skyIdub
Winged Warrior
Excellent breakdown. Well done.
Love your team...what a great two year run for your program. I hope it's a classic between both teams' A games.
I'm feeling a last second shot ftw in this one.
Pregame: Illinois vs UConn, Saturday, March 30th, 5:09pm CT, TBS
- Status
Excellent breakdown. Well done.
Love your team...what a great two year run for your program. I hope it's a classic between both teams' A games.
I'm feeling a last second shot ftw in this one.
Sometimes when circumstances call for it... you can find and draw on energy you didn't know you had. Mothers lifting cars off of their child kind of thing.
Well, it won't be as dramatic as that for The Beloved. But for an athlete... when you get this close to fulfilling your dream you can just will yourself to success. Think the Bulls GOAT -- he was great at doing this. Summoning will and energy when any normal human would be spent and depleted.
If any of the Illini are tired... well, they might have a right to be. But that can't give in to that. The Dream is within reach. And they will have many months to relax and take things easy.
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
Illini2010-11
- Sugar Grove
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Blow it up to poster size and put it up on the wall. Come out angry tomorrow and either win it or make them earn it with sweat, blood, and tears.
So I'd certainly agree with this post a month ago. We had so many breakdowns on backdoor cuts, and losing guys backdoor and off screens, that it'd be foolhardy to say UCONN's offense wouldn't be a complete nightmare for us. But in the past few weeks, our defense has looked a lot more resurgent, been much more active, and has shown much higher awareness. Yes, we still have issues with the ball screen at times, but we certainly aren't playing like that team that was torched defensively for a month.
And case in point, while not a good offense, and nowhere in the realm of UCONN, Duquesne did have success in the regular season and conference tournament in their backdoor cuts. One would think they should have had a little success there against us, but we completely tightened the screws on them. And then even ISU last night tried running that off ball screen and lob that had terrorized us for a month and that UCONN is sure to do, and TSJ obliterated it.
There is no doubt we will have our hands full with UCONN and with Clingan running to the rim, but I don't think we're the same defensive patsy we were last month. Or at the very least, we certainly aren't playing like it. Now we just have to go out and prove it against the best team in the tourney.
sacraig
- The desert
So when we are up by 6 in the closing seconds will we have won over the UConn fans and having them chant ILL-INI with us like the Muscovites at the Balboa-Drago fight?
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
There was a not-small contingent of people who felt Iowa State should have been a 1 seed.
Beat Marquette twice without Kolek. We’re better than SDSU, UNC, Gonzaga and most definitely Texas.
sacraig
- The desert
"We just want to be respectful human beings and push in our chairs."
✂️ Respectful human beings
25 seconds · Clipped by Alex Craig · Original video "Press Conference: Regional Finals UConn vs. Illinois Pregame - 2024 NCAA Tournament" by March Madness
youtube.com
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Of the many things that the Illini-UConn matchup will be... one of these things is Midwest vs. East Coast ball.
It's revolting how much East Coast bias has existed in College roundball. For generations! With major media being centered around the East Coast (hello, ESPN etc.) and with the usual New York and Boston general uppity-ness... they like to think that they are always superior.
Well I can and do respect what many East Coast programs have done. But I have not respected how Midwest ball is often overlooked (or ignored) over the years due to the heavy love for Eastern programs like UConn (and North Carolina, and 'ACC Worship') and in past years places like Virginia and Georgetown and those programs in Philly.
Midwest Ball in the persons of the Illini need to let East Coast media and bias know that there are other roundball-rich places on this Planet that also deserve some respect. And even if the Illini go down to the much-favored UConn... this does not change anything about what was just said.
The Illini are earning respect along this magic road. For their program... and for Midwest Ball.
The State of Illinois is the original and true home of March Madness. Period. That tells you where the real heart of roundball truly lives.
It's revolting how much East Coast bias has existed in College roundball. For generations! With major media being centered around the East Coast (hello, ESPN etc.) and with the usual New York and Boston general uppity-ness... they like to think that they are always superior.
Well I can and do respect what many East Coast programs have done. But I have not respected how Midwest ball is often overlooked (or ignored) over the years due to the heavy love for Eastern programs like UConn (and North Carolina, and 'ACC Worship') and in past years places like Virginia and Georgetown and those programs in Philly.
Midwest Ball in the persons of the Illini need to let East Coast media and bias know that there are other roundball-rich places on this Planet that also deserve some respect. And even if the Illini go down to the much-favored UConn... this does not change anything about what was just said.
The Illini are earning respect along this magic road. For their program... and for Midwest Ball.
The State of Illinois is the original and true home of March Madness. Period. That tells you where the real heart of roundball truly lives.
Dan
Admin
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Legit thought they were going to crawl off the stage
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
I guess when you're team wins a lot of championships, you can justify being a big ole smelly bag of $#%@. I hope to never be that obnoxiously arrogant about anything in my life.
Marcus Domask might have something to say about that.
One of you posters commented on how Creighton ? frustrated UConn and once the wheels came off , the truck stopped rolling. I think that's the key and if I were Illinois I'd focus on Spencer. He's high IQ , phenomenal shooter and all the heart of the team. UConn seems to lose when one player has a big game , usually Newton or Clingan . Most Uconn fans will argue that so and so single-handedly kept us in the game and I think that's the problem. This team isn't a single-handed team, it needs all parts working in unison. This team is about motion and movement and sharing, unselfishness , scoring in big chunks and looking for the perfect shot. You guys, if I remember correctly, played Purdue pretty closely? I think Edey does more than Clingan in regards to his offensive game and rebounding. Now Clingan has been playing better the last month or so but he's not going to beat you single-handedly , where I feel like Edey can get 30 /10 /4 blocks and then create open looks for his shooters . I'd expect Domask to have a bounce back game and Illinois to focus on getting Clingan in foul trouble. Our back up center is basically a lobik threat only , might get 4 rebounds and is a string bean. Attack Clingan and stick to Spencer like glue , that should be the game plan
That's why I said arguably
Krombopulos_Michael
- Aurora, Illinois (that’s a suburb of Chicago)
I don’t know enough about UConn fans to state definitively but if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change.
sacraig
- The desert
Oh I know. Just wanted to enter my exhibit for my argument.
OrangeBlue98
- Des Moines, IA
I watched a lot of that Creighton game on replay, primarily because my first thought on seeing the score was, "How did that happen???" Honestly, that was a game where Creighton wasn't intimidated, shot the ball well, and the game snowballed from there. UConn was kind of caught off guard and never really recovered. If there's an item that gives me a level of optimism for tomorrow, it's that Illinois won't shy away from the moment. UConn does it a lot differently, but I see a lot of the 2004-2005 Illinois team in terms of off-ball movement and unselfishness. They run more "sets" as opposed to the Bruce Weber read and respond motion, but the objective is the same as you've mentioned.
If I'm Illinois, I try to make it a "black hole" with Clingnan where he has a hard time passing out of the post. He may (and likely will) get his points, but I don't think you double him a whole lot so you keep focus on the shooters. Rotate defenders on him to give him different looks - Hawkins' length compared to Dainja's strength.
UConn is so balanced, that I think you pick your poison and try to slow down everything around that.
It's a great exhibit. It's what worries me about last night's game. I haven't gone through Domask game by game stats but I'm willing to bet that rarely does he have bad back to back games.
Was last night's free throw shooting a one off or has that been a struggle for your team this year?
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