Illini Basketball 2022-2023

Former Illini (off topic): Garvin Roberson, who played both football and basketball at Illinois in the early 70s, was found dead in his car last week in Indiana:

BRucks said:

Former Illini (off topic): Garvin Roberson, who played both football and basketball at Illinois in the early 70s, was found dead in his car last week in Indiana:

Garvin Roberson, brother of Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson, found dead inside submerged vehicle

The brother of Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson has been found dead. Michigan State Police located the 2022 Honda CRV that was being driven by Roberson at the time he went missing. The vehicle was found, submerged in water, in the area of Fawn River Road and White School Road near Sturgis. Roberson...

www.953mnc.com

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Lived right across the hall from him in Forbes Hall in 1970. Down-to-earth, fun-loving guy then and smooth athlete. RIP.

BRucks said:

Former Illini (off topic): Garvin Roberson, who played both football and basketball at Illinois in the early 70s, was found dead in his car last week in Indiana:

Garvin Roberson, brother of Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson, found dead inside submerged vehicle

The brother of Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson has been found dead. Michigan State Police located the 2022 Honda CRV that was being driven by Roberson at the time he went missing. The vehicle was found, submerged in water, in the area of Fawn River Road and White School Road near Sturgis. Roberson...

www.953mnc.com

Click to expand...

Great athlete and very nice guy…RIP

redwingillini11 said:

Based solely on what I've seen on TV:
Elite design/atmosphere
Indiana
Purdue

Impressive
Michigan State
Wisconsin
Maryland

Above average
Michigan
Iowa
Minnesota

Fine
Ohio State
Northwestern
Rutgers
Nebraska

Bad
Penn State

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The loudest basketball arena I been to is Assembly hall in 04 against Wake. 2nd loudest is Mackey but it seemed like a run down Assembly Hall(SFC).

I think Maryland has the best design arena for noise purposes. If it was packed and all their fans were into the game it would be loud. The noise you heard on tv was only from their student section. To Maryland credit they have 3 or 4 things throughout the game to amp up the fans. 1st time out in 2nd half they do their flag thing and then they blast music that gets their fans up on their feet and students jumping

Value City is big and O$U is not a basketball school and does not have a great atmosphere

Bryce Jordan sucks

jumpingjack said:

I actually want to go see the RAC because it is so weird and the atmosphere on TV is so flipping loud... The only downside is that I'd have to go to NJ.

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It’s a midmajor arena. Not a Big Ten arena. Gives them an advantage, obviously. They brag about selling out, but it only holds about 8,000.

Look up videos of Grand Canyon U atmosphere. Better than the RAC. They show up 2 hours before the game and go crazy.

combes said:

It’s a midmajor arena. Not a Big Ten arena. Gives them an advantage, obviously. They brag about selling out, but it only holds about 8,000.

Look up videos of Grand Canyon U atmosphere. Better than the RAC. They show up 2 hours before the game and go crazy.

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I went there when the Illini played there a few years back. Definitely an impressive atmosphere and fanbase.

As we saw against Maryland last week, this young team is going to need time to figure out how to win games on the road. And looking at our conference schedule, it really sets up nicely. Here are our road games through January.

@Northwestern
@Nebraska
@Minnesota
@Wisconsin

It doesn't get much easier than that. Of course, that means February is loaded with tough games. But the hope is this team figures out how to win on the road against these easier opponents, gains confidence, keeps gelling, and is ready for some big time upsets in February.

redwingillini11 said:

As it stands right now I’d probably put us around where I put MSU. The fan passion I don’t think anyone is much further ahead than us. But IU and Purdue’s arenas are just a bit more conducive to getting a top-notch home court advantage out of the crowd’s passion.

SFC is a nice place to watch a game, but the seats just aren’t on top of the court, and the student section around the court is very small compared to our rivals.

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I actually think our new setup feels about as "on top of the court" as most places. Breslin and Mackey just feel uniquely suffocating, IMO, and IU's fake Assembly Hall just adds a subconscious/mental "charm" due to its classic/weird/amphitheatre setup.

I'm a huge fan of stadiums/arenas having at least some unique or quirky attributes so they don't look like they were made on the Sims ... which is why I think Carver-Hawkeye and the Big House look exceptionally boring, and I will always have a soft spot for Memorial Stadium's four brick towers, even despite of my intense hatred of the Horseshoe. The best stadiums are unlike those anywhere else. So, I really liked how the renovation of SFC made it new and nice but kept it looking completely unique within college basketball. With that said, the one aspect that I used to like but do not any more is where the tunnel and media seats are located (left side of the picture below).



Like I said, normally I like the visual variety to not make it look like a clean (boring) bowl all the way around, but having that HUGE gap in the student section for the tunnel and then (weirdly) brown press seats with no fans behind it kind of dilutes any "orange out" feel we could ever have, especially when combined with the luxury suites. All in all, though, I really do love what they did with the place, and I have seen opposing fans comment in several places that we have a really cool and intimidating atmosphere, from the students behind the opposing bench all the way to our (apparently) dark and intimidating lighting.

On a last side note, the Illinois/Syracuse game drew the third highest rating for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. North Carolina/Indiana was #1, which is to be expected being the prime time matchup on the last night of the Challenge, also featuring one MASSIVE, nationwide fan base in UNC and another large, passionate one in Indiana. Duke/Ohio State was predictably second, being the prime time game right before that one.

Illinois/Syracuse was next by a long shot, with 821,000 viewers - way more than the next closest, Purdue/Florida State with 442,000 viewers. Also, I know it was kind of a weird game in London competing with World Cup and NFL games, but it's pretty crazy that Illinois/Syracuse on ESPN outdrew Kentucky/Michigan on ABC ...

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I actually think our new setup feels about as "on top of the court" as most places. Breslin and Mackey just feel uniquely suffocating, IMO, and IU's fake Assembly Hall just adds a subconscious/mental "charm" due to its classic/weird/amphitheatre setup.

I'm a huge fan of stadiums/arenas having at least some unique or quirky attributes so they don't look like they were made on the Sims ... which is why I think Carver-Hawkeye and the Big House look exceptionally boring, and I will always have a soft spot for Memorial Stadium's four brick towers, even despite of my intense hatred of the Horseshoe. The best stadiums are unlike those anywhere else. So, I really liked how the renovation of SFC made it new and nice but kept it looking completely unique within college basketball. With that said, the one aspect that I used to like but do not any more is where the tunnel and media seats are located (left side of the picture below).

Like I said, normally I like the visual variety to not make it look like a clean (boring) bowl all the way around, but having that HUGE gap in the student section for the tunnel and then (weirdly) brown press seats with no fans behind it kind of dilutes any "orange out" feel we could ever have, especially when combined with the luxury suites. All in all, though, I really do love what they did with the place, and I have seen opposing fans comment in several places that we have a really cool and intimidating atmosphere, from the students behind the opposing bench all the way to our (apparently) dark and intimidating lighting.

On a last side note, the Illinois/Syracuse game drew the third highest rating for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. North Carolina/Indiana was #1, which is to be expected being the prime time matchup on the last night of the Challenge, also featuring one MASSIVE, nationwide fan base in UNC and another large, passionate one in Indiana. Duke/Ohio State was predictably second, being the prime time game right before that one.

Illinois/Syracuse was next by a long shot, with 821,000 viewers - way more than the next closest, Purdue/Florida State with 442,000 viewers. Also, I know it was kind of a weird game in London competing with World Cup and NFL games, but it's pretty crazy that Illinois/Syracuse on ESPN outdrew Kentucky/Michigan on ABC ...

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My only nits to pick here:

The baseline tunnel isn't actually in the student section. That's typically where recruits and their families sit or where Michael Jordan sits when he feels like catching an Illinois game. It absolutely should be student seating though.

The seats are fairly close to the court on three sides. The side that's not close to the court? The sideline where the Krush sit. You can see from the angle below that they're like between 5-20 feet away from the hardwood. Wish they'd fill that area with standing room only student seating.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

I actually think our new setup feels about as "on top of the court" as most places. Breslin and Mackey just feel uniquely suffocating, IMO, and IU's fake Assembly Hall just adds a subconscious/mental "charm" due to its classic/weird/amphitheatre setup.

I'm a huge fan of stadiums/arenas having at least some unique or quirky attributes so they don't look like they were made on the Sims ... which is why I think Carver-Hawkeye and the Big House look exceptionally boring, and I will always have a soft spot for Memorial Stadium's four brick towers, even despite of my intense hatred of the Horseshoe. The best stadiums are unlike those anywhere else. So, I really liked how the renovation of SFC made it new and nice but kept it looking completely unique within college basketball. With that said, the one aspect that I used to like but do not any more is where the tunnel and media seats are located (left side of the picture below).

Like I said, normally I like the visual variety to not make it look like a clean (boring) bowl all the way around, but having that HUGE gap in the student section for the tunnel and then (weirdly) brown press seats with no fans behind it kind of dilutes any "orange out" feel we could ever have, especially when combined with the luxury suites. All in all, though, I really do love what they did with the place, and I have seen opposing fans comment in several places that we have a really cool and intimidating atmosphere, from the students behind the opposing bench all the way to our (apparently) dark and intimidating lighting.

On a last side note, the Illinois/Syracuse game drew the third highest rating for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. North Carolina/Indiana was #1, which is to be expected being the prime time matchup on the last night of the Challenge, also featuring one MASSIVE, nationwide fan base in UNC and another large, passionate one in Indiana. Duke/Ohio State was predictably second, being the prime time game right before that one.

Illinois/Syracuse was next by a long shot, with 821,000 viewers - way more than the next closest, Purdue/Florida State with 442,000 viewers. Also, I know it was kind of a weird game in London competing with World Cup and NFL games, but it's pretty crazy that Illinois/Syracuse on ESPN outdrew Kentucky/Michigan on ABC ...

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All valid points. I guess when I said that seats aren't on top of the court, I was talking about the upper level seats. Last game I was there I was in the second to last row, and I felt like I was in another state. I guess that is just a limitation of the design of our beloved spaceship. The renovations did a good job bringing the fans in the lower sections closer to the court, as best as you could.

One final thing I'd bemoan about the current setup for the seating is that I feel there is a stark divide between the most preferred and general seating. Pre-renovation we had the A-section, B-section, and C-section. I always found myself getting B-section tickets, as I found them to be a nice, "middle-class" ticket where the view of the court was still pretty good without breaking the bank. But with the current setup, all of these suites and club levels have taken away that middle area of the bowl. If you aren't a student, you are either pushed to the very top of the bowl or you have to spend out the wazoo for a club seat with minor (IMO) ammenities. I know that is not a unique Illinois criticism, and it happens everywhere these days. Still, it makes me a little frustrated and even bitter every time I want to buy tickets to come down to a game.

jrichisamazing said:

As we saw against Maryland last week, this young team is going to need time to figure out how to win games on the road. And looking at our conference schedule, it really sets up nicely. Here are our road games through January.

@Northwestern
@Nebraska
@Minnesota
@Wisconsin

It doesn't get much easier than that. Of course, that means February is loaded with tough games. But the hope is this team figures out how to win on the road against these easier opponents, gains confidence, keeps gelling, and is ready for some big time upsets in February.

Click to expand...

EASY !?!?!
They could lose all those games. Have you watched these teams.
Illini have to bring it every night! Defending champs that teams love to beat...

jrichisamazing said:

As we saw against Maryland last week, this young team is going to need time to figure out how to win games on the road. And looking at our conference schedule, it really sets up nicely. Here are our road games through January.

@Northwestern
@Nebraska
@Minnesota
@Wisconsin

It doesn't get much easier than that. Of course, that means February is loaded with tough games. But the hope is this team figures out how to win on the road against these easier opponents, gains confidence, keeps gelling, and is ready for some big time upsets in February.

Click to expand...

Curse of the Chief said:

EASY !?!?!
They could lose all those games. Have you watched these teams.
Illini have to bring it every night! Defending champs that teams love to beat...

Click to expand...

Easy only in relative term. The Fed-Mar road games are:

@Iowa
@Penn State
@Indiana
@Ohio State
@Purdue

Yeah. I rather play the Dec-Jan road games first and I am happy we don't need to play at Rutgers.

Curse of the Chief said:

EASY !?!?!
They could lose all those games. Have you watched these teams.
Illini have to bring it every night! Defending champs that teams love to beat...

Click to expand...

Name checks out...

Let's show up tonight for Illinois basketball! The women should be ranked here really soon, let's help them out.

Interesting tidbit from Kenpom.
ILL adjusted offensive efficiency: 28
ILL adjusted defensive efficiency: 12
Indiana adjusted offensive efficiency: 27
Indiana adjusted defensive efficiency: 11
That's about as close as you can get

theNewGuy said:

Interesting tidbit from Kenpom.
ILL adjusted offensive efficiency: 28
ILL adjusted defensive efficiency: 12
Indiana adjusted offensive efficiency: 27
Indiana adjusted defensive efficiency: 11
That's about as close as you can get

Click to expand...

We are battle tested... They aren't

Just a little fun Illini basketball history here ... since the 1980 season, we have beaten 44 teams that were ranked in the top 10. A little breakdown by decade:

1980s: 12
1990s: 6
2000s: 9
2010s: 7
2020s: 10 in 3.5 seasons instead of 10

And by location:

Home: 21
Away: 10
Neutral: 13 (38% are either are United Center games and Braggin' Rights ... never drop Braggin' Rights, and BRING BACK THE UC GAME!)

And by coach:

Underwood: 11 (2 per year...!!!)
Groce: 3 (.6 per year, 100% in 2013)
Weber: 8 (1 per year, 60% in 2005)
Self: 3 (1 per year)
Kruger: 2 (.5 per year)
Henson: 17 (.8 per year, 30% in 1989)

And now a few fun Brad Underwood Beast Mode facts:
- Of the 26 top 10 victories since 2000, Brad Underwood has 11 of them. That's 42% of the wins in 26% of the seasons, and his first three were a MASSIVE rebuilding job.
- Brad has a full 40% of all of our road wins since 1980. Again, in a 33-year time span, Underwood's 5.5 years account for 4 of the 10 road victories vs. top 10 opponents.
- Underwood has now beaten a top 10 team in 5 straight seasons at Illinois. The program record is Henson's 7 straight from 1985 to 1991. I think Brad can beat this. .

WE GOT A GOOD ONE, FOLKS!

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Just a little fun Illini basketball history here ... since the 1980 season, we have beaten 44 teams that were ranked in the top 10. A little breakdown by decade:

1980s: 12
1990s: 6
2000s: 9
2010s: 7
2020s: 10 in 3.5 seasons instead of 10

And by location:

Home: 21
Away: 10
Neutral: 13 (38% are either are United Center games and Braggin' Rights ... never drop Braggin' Rights, and BRING BACK THE UC GAME!)

And by coach:

Underwood: 11 (2 per year...!!!)
Groce: 3 (.6 per year, 100% in 2013)
Weber: 8 (1 per year, 60% in 2005)
Self: 3 (1 per year)
Kruger: 2 (.5 per year)
Henson: 17 (.8 per year, 30% in 1989)

And now a few fun Brad Underwood Beast Mode facts:
- Of the 26 top 10 victories since 2000, Brad Underwood has 11 of them. That's 42% of the wins in 26% of the seasons, and his first three were a MASSIVE rebuilding job.
- Brad has a full 40% of all of our road wins since 1980. Again, in a 33-year time span, Underwood's 5.5 years account for 4 of the 10 road victories vs. top 10 opponents.
- Underwood has now beaten a top 10 team in 5 straight seasons at Illinois. The program record is Henson's 7 straight from 1985 to 1991. I think Brad can beat this. .

WE GOT A GOOD ONE, FOLKS!

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Great analysis. Seriously, Josh, just give him the lifetime contract already.

up to 7th-best odds to win the ‘ship.. we were +4000 to start the season

here is how the remaining Illinois games are shaping out, categorized by difficulty level at this moment, using the % win which is calculated based on every team's ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI) (many of these numbers are inevitably going to be radically different by the time the games are actually played, these are just what they look like today 12/7)

Underdogs (4)
@ Iowa 2/4 (40.5 % to 59.5 %), @ Indiana 2/19 (21.0 % to 79.0 %), @ Ohio State 2/26 (31.7 % to 68.3 %), @ Purdue 3/5 (32.2 % to 67.7 %)

Tossups (3)
vs. Indiana 1/19 (53.6 % to 46.4 %), @ Wisconsin 1/28 (50.8 % to 49.2 %), @ Penn State 2/14 (53.2 % to 46.8%)

Favorites (7)
neutral Missouri 12/22 (71.7 % to 28.3 %), @ Northwestern 1/4 (60.0 % to 40.0 %), vs. Wisconsin 1/7 (77.6 % to 22.4 %), @ Nebraska 1/16 (62.8 % to 37.2 %), @ Minnesota 1/16 (75.3 % to 24.7%), vs. Ohio State 1/24 (60.8 % to 39.2 %) , vs. Rutgers 2/11 (73.2 % to 26.8 %)

Heavy Favorites (8)
vs. Penn State 12/10 (81.3 % to 18.7 %), vs. Alabama A&M 12/17 (98.7 % to 1.3 %) , vs. Bethune-Cookman 12/29 (2.3 % to 97.7 %), vs. Michigan State 1/13 (88.7 % to 11.3 %). vs. Nebraska 1/31 (86.2 % to 13.8 %), vs. Minnesota 2/7 (91.7 % to 8.3 %), vs. Northwestern 2/23 (83.5 % to 16.5 %), vs. Michigan 3/2 (86.6 % to 13.4 %)

hooraybeer said:

View attachment 21988

up to 7th-best odds to win the ‘ship.. we were +4000 to start the season

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I put my bet down on us at +4400 IIRC, and that was before Kofi announced.
If we win, I'm spending the bulk of it on FF 2024 tickets

One Man Fast Break said:

here is how the remaining Illinois games are shaping out, categorized by difficulty level at this moment, using the % win which is calculated based on every team's ESPN Basketball Power Index (BPI) (many of these numbers are inevitably going to be radically different by the time the games are actually played, these are just what they look like today 12/7)

Underdogs (4)
@ Iowa 2/4 (40.5 % to 59.5 %), @ Indiana 2/19 (21.0 % to 79.0 %), @ Ohio State 2/26 (31.7 % to 68.3 %), @ Purdue 3/5 (32.2 % to 67.7 %)

Tossups (3)
vs. Indiana 1/19 (53.6 % to 46.4 %), @ Wisconsin 1/28 (50.8 % to 49.2 %), @ Penn State 2/14 (53.2 % to 46.8%)

Favorites (7)
neutral Missouri 12/22 (71.7 % to 28.3 %), @ Northwestern 1/4 (60.0 % to 40.0 %), vs. Wisconsin 1/7 (77.6 % to 22.4 %), @ Nebraska 1/16 (62.8 % to 37.2 %), @ Minnesota 1/16 (75.3 % to 24.7%), vs. Ohio State 1/24 (60.8 % to 39.2 %) , vs. Rutgers 2/11 (73.2 % to 26.8 %)

Heavy Favorites (8)
vs. Penn State 12/10 (81.3 % to 18.7 %), vs. Alabama A&M 12/17 (98.7 % to 1.3 %) , vs. Bethune-Cookman 12/29 (2.3 % to 97.7 %), vs. Michigan State 1/13 (88.7 % to 11.3 %). vs. Nebraska 1/31 (86.2 % to 13.8 %), vs. Minnesota 2/7 (91.7 % to 8.3 %), vs. Northwestern 2/23 (83.5 % to 16.5 %), vs. Michigan 3/2 (86.6 % to 13.4 %)

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Underdogs at Iowa?? Boooo no way booo!

jumpingjack said:

I put my bet down on us at +4400 IIRC, and that was before Kofi announced.
If we win, I'm spending the bulk of it on FF 2024 tickets

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if we make the FF this year, cash out after E8 and go this year

Gary Parrish has us #5 in the country after last night