blackdog
- Champaign
Illinois 86, Rutgers 63 Postgame
illinifan31
Former Krush Cow
- South Bend, IN
Smh tooting your own horn much? Gosh. Lol.
But for real it's been so much more fun watching the offense this year compared to last year.
In this day and age, blowing out a team when you shoot that poorly from 3 has to be extremely rare.
9 boards and 4 assists too...good to see him not let the shooting affect everything else
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Shhhhh ... Opposing coaches read this board, my friend ...
The list of guys who don't would be shorter ...
If you polled all the Big Ten coaches ... They would say we are the most annoying fan base by far but we are also the most informed ... Not just about our own team but about the league as a whole ... Lot of coaches come on here to read what we are saying ...
Justin "bad mother" Harmon per coach.
Turpin & Tate in 2008!
- Addison, IL
I feel considerably better about this team today than I did last Sunday at this time.
What a difference a week makes.
What a difference a week makes.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
The list of guys who don't would be shorter ...
If you polled all the Big Ten coaches ... They would say we are the most annoying fan base by far but we are also the most informed ... Not just about our own team but about the league as a whole ... Lot of coaches come on here to read what we are saying ...
They should have to pay a troll tax and that $$$ goes into our NIL fund.........It really really should.......damn lackey's.......
And does Juwan know how much we want him to sign an extension at Mich??
Heās gonna start attacking the rim like Plummer developed I can tellShhhhh ... Opposing coaches read this board, my friend ...
I appreciate your discretion and I hope folks can resist the urge to take shots at the families of our players.
Families are complicated. We don't know the intimate details of what's happening in the lives of these folks. I don't see a reason to offer anything other than support to these players. #famILLy
sacraig
- The desert
THIS type of basketball is what we all were expecting to see when Brad was hired. Fun to watch high scoring, team oriented passing offense to go along with a pit-bull lock down defense. I was at the NCAA tournament loss to Arkansas last year and I DID pull my hair out trying to determine how the wheels had fallen off the track so badly on offense. It was ugly and unwatchable, all dribble, no passing selfish basketball.
In the team hotel that night after the loss a very agitated Brad stopped at our table on the way out of the restaurant to briefly speak with a well known member of the ILLINI entourage and quietly said, "that's it. No more. From now on, I am going to do things MY way".
All summer, the talk was understandable grumbling on this Board about Brad's failure to get a point guard, mediocre transfer portal signings, poor decision making on staff hiring and promotions and the expectation of our being at best a "bubble team" for the Tournament as a "middle of the Big Ten pack" team. Some even questioned whether Brad might need to go.
Fast forward to the mid-way point of this season where an incredibly likeable group of "Every Day Guys" has flourished under Brad and his staff's coaching and Fletch's training to be not only the best offense that we have seen at Illinois since 2005 but the best all around TEAM that has overcome extensive adversity to reach a well deserved Top Ten ranking. Meanwhile, recruiting is on fire and what portal transfer candidate that meets Brad's description of an "Every Day Guy" wouldn't want to seriously consider playing here after seeing Domask, Harmon and Guerrier flourish? What a remarkable turnaround!
Time for all us to stop worrying about past March-Madness failures and just enjoy the remarkable ride this ILLINI Team is taking us on, because the best is yet to come. Glad that Brad is doing things HIS way!
Those of us here who are roundballers play because we love it. All players at any level simply love this game... thatās why we are players (somewhere). Thatās why we devote a good portion of our lives to this pageant of energy and dedication and talent.
And so we are not used to it (nor do we like it) when something ā or someone ā takes away our ability to play the game we love. Sometimes itās injury that sidelines us. Or maybe some unforeseen personal issue.
And we most certainly donāt plan on having some social incident or accusation suddenly take away our ability to play that game we love. In the blink of an eye.
No one wants to have our joy at playing this game taken away from us. And for Shannon... when he was stopped in that blink of eye from taking the court with his guys and flashing the great talent that he has... this cut into him at a deep level. The abruptness. The uncertainty. And perhaps, the unfairness.
And so when he was restored back to his Game and His Guys and his ability to manifest his great gift of ball talent... it was like being born anew. You come back appreciating this game in a way that you never had to ā or knew ā before. And as I said... being sidelined by injury creates that same void in your heart and sense of powerless to outside forces that you didnāt know you were so vulnerable to. And you just feel so, so good again. The Universe just makes sense again to you and things have been put right.
Weāll all see where this leads in this amazing Illini season. But today there is a young man who learned something about this game... and about himself... that he did not know before.
This may not have been winning a National Championship. But I can tell you it is the closest thing yet to feeling that kind of joy.. if only for one cold afternoon in the dead of Winter.
Replacing heartache with joy. And reconnection to Game, Team, and self.
Theyāre probably just coming here for your posts.
I have to imagine looking at someone like Co Hawk and his story is huge for these types of things. āTrust the processā happening right in front of him
Suck it Fran!The list of guys who don't would be shorter ...
If you polled all the Big Ten coaches ... They would say we are the most annoying fan base by far but we are also the most informed ... Not just about our own team but about the league as a whole ... Lot of coaches come on here to read what we are saying ...
Agreed, all are playing for team goals, not individual ones, an attitude which was sadly lacking in Mayer, Epps and Skyy last year. Following how Epps and Skyy
are faring with their new teams seems to reflect that they're still all about getting their own, and not team goals. The question is how did their lead recruiters, Chester and Tim miss that, and what was done to address that (other than you obviously have a better sample size and track record to look at when evaluating transfer portal)?
I'd settle for winning by 20.
chiefini
- Rockford, Illinois
I'd settle for winning by 20.
Basketball acumen aside, this team is so stinkinā likable! It could be the fact that my 7-year-old has fallen in love with the Illini this season, but man this season has been so enjoyable. Just a tough, connected group of dudes!
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
I'm convinced this is BU's best team. We have a guy that absolutely should be a first-team All-American. We have four other seniors who can take over a game if needed, including one coming off our bench. We have the ultimate glue guy in Ty. A quality three-pointer shooter off the bench in Goode. And a talented big in Dain who can get buckets if the matchup requires it. Theyāre unselfish, can play lockdown defense, crash the boards, and get buckets in so many different ways. With all due respect to the Kofi and Ayo teams, this year's is more complete from top to bottom.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia