2/7 Polls & Bracketology - Illinois #13 in AP Poll

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#101      
jumpingjack
Neat seeing the perfect scenario for the 'intentional foul to end the game" scenario play out in a college game.
And down goes #8

Win. Tomorrow.
 
#103      
KnoxIllini2
jumpingjack said:
Thankfully the archives on here are searchable. There was loads of bitching on here in year 1...and year 2.
Thankfully, it's stopped.
Agreed that we got the right guy.
Now let's get him that lifetime contract.
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Let’s get BU to the second weekend of the tournament a couple times.

HOWEVER, I could settle for 3 weekends and a Monday in to a Tuesday Championship hangover this year, though.
 
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#106      
jrichisamazing
It's kind of weird the B1G only has 1 bubble team this year, Michigan. Technically, Iowa could find themselves on the bubble if they get upset a few times but I think they will be ok. Northwestern could finish the year strong and make it in, but we know they won't. So that just leaves Michigan. That makes our game in Ann Arbor a little tougher. They will be desperate for a big win and their season might be on the line. But they also have to play Purdue, Wisconsin, MSU, and OSU twice. Hopefully they can knock some of those teams out.

This is the magical time of year where we get to root for teams we hate.
 
#107      
NJJ871
jrichisamazing said:
It's kind of weird the B1G only has 1 bubble team this year, Michigan. Technically, Iowa could find themselves on the bubble if they get upset a few times but I think they will be ok. Northwestern could finish the year strong and make it in, but we know they won't. So that just leaves Michigan. That makes our game in Ann Arbor a little tougher. They will be desperate for a big win and their season might be on the line. But they also have to play Purdue, Wisconsin, MSU, and OSU twice. Hopefully they can knock some of those teams out.

This is the magical time of year where we get to root for teams we hate.
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You're much nicer than I am, I would state it: "This is a $&^ed up time of year where it seems we should just throw up in our mouths a little and root for teams we hate."
 
#108      
Calvin
KnoxIllini2 said:
Let’s get BU to the second weekend of the tournament a couple times.
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That strikes me as a back-handed comment. He took a broken program with a lot of accumulated baggage, poor player development, recruiting misses, and a culture I would characterize as mediocrity, to a place where the results are strong, consistent, and fun to watch. Two seasons to turn it around, then he had his first team that was going to the dance (cancelled for the pandemic).

2019:
1 game back of the conference champ. For sure an NCAA tourney team had the tourney not been cancelled. Bracket matrix averaged a 7 seed, but there was a lot of momentum going in, having won 5 of the last 6.

2020:
Case for the conference champ in another pandemic year, went to Michigan on win %, got a #1 NCAA seed, BTT championship, and 1 tourney victory followed by the disappointing loss.

2021:
In progress, but the team page is looking quite good, easily a 4 seed, leading the conference, and all this with a variety of serious roster issues from guys being injured, etc.

To me that's a solid trend, and I wouldn't want to denigrate the coach off a tournament game. While it's important, there's a lot of variables in match-ups and getting hot at the right time.

I would argue that the intangibles of the program are really strong as well. I used to love watching players develop over the course of their time in Champaign, but IMO it had really fallen off. Now, I get excited about freshman coming in because they seem to progress much more in their careers. And despite the initial worries about recruiting, Underwood and his staff are rolling with great classes of guys who fit.

I didn't know Underwood before his hire, but after watching a bunch of archived SFA games, I was sold. Love his sensibility of attacking style and his quiet determination. Didn't know how he would recruit, but I wouldn't have predicted this much success --night and day for those who've followed the program back when it deteriorated. JMO
 
#109      
KnoxIllini2
Calvin said:
That strikes me as a back-handed comment. He took a broken program with a lot of accumulated baggage, poor player development, recruiting misses, and a culture I would characterize as mediocrity, to a place where the results are strong, consistent, and fun to watch. Two seasons to turn it around, then he had his first team that was going to the dance (cancelled for the pandemic).

2019:
1 game back of the conference champ. For sure an NCAA tourney team had the tourney not been cancelled. Bracket matrix averaged a 7 seed, but there was a lot of momentum going in, having won 5 of the last 6.

2020:
Case for the conference champ in another pandemic year, went to Michigan on win %, got a #1 NCAA seed, BTT championship, and 1 tourney victory followed by the disappointing loss.

2021:
In progress, but the team page is looking quite good, easily a 4 seed, leading the conference, and all this with a variety of serious roster issues from guys being injured, etc.

To me that's a solid trend, and I wouldn't want to denigrate the coach off a tournament game. While it's important, there's a lot of variables in match-ups and getting hot at the right time.

I would argue that the intangibles of the program are really strong as well. I used to love watching players develop over the course of their time in Champaign, but IMO it had really fallen off. Now, I get excited about freshman coming in because they seem to progress much more in their careers. And despite the initial worries about recruiting, Underwood and his staff are rolling with great classes of guys who fit.

I didn't know Underwood before his hire, but after watching a bunch of archived SFA games, I was sold. Love his sensibility of attacking style and his quiet determination. Didn't know how he would recruit, but I wouldn't have predicted this much success --night and day for those who've followed the program back when it deteriorated. JMO
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My intent was not to be back-handed, but I can see how it could be taken that way.

You make excellent points, thank you for laying them out so nicely. I made a similar point regarding losing the 2019/2020 tournament and how that lack of experience correlated to the early exit we experienced last season.

But the fact remains BU has yet to be to the second weekend. It is my own irrational monkey I’ve placed on BU’s back. And if it wasn’t for a ND buzzer beater to beat SFA, he would have had a second weekend already.
 
#111      
suburbanILLINI
#112      
hooraybeer
feel as if there's almost no chance that we don't end up in the same bracket as UK. come at me non-bracket conspiracists
 
#113      
The Galloping Ghost
hooraybeer said:
feel as if there's almost no chance that we don't end up in the same bracket as UK. come at me non-bracket conspiracists
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I think we have a lot of baggage with a lot of teams, as is the nature of things that last a very long time. No matter who is in our bracket, someone in our fanbase will point to it as definitive proof that the fix is in. Be it Auburn with Satan, Kansas with Self, Duke just with them being Duke, North Carolina with 2005, Loyola with last year, or Kentucky with the assistant coaches, it's all a conspiracy.

In reality, no one actually cares about us more or less than any other school. For certain people, that's a fact that's harder to come to grips with than the idea of a grand conspiracy.
 
#114      
drsmitty74
The Galloping Ghost said:
I think we have a lot of baggage with a lot of teams, as is the nature of things that last a very long time. No matter who is in our bracket, someone in our fanbase will point to it as definitive proof that the fix is in. Be it Auburn with Satan, Kansas with Self, Duke just with them being Duke, to some people, North Carolina with 2005, Loyola with last year, or Kentucky with the assistant coaches, it's all a conspiracy.

In reality, no one actually cares about us more or less than any other school. For certain people, that's a fact that's harder to come to grips with than the idea of a grand conspiracy.
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debbie downer GIF
 
#116      
Calvin
The Galloping Ghost said:
With Duke's loss last night
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Watched the end of game clip on ESPN, and thought it was hilarious. Clock showed Duke had 0.7 seconds, and they bumped it up to a generous 1.1, ran the play, Banchero gets the ball deep and takes the shot, all with no time elapsing...the clock never even started (at least on the video replay). Some seriously friendly time-keeping from the home scorekeeper.
 
#118      
Piotyr
Nuke Dukem said:
Wisconsin a 2? IllInois a 3? Ok.
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Wisconsin currently has 7 Q1 wins (most of any team) and 10 combined Q1-Q2 wins against 4 losses. They have the results profile of a 2 seed.

They've also won a lot of close games and lost a few blowouts, so they might not be as good of a team as their profile shows, but anyone bracketing off the results is going to have Wisconsin as a 2 or 3 seed right now and Illinois as a 3 or 4 seed.

If Illinois wins tonight, however, and WIsconsin doesn't, the profiles get very close, and the head to head win probably pushes them ahead.
 
#121      
alaskaillini
hooraybeer said:
feel as if there's almost no chance that we don't end up in the same bracket as UK. come at me non-bracket conspiracists
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Think Lunardi's bracket for us has some story lines for Illinois - Xavier, Kansas (prior IL coach), Auburn (coached by the devil), Arizona (rematch) then Purdue.
 
#123      
ptgrd23
KnoxIllini2 said:
My intent was not to be back-handed, but I can see how it could be taken that way.

You make excellent points, thank you for laying them out so nicely. I made a similar point regarding losing the 2019/2020 tournament and how that lack of experience correlated to the early exit we experienced last season.

But the fact remains BU has yet to be to the second weekend. It is my own irrational monkey I’ve placed on BU’s back. And if it wasn’t for a ND buzzer beater to beat SFA, he would have had a second weekend already.
Click to expand...
Lou's first NCAA tournament season at Illinois we had first round round by (48 teams back then. We beat Wyoming then lost to Rolando Blackman KSU. Lou had Final Four experience from New Mexico State.

The upset by Loyola was unfortunate but they were a #8 seed. We were inexperienced since the 2020 tourney was cancelled. This year could be very different.
 
#124      
KnoxIllini2
ptgrd23 said:
Lou's first NCAA tournament season at Illinois we had first round round by (48 teams back then. We beat Wyoming then lost to Rolando Blackman KSU. Lou had Final Four experience from New Mexico State.

The upset by Loyola was unfortunate but they were a #8 seed. We were inexperienced since the 2020 tourney was cancelled. This year could be very different.
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Loyola was laughably under-seeded, and we knew that and cried foul, rightfully so, when our quadrant was released last year.

I fully expect this year’s tournament experience to be enjoyable for us, and I am looking forward to it!
 
#125      
alaskaillini
Loyola was underseeded, were a bad matchup for us, and had known who their second game would be against if they won and had likely spent some additional time preparing for us. And frankly Ayo had one of his worst games of the year. We should have found a way to win, but we were a team that went the way Ayo and Kofi went. This year's team is far more balanced and has had to find multiple ways to win as the year has gone by. We will be a better tourney team because of it. It doesn't mean we can't lose a game we shouldn't, but teams are going to have a far more difficult time scheming against us this year.
 
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