Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Guessing AI wrote the Illinois blurb in the B1G bracket reveal article. Everything about it is wrong.
Illinois 78, Maryland 72 Postgame
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Guessing AI wrote the Illinois blurb in the B1G bracket reveal article. Everything about it is wrong.
Even if T and Z aren't making shots, having seven footers that can space the floor (even if not making 35+%) and have other skills (T = passing, Z = shot blocking) is a luxury most teams do not have. I would re-up T and Z for the same TOTAL amount next year, but split 50/50. I assume this year T makes more than Z. I would think the brothers would want to play together for one more year, and I don't see another team shelling out big $$ for both.
For Andrej, he gets an offer to come back at 2/3 or so what he's making this year. He gets to decide if he wants development and a chance to win, or the highest pay day.
For Andrej, he gets an offer to come back at 2/3 or so what he's making this year. He gets to decide if he wants development and a chance to win, or the highest pay day.
8-2 on the road in conference this year. Not too shabby
For sure, but 0-3 in OT, especially recently, is going to create that narrative like it or not. This one was close, but they overcame being on the road and guys not healthly. MD is playing better than their rating lately too. The goal of the triple buy was at stake and they achieved it. Worst case, they get a good loss going into seeding.
Close games aren't just limited to overtime games... if we're only looking at overtime games then we're missing a ton of necessary context
IANAMMDD* but I can't imagine that the big donors don't fully understand that rosters are going to have hits and misses and look at the season as a whole, including the unforeseen stuff like injuries. 15-5 in this league is impressive, and the 12 game win streak was awesome. Did all the pieces overperform their NIL? No. Did enough that we're having a top-10 kind of season. Yes, at least so far.
*I am not a multi-million dollar donor.
Think the question was honestly extremely fair … Found a way to close the game out yesterday, how can this team do that going forward ??
We choked at UCLA … Choked against Wisconsin at home … Choked at Michigan State … Couldn’t finish off Nebraska at home in the first game … Bama earlier in the year, close game and couldn’t get it done …
Purdue, Iowa, Texas Tech … Closed those games …
But to say it’s an unfair question ?? Or it’s a bull crap question ?? You don’t get to say that when in games that are close and should be close … Your record is 3-5 …
Yesterday’s game … Shouldn’t have even been close …
Brad is 8-9 in Overtime games in his career here … 6-11 against teams in the Top 10 since 2021 … 1-5 against teams seeded in the top half of the Big Dance …
That makes every question about closing out close games … Valid …
I'm ok with complaints about production. The high end donors are fans after all, not too dissimilar to us and we talk player production or lack thereof all the time. They might even desire seeing a player get more tick or less tick, which again, is a fairly normal fandom thing. It's only when it crosses the line into holding the team hostage like "if you don't play this player 25mpg and bench this guy, I'm no longer donating" type of garbage or harassing players that I have an issue with.
I'm no big donor but this past season alone, I wanted to see better game performance out of Mihailo and see more overall tick for Z. And last year I was not happy we weren't playing Morez more. Hard for me to take any fault in a major donor having similar feelings. And in fairness, if I was a major donor during the Skyy, Mayer, and Epps year, I probably would've lost my mind, haha.
Donors understand misses … They also understand huge hits like Wagler and Mirk …
They don’t understand spending more than #21 on Michigan was going to make by a significant amount of $$ on a super inconsistent AS and a PG in Petro who isn’t even good enough to play …
This … All of this …
What about at Ohio State, at Tennessee, at Nebraska, at Maryland? All 1-2 possession games with 1-3 mins remaining. Unless we fault us for pulling away at the end of these (but idk why you'd do that)... so now we're 7-5 in close games with 3 of those losses having top of the rotation pieces missing... 7-2 in close games with a full team
Is the expectation that Ohio State, and Maryland are close games ?? That’s not my expectation …
Nebraska had a good year this year … But I still expect to win that game as well … I don’t want to hear any excuses about losing to Nebraska with our resources … It’s not acceptable …
Tennessee … This isn’t one of Barnes better teams … Expect to win … It wasn’t close in the end and it shouldn’t have been …
The 3 games we won that were close, I felt should’ve been close … Iowa, Purdue, Texas Tech … Good teams … Good coaches …
They were referring to the BTT, which was spot on.
Your expectations have zilch do with what our record is in close games
My expectation was we'd win the Alabama, MSU, UCLA, Nebraska and Wisconsin games so I suppose those don't count either? So now we're an undefeated 3-0 in close games according to your logic of excluding games we thought we should have won
Wins are wins. Losses are losses. I could not care less about whether the Illini cover a spread, whether it's a Vegas spread or the spread in some fans' heads.
My recollection was the AS signing was late in the portal season, so his leverage for $ was pretty high. We were running out of portal scoring options and UNC was after him hard, so yeah, he negotiated a good deal. Could you imagine this board if we didn't pay the price and he ended up at UNC? He absolutely would be putting up big numbers in the ACC, and it would've been another Brad "miss". He's a key piece on a very good team, I'll take it.
We were a 3.5pt favorite against Ohio State. Road game against a quality, tournament level team.
Don't see any shame in winning that game by 8.
Were they? The way Smith said "in my opinion" or something similar, seemed like he was talking about the NCAA tourney. We were mathematically locked in to seeds 3-5 for the B1G tourney, no opinion needed.
So your entire premise is based off of "if we make a final four or elite 8"? This season's data to date clearly shows that a number of our highest paid players have not performed to expectations (Twins, AS, PM). And yes, I know that others have overperformed, but that was not the point being made about investment ROI.
If we do in fact secure a 2 seed, which seems likely, isn't making the Elite 8 the expectation? That is = to a "par", as we are seeded in the top 8 teams.
Also, the concept of Whitman putting a big donor "in line" is comical.
He was talking about the NCAA tournament, because he went on to say (paraphrasing) "if they don't win a couple games in the B1G tourney they might not get in"
Obviously had us mixed up with some other team's profile... okay for me or you to do, but he's calling the game lol come on Steve wake up brotha!
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
I've seen interpretations on both sides by posters here and in the game thread.
By the factual statement, he must have been referring to the BTT. But in the context of his statements around it, it sounded like the NCAAs.
My guess (not unbiased as I think he is a lousy and lazy announcer) is that his research person gave him the factoid regarding the BTT, he spent little or no time thinking about it it, and he reported it as relating to the NCAAs.
It's insanity. How dare we have an off game that we still win by 8 on the road in the B1G.
@Indy Illini Fan we agreed a lot last year. This team is vastly better than last year. I agree we are slumping and sluggish, but it's a completely different team.
It's gotten so bad I've now been agreeing with @NarrowJ which is possibly the worst part of this whole season.
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I'm not sure how it all works with high-end donors. To me, it seems like it would make more sense to donate to the team, than individual players. Having certain donors responsible for paying certain players, seems like a recipe for resentment that doesn't need to exist.
Take Darrion Williams at NC State for example. Will Wade's group has been pretty disappointing this year. Darrion Williams is very well compensated. Individually id argue he's probably performing. But if you're the donor paying Williams, and my team isn't good - what am I actually tying ROI too?
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