Kind of move you make when you have a NBA Lottery Pick coming over from Spain to showcase.
Illini Basketball
I wish we would just do home and homes with Mizzou tbh.
We should just tell ‘em we’re gonna play at our place from now on; or it’s off. No one wants to be in Misery.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
We were just in St. Louis for our anniversary. We went to a Cards game since my husband grew up a fan, and I was amazed by what a great sports city it is. I expected the Cards to be the only draw, but Cards fans were about equal to Battlehawks fans as we were walking to Busch.
I've always wanted to go to Braggin' Rights because the atmosphere looks electric. I can't imagine taking that away and making one of the greatest non-con basketball rivalries dull by risking poor turnout or a lackluster crowd (looking at you, Miznoz).
Heard rumor while back that Illinois may play in the Emerald Coast classic, any truth (Destin, Florida) to that? Beleive it is a Thanksgiving tourney
Nobody wants to go to Columbia over St Louis
Mizzou has been in the dumps but used to be a pretty electric home court.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
And the same could be said for Assembly Hall/SFC.
Moving it to a home and home means you risk the atmosphere falling flat. When you bring everyone to STL like we do now, it feels like everyone gets up for it. Why destroy that?
Just curious, Pepe - have you been to a Braggin Rights game in St Louis? I have been to over 25, and it is a truly special event.
No I haven't but in general I'm just partial to true home and road games.
Would love to play Duke in Cameron and bring them to Champaign. Would also love to the Illini play at Allen, Dean Smith, and Rupp. Those types of games against good programs tend turn good teams into great teams when they learn how win while facing adversity.
On a side note would also love to an Illinois home and home with Zone(Mchale), ISU(Hilton) and my dream all though far fetched is to see them play at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I’ve only been to two (2021 and 2023) blowouts, and it was STILL one of the coolest sporting events I’ve ever been to … I cannot even imagine how cool it is when both teams are great at the same time. I’m sorry, but EVER moving this (specific) rivalry from St. Louis would be a heart breakingly awful decision!!!!!
The Braggin' rights game has been an amazing rivalry game through the years. I moved to St. Louis right after college, and they started playing these games almost the same time. I went to at least 20 of them, some were better than others but most of them have been exciting games. I would expect that with the advent of NIL, the games will get competitive again. The best one I ever saw in person was the 88-89 team, when Kenny Battle took over the game and brought us back from a huge defiict at halftime. The worst one I remember was 2022-23, luckily I was only watching at home, and I gave up at halftime. Last year, we kind of had our revenge....And TJ and Marcus dominated that game. The other really memorable games involved freshman Kiwane Garris (great FT shooter who missed Free throws), Tracy Abrams made free throw with seconds left, and Rayvonte Rice's buzzer beater.
illiniswish09
- Northwest Suburbs
The return to the UC…. LFGGGGGGGGG
Birmingham this year. UC next year. We spoke it into existence
Edit: got beat by what felt like a millisecond
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
Here ya go, @Fighter of the Nightman! Finally! Thanks for your persistent and consistent advocacy in getting the Illini back to the United Center!!!
-L-Lfoby
- Bonnaroo Land
Here ya go, @Fighter of the Nightman! Finally! Thanks for your persistent and consistent advocacy in getting the Illini back to the United Center!!!
sacraig
- The desert
And with an opponent that could actually drive a good turnout instead of freakin' UIC.
Illinicpa14
- Chicago
4 mega games + Emerald? + Gavitt games?
Let’s hope we’re ready
Let’s hope we’re ready
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
With the quad system, where quad 1 losses don’t hurt you, but quad 1 wins help you, there’s no reason not to stack your non-con.
I hope Brad has these guys ready. There are going to be a ton of new faces with an unpredictable timeframe of how quickly they can mesh to be taking on this type of schedule this early. Honestly, we're not going to know what we truly have from an overall talent standpoint until a couple of weeks into the season and that'll be REALLY expedited with the heavyweights he's looking to get into the ring with. Should be interesting.
hell yeah. one side of my family is almost all 'bama grads and birmingham is an underrated town. may need to go down next year.
Brad ain't messing around... Adding Duke and Bama says we aren't scared of anybody!
Dan
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Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Here ya go, @Fighter of the Nightman! Finally! Thanks for your persistent and consistent advocacy in getting the Illini back to the United Center!!!
And this is the exact type of setup I love! While Alabama is a big name opponent that will excite OUR fans, they won't bring many of their own. It will be a packed house of orange clad fans that will make it feel like Champaign!