Illinois 73, Syracuse 44 Postgame

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#301      
Back in the day, my HS had the #1 ranked team in Illinois. The starting 5 had 3 that were 6'6", one and inch taller, and a 5'1" PG. The big guys all went to Power 5 schools while the PG went Div. 2 where he was an all-time leader for his school. They were pretty good defensively and used a 1-3-1 half court trapping defense from time to time. An opposing coach once described playing against it as trying to throw the ball through a tree. All the guys in the 3 across the middle were pretty athletic and long. Teams got off a shot just over 50% of the time. They rebounded effectively from it and one of the teams that lead them at half by 5 shot 75% from the field in the second half...and lost....as they did not get a rebound....not one on either end.

I bring this up only because this Illini team has the ability to use such a weapon when needed with the same kind of result. The dedication to switching man is a huge weapon and if trapping from it then it ts pretty similar, but if this team had that zone trap in the arsenal to spring on a team in a close game late, it could be game-changing.

But then BU has his reasons for what he does and I am a supporter as much as any.
a 5'1" point guard?? All-time leader in what--dribbling through the opponents legs? Dunks??
 
#303      
My recollection is that their stores were doing so well they decided to buy a hot air balloon. Their accountant suggested they make it an advertising vehicle so they could write it off as a business expense. They went from being “ the Tomato Brothers” to “ The Flying Tomato Brothers”.
Don’t know how the pizza evolved, but in early/mid ‘70’s it was excellent.
 
#304      
Back in the day, my HS had the #1 ranked team in Illinois. The starting 5 had 3 that were 6'6", one and inch taller, and a 5'1" PG. The big guys all went to Power 5 schools while the PG went Div. 2 where he was an all-time leader for his school. They were pretty good defensively and used a 1-3-1 half court trapping defense from time to time. An opposing coach once described playing against it as trying to throw the ball through a tree. All the guys in the 3 across the middle were pretty athletic and long. Teams got off a shot just over 50% of the time. They rebounded effectively from it and one of the teams that lead them at half by 5 shot 75% from the field in the second half...and lost....as they did not get a rebound....not one on either end.

I bring this up only because this Illini team has the ability to use such a weapon when needed with the same kind of result. The dedication to switching man is a huge weapon and if trapping from it then it ts pretty similar, but if this team had that zone trap in the arsenal to spring on a team in a close game late, it could be game-changing.

But then BU has his reasons for what he does and I am a supporter as much as any.
Where were you from?
 
#305      

Ransom Stoddard

Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
My recollection is that their stores were doing so well they decided to buy a hot air balloon. Their accountant suggested they make it an advertising vehicle so they could write it off as a business expense. They went from being “ the Tomato Brothers” to “ The Flying Tomato Brothers”.
Don’t know how the pizza evolved, but in early/mid ‘70’s it was excellent.
I was on campus 84-88 and still around C-U frequently until 92-ish. Garcia's started expanding to other towns during this time and continued into the 90's. I think getting that "large" caused a lot of consistency and quality control issues, and--at least in my perception--their pan pizza got pretty mediocre everywhere, with the Wright Street location remaining pretty good for slices and Green Street still being kind of a flagship. Having family in Bloomington/Normal, I ate at the ISU location more than a few times and it was definitely not of the same standard as Wright Street or Green Street in Champaign.

They're now down to just the Mattis location and a licensed store in Decatur.
 
#306      
I lived on gut-buster slices in the early to mid 70s when I was taking classes. Last time I ate at Garcias when it was any good was in the 80s when they had the big atrium location on Green St. It was getting run down and the plants were not being taken care of when it closed. I have only eaten at the Mattis location once and it wasn't very good. Toppings were more sparse and the slice was undercooked. I always felt this was one of their problems. Think the doughy crust masked the fact that there was not all that much cheese on their slices. The dough and cheese are almost the same consistency. It was always better when you ordered a whole pie, got extra cheese, and had them bake it well-done. The flying tomato was seen in the skies here well into the 2000s. Can't say I have seen it now in several years.
 
#307      

CAIllini

West Coast
Bay Area here! Zachary's is good. Paxti's is a chain, and it definitely depends on the location you go to SF Hayes valley one is pretty good.

Not South bay but Best option by far IMO is Capo's in North Beach. It's Tony Gemignani's(7x world pizza champion also owns Tony's and Slice House which are both very good) Chicago pizza Restaurant. Highly recommend.

Little Star is also good more of a Pizzaria Uno's style cornmeal crust.

My recollection of Garcias was that by '85, the pizza was lots of cheap cheese over a sweet/salty sauce. Whether you liked it or not depended on your view of heavy sugar and salt in the sauce. (Ugh IMO.)

For those in the SF bay area, the closest I have found are:
- Zachary's in Oakland/Berkeley is really good; they give Delz a run for best pizza.
- Blue Line w/~9 locations from Daly City to Los Gatos; a bit sweet, pricey for what you get
- Paxti's in Palo Alto; extremely sweet. I don't enjoy it; others really like it.

If you know of others in the south bay, please direct message me. (How I wish Zachary's would open a south bay branch.)

Now back to our regularly scheduled basketball discussion.
Agree about Zachary's - great deep dish pizza

Mmmm...my Bay Area pizza folks! Sounds like we need a game watch party setup soon aligned with some Chicago style!

I've tried most of the above and my vote goes to Zachary's (note there is one in Danville slightly closer that we always hit on the way back from the mountains). Blue-Line/LittleStar (same owners - I go to the one in downtown Campbell) #2, then Paxti's #3 (also has a spot in Campbell/WillowGlen at the Pruneyard).

I'll definitely add Tony Gemignai's to my ToDo list....
 
#308      
Mmmm...my Bay Area pizza folks! Sounds like we need a game watch party setup soon aligned with some Chicago style!

I've tried most of the above and my vote goes to Zachary's (note there is one in Danville slightly closer that we always hit on the way back from the mountains). Blue-Line/LittleStar (same owners - I go to the one in downtown Campbell) #2, then Paxti's #3 (also has a spot in Campbell/WillowGlen at the Pruneyard).

I'll definitely add Tony Gemignai's to my ToDo list....
Absolutely I'm in SF near Zeitgeist(soma/hayes/mission) ! Yes, you'll definitely want to get Capo's on your to-do list. They do great tavern square cut along with great deep dish. They also got legit giardiniera (my go-to thin topping) and a solid Italian beef.
 
#310      
Absolutely I'm in SF near Zeitgeist(soma/hayes/mission) ! Yes, you'll definitely want to get Capo's on your to-do list. They do great tavern square cut along with great deep dish. They also got legit giardiniera (my go-to thin topping) and a solid Italian beef.

I once got giardiniera from drinking out of a creek that ran out a lot of beaver ponds. I could drink a V8 and it would come out the other end looking the same about 20 minutes later.
 
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