Started going to Braggin Rights game in 1988 and have only missed maybe 5 or 6 since that time.....always tried to meet up with buddies a few hours prior to tip-off at one of the local establishments for pre-game drinks....Maggie O'Briens by Union Station use to run a shuttle to the game and back....we once got on the crowded shuttle (pretty evenly split Mizzo and Illini fans) to go to the game....some guy in Illini gear stands at the front of the shuttle and begins leading Illini fans in cheers and Illinois fight song...not to be out done...this older gentleman, in Mizzo fan gear (I'm guessing in his 70's) stands and leads the Mizzo fans in a couple of spirited rousing cheers...all done in good taste and without taunting....this went on until the poor shuttle driver got us to the drop off point...during the 80's and 90's it was as close to Final Four experience as you could get....my favorite game of the year!!OT, but I was reminded of this when referencing my Braggin' Rights experience. I always used to hear semi-legendary stories about how rowdy this event would get back in the days where you couldn't buy beer in college arenas, so an event like Braggin' Rights or our United Center game were the only opportunities to drink a beer and watch the Illini in person. I figured with beer now widely available at college arenas (including SFC) this would have normalized a bit ... no way, lol. I say this as a good/fun thing, but I have never seen such a drunk group of adults on both sides as at Braggin' Rights, haha. Combined with the split crowd, fans dressed in Santa/Christmas attire and the overall pre-Christmas theme of the rivalry, it really is an atmosphere that you cannot describe to someone who has never been. My wife was beside herself laughing at the number of absolutely hammered (but functional!) people around us and how much fun everyone was having.
I highly, highly, highly recommend that every Illini fan gets to this event at least once. I literally cannot imagine how epic the atmosphere was during some of these years where both teams were ranked and the game went down to the final minute.
Illinois #16 in 12/11 AP Poll
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Illini_1979
- Oregon
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
High: #10
John Rothstein (CBS) ... interesting that he was actually at our game in Knoxville!
Low: NR
David Jablonski (Dayton Daily News) ... has FAU at #14.
Luke DeCock (Raleigh News & Observer) ... FAU at #17 and Tennessee at #13.
Being an AP voter seems to involve very little critique of your top 25. To watch us beat FAU and keep them at #14 (i.e., you think they are very good) and leave us as not ranked is bordering on negligence, lmao.
P.S. I must admit that I had traditionally thought of Rothstein as someone who was an "Illini hater," all things being equal. A good reminder that most sports writers don't have it out for us, haha ... the two who didn't rank us are probably just oblivious.
Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
Those 2 guys are 2 reasons I don't want to care about the AP poll.
Notice Rothstein since Brad has been hereā¦..very pro illini. Jon and Brads agent are good buddiesHigh: #10
John Rothstein (CBS) ... interesting that he was actually at our game in Knoxville!
Low: NR
David Jablonski (Dayton Daily News) ... has FAU at #14.
Luke DeCock (Raleigh News & Observer) ... FAU at #17 and Tennessee at #13.
Being an AP voter seems to involve very little critique of your top 25. To watch us beat FAU and keep them at #14 (i.e., you think they are very good) and leave us as not ranked is bordering on negligence, lmao.
P.S. I must admit that I had traditionally thought of Rothstein as someone who was an "Illini hater," all things being equal. A good reminder that most sports writers don't have it out for us, haha ... the two who didn't rank us are probably just oblivious.
Is Bryant the name of some guy? āCause if thatās a school, I never heard of it. Probably bad to lose to āBryantā either way.
Google it
Bryant is a team that recently stepped up from D2. Think they won a D2 national title or made the title game in early 2000s.
Bryant is a perennial powerhouse in college bass fishing. No joke. I know this because my son went to college on a bass fishing scholarship to another college fishing powerhouseā¦ McKendree University, from IL and which has two national championships of its own in bass fishing.
We're they ill tempered sea bass?
Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
did they ever get a hook and hold technical like Ty Rodgers did against Tn................I'll see myself out exit stage left.....
I really really will...
theNewGuy
- Dallas, TX
Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball at College Poll Tracker
collegepolltracker.com
And this
Thatās a great website; I love how you can see the biases of each of the voters. It shows Jablonski has a bias against the Illini, and has underranked them by an average of 4 spots over the last 42 ballots.Check this outIllinois Fighting Illini Basketball at College Poll Tracker
And this
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
So weird, too, because he is from Dayton. The type of person I would think would consistently "hate" on the Illini would either (A) be very uniformed of Midwest sports because he/she is in a coastal market or (B) have a vested reason to dislike Illinois because he/she is, say, an Mizzou or Iowa or Indiana grad or something. Neither applies here.
Anyway, these are the teams above us that play this week that we could potentially jump if we beat Colgate:
Tuesday 12/12
Georgia Southern at #12 Tennessee ... not gonna happen, and I don't want it to!
Wednesday 12/13
FIU at #15 FAU ... see comment about Tennessee!
#8 Creighton at UNLV ... I think I am becoming a Creighton hater, lol.
Thursday 12/14
St. Thomas (MN) at #7 Marquette ... again, I want our wins/losses to keep winning, so I can live without this upset.
Friday 12/15
#5 UConn vs. #10 Gonzaga (Seattle, WA) ... would be interesting if a decisive win by UConn would drop the Zags much?
Saturday 12/16
#2 Kansas at Indiana ... I don't know if I can root for the Loosiers, but I'll chalk this one up as a win-win.
#6 Baylor vs. Michigan State (Detroit, MI) ... definitely rooting for Sparty, but they look fully broken.
Texas A&M at #4 Houston ... no-brainer, go Aggies!
#13 Clemson at Memphis ... also kind of becoming a Clemson hater, absolutely no way they should be above us. Go Memphis!
#1 Arizona vs. #3 Purdue (Indianapolis, IN) ... we won't pass either one, but it would be a huge win for the Big Ten.
#9 North Carolina vs. #14 Kentucky (Atlanta, GA) ... We should already be ahead of UK, so I will root for UNC here.
Alabama at #8 Creighton ... 2 losses by Creighton this week?? Unlikely, but we'd definitely pass them if that comes to pass.
Green Bay at #11 Oklahoma ... lol.
NC State vs. #12 Tennessee (San Antonio, TX) ... again, go Vols until we meet again!
Great day of hoops Saturday.
According to his Dayton Daily News Bio, Jablonski is an Ohio U grad. Maybe he's a John Groce fan...So weird, too, because he is from Dayton. The type of person I would think would consistently "hate" on the Illini would either (A) be very uniformed of Midwest sports because he/she is in a coastal market or (B) have a vested reason to dislike Illinois because he/she is, say, an Mizzou or Iowa or Indiana grad or something. Neither applies here.
Anyway, these are the teams above us that play this week that we could potentially jump if we beat Colgate:
Tuesday 12/12
Georgia Southern at #12 Tennessee ... not gonna happen, and I don't want it to!
Wednesday 12/13
FIU at #15 FAU ... see comment about Tennessee!
#8 Creighton at UNLV ... I think I am becoming a Creighton hater, lol.
Thursday 12/14
St. Thomas (MN) at #7 Marquette ... again, I want our wins/losses to keep winning, so I can live without this upset.
Friday 12/15
#5 UConn vs. #10 Gonzaga (Seattle, WA) ... would be interesting if a decisive win by UConn would drop the Zags much?
Saturday 12/16
#2 Kansas at Indiana ... I don't know if I can root for the Loosiers, but I'll chalk this one up as a win-win.
#6 Baylor vs. Michigan State (Detroit, MI) ... definitely rooting for Sparty, but they look fully broken.
Texas A&M at #4 Houston ... no-brainer, go Aggies!
#13 Clemson at Memphis ... also kind of becoming a Clemson hater, absolutely no way they should be above us. Go Memphis!
#1 Arizona vs. #3 Purdue (Indianapolis, IN) ... we won't pass either one, but it would be a huge win for the Big Ten.
#9 North Carolina vs. #14 Kentucky (Atlanta, GA) ... We should already be ahead of UK, so I will root for UNC here.
Alabama at #8 Creighton ... 2 losses by Creighton this week?? Unlikely, but we'd definitely pass them if that comes to pass.
Green Bay at #11 Oklahoma ... lol.
NC State vs. #12 Tennessee (San Antonio, TX) ... again, go Vols until we meet again!
Great day of hoops Saturday.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
IDKWDJI
I think we should be at 15 and FAU should be at 16, but I'll take it. Just more motivation for the guys to keep the beatdowns coming. The AP is always full of WTF are they thinking rankings. Just keep winning.
He's one of the AP voters that didn't have Illinois in the top 25.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Maybe a buddy of Groce. I call for an AP investigation into this........... Sorry, my conspiracist side kicked in.
Looking ahead, no one in the 17-25 range plays anyone of note that would make realistically have them jump us. Donāt see much movement in that range this week unless thereās an upsetā¦ there is opportunity for teams in front of us to get picked off though..
#5 Uconn plays #10 Gonzaga
Texas A&M plays #4 Houston
#13 Clemson plays Memphis
#15 FAU plays St. Bonnies
#3 Purdue plays #1 Zona
#9 North Carolina plays # 14 Kentucky
#12 Tennessee plays NC State
Highlighted I think is who we want to pull forā¦
#5 Uconn plays #10 Gonzaga
Texas A&M plays #4 Houston
#13 Clemson plays Memphis
#15 FAU plays St. Bonnies
#3 Purdue plays #1 Zona
#9 North Carolina plays # 14 Kentucky
#12 Tennessee plays NC State
Highlighted I think is who we want to pull forā¦
sacraig
- The desert
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
lol...............i know that bro..................using the Deron Williams curse on him.....................
Iāve said before, journalists are pack animals. Theyāre all looking over each otherās shoulders and trying not to get hung out for being wrong.
From that standpoint, ranking Illinois low is safer. Rank them too high and they donāt live up to it, well, suckerā¦
But if you rank them too low, well, you were being prudent. After all, Illinois came into the season unranked. It would be foolhardy to move them up too fast, etc. etc.
CYA.
From that standpoint, ranking Illinois low is safer. Rank them too high and they donāt live up to it, well, suckerā¦
But if you rank them too low, well, you were being prudent. After all, Illinois came into the season unranked. It would be foolhardy to move them up too fast, etc. etc.
CYA.
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