with whatever he gets from 2 and hope the Ivisics make him inefficient.
6. A jitterbug guard - Sort of. Malachi Smith had 14 and 9 against us last time we played but my understanding is he’s one of their weaker defenders and is only 6’1, 180. So if Hurley rolls the dice for offense we can likely punish that matchup on the other end.
7. Stretch bigs to punish our drop coverage - not really. Karaban plays the 4 but is more Fletcher Loyer than stretch big. He’s a matchup problem in other ways but he won’t prevent us from playing drop.

So there’s some stuff there. We need to get the Karaban matchup figured out. Personally I would cross match Mirk on Mullins who looks to mostly stand in the corner and have Andrej/Jake/Ben chase. If we play our offensive game, not sure they can hit enough 3s off of their movement to beat us.

Good team, but you’re going to play good teams in the final 4. Overall I think we match up pretty well with them. Their strengths aren’t really our weaknesses. We should be able to play our game.
 
#771      
AirTran
He absolutely has been fantastic, but it's a big of a pick your poison because Ball really, really hurt us in the first game and Demerey is also a problem in the backcourt. We're not going to shut down all three. Karaban isn't going to kill us by beating us off the dribble and getting to the rim. Ball most definitely can and Demerey can do more, across the board, than Karaban. If I had to guess, Drej and KB are going to draw those assignments.

Karaban is a problem because coming off a screen, he'll hit the open look. Can't go under it with him. He's very much like Sandfort, where you don't worry about a blow by, but if he gets on a heater....it's not ideal.

This is PROBABLY a game where Ben is going to have to play a key role? I don't see Jake being overly playable on the defensive side of things.

UCONN can lose to literally anyone, which we've seen this season. They can also beat anyone, which is also what we've seen this season. Their game vs Duke is a microcosm of who they are. In the first half, they looked like the team that lost to St. John's by 40. In the second half, they looked like the team that beat St. John's by 40. Actually, their game vs Michigan State was another example. They were beating the brakes off of them in the first half, they coughed it all up and it was a barnburner. They also lost to Marquette.

It's a weird team. Very volatile.
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Great post! I was at the UCONN - Illini game in November.

UCONN lost 5 games this season (1 to Arizona and 2 to St. John's). We have more losses than UCONN does - although none to teams similar to Creighton or Marquette.

One other observation Braylon Mullins now starts and plays 20 - 30 mins / game. Jatylin Stewart is barely in the rotation and started and played 20 mins against us in November.

Was wondering your thoughts on this.

UCONN is very good defensively. Offensively - they have to pass the ball to score but siimilar to us they have 4 players that take more than 10 shots/game so the match ups you wrote about are going to be the key to the game.
 
#772      
Dinger
That's a cool bus decal set up. Wonder if U of I did that or if it was an NCAA deal
 
#775      
Perry Range's Van
UConn is very good and very tough and we will have to play well to win. But the more I dive in the more I like the matchup. Below is a list of teams/players that have given us trouble and where I think UConn sits:
1. Teams that can match our size and, in particular, negate our advantage on the offensive glass - UConn has pretty good size in the front court but their last 2 opponents who have size and rebounding strength similar to ours outrebounded UConn by 9 and 6 respectively, with each getting 40% of their misses back.
2. A big athletic guard to bother Keaton - Ball and Demery are both good, physical defenders but both are 6’4. He’s been effective against similar players.
3. Size and athleticism on the wing to guard Andrej - same thing. Their 2 best defenders are 6’4 and Andrej has been shooting right over the top of players of that size all tournament. Ross has good size off the bench but isn’t much of a scorer.
4. An athletic, physical 4 to guard Mirk. Karaban is tough but only 220 pounds. They sent help when he was guarding Mirk in our last game which led to some of our best shots. Think we can expect similar results.
5. A 5 with foot speed - I do think Reed is a problem for us. That said, I’m guessing we will live with whatever he gets from 2 and hope the Ivisics make him inefficient.
6. A jitterbug guard - Sort of. Malachi Smith had 14 and 9 against us last time we played but my understanding is he’s one of their weaker defenders and is only 6’1, 180. So if Hurley rolls the dice for offense we can likely punish that matchup on the other end.
7. Stretch bigs to punish our drop coverage - not really. Karaban plays the 4 but is more Fletcher Loyer than stretch big. He’s a matchup problem in other ways but he won’t prevent us from playing drop.

So there’s some stuff there. We need to get the Karaban matchup figured out. Personally I would cross match Mirk on Mullins who looks to mostly stand in the corner and have Andrej/Jake/Ben chase. If we play our offensive game, not sure they can hit enough 3s off of their movement to beat us.

Good team, but you’re going to play good teams in the final 4. Overall I think we match up pretty well with them. Their strengths aren’t really our weaknesses. We should be able to play our game.
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8. A coach with a track record of shamelessly whining to the refs enough to get ridiculous calls
 
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