Illini in Italy
- Illini HQ, Florida Panhandle
Pregame: Illinois at Indiana, Tuesday, January 14th, 6:00pm CT, Peacock
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This is a watershed moment of the season. We were looking at 13-3, 5-1, top 10 and instead we sit at 12-4, 4-2 and top 20ish with two difficult road games coming up. We could very easily be sitting here at the end of next weekend at 12-6, 4-4 and outside of the top 25.
Is that the end of the world? For any sort of conference championship or elite level seed in the NCAA Tournament.....those hopes would be over. We'd be more in line with dealing with seeding in the Big Ten Tournament.
Prior to the game yesterday, I think that many had us as invincible, in conference, at home. Now, there's a question mark.
Losing @Northwestern was just a needless loss, but if isolated to that one, whatever. Short of USC going on a miraculous run in the conference, that's going to be a Q3 loss and a lot of questions going forward.
That said, if we win both games this week, yesterday never happened. If we split, I think that it'll be a shoulder shrug with the knowledge of a missed opportunity.
This whole situation was avoidable, but here we are. It's just a downer.
Is that the end of the world? For any sort of conference championship or elite level seed in the NCAA Tournament.....those hopes would be over. We'd be more in line with dealing with seeding in the Big Ten Tournament.
Prior to the game yesterday, I think that many had us as invincible, in conference, at home. Now, there's a question mark.
Losing @Northwestern was just a needless loss, but if isolated to that one, whatever. Short of USC going on a miraculous run in the conference, that's going to be a Q3 loss and a lot of questions going forward.
That said, if we win both games this week, yesterday never happened. If we split, I think that it'll be a shoulder shrug with the knowledge of a missed opportunity.
This whole situation was avoidable, but here we are. It's just a downer.
foby
- Bonnaroo Land
Absolutely this. This week has huge significance on the rest of our season.
I think it is very interesting that the board is full of “we’re being disrespected” and “we should be ranked higher” posts prior to USC game. Also plenty of Indiana sucks posts all season long. Then Illini lose to USC — and yes I know it was a real stinker at home — and all of a sudden people are penciling in a loss for the good guys. Bad games happen. Illini can certainly beat Indiana and I think they will. Fully expect Illini to learn from yesterday’s game and bounce back.
This team has the talent and ability to beat anyone on a given night when they show up. My question about this team now is; Where is Ivisic? He seems to have disappeared lately therefore we have no inside game except for Rez rebounding his butt of. I thought Ivisic would give us that scoring inside that Illini teams have really lacked the last few years. It seems lately we just run down the court and let it fly. I know they want to run and shoot but when they aren't falling don't you need someone you can count on the inside to score once in a while? Indiana got their butts kicked in Iowa. They will come out against us like gang busters. Who is going to stop or slow Ballo? We haven't been able to stop 3-point shooters lately. I don't see us winning there unless we play defense and run offense like we did against Oregon and PSU. Indiana gets the W.
Next, we have a Michigan State team that is very good in transition. They know how to get the ball inside. They rebound, they play tough defense. Tomm Izzo will ,whine his !!! of to get fouls called. Saturday's game against SC sure doesn't indicate to me we can beat MSU either. MSU with the W.
I have been watching the Big teams play, Michigan has double-headed monster in their 2 7'-0, MSU, Purdue, Iowa , Wisconsin appear to be the elite in the group with the Illini peeking from the outside.
I wonder which team will show up on Tuesday In Bloomington then in East Lansing. If it is the team, we saw against SC it will be a long week. 2 more losses will give us 4 already and probably knocks us out of the title race.
Next, we have a Michigan State team that is very good in transition. They know how to get the ball inside. They rebound, they play tough defense. Tomm Izzo will ,whine his !!! of to get fouls called. Saturday's game against SC sure doesn't indicate to me we can beat MSU either. MSU with the W.
I have been watching the Big teams play, Michigan has double-headed monster in their 2 7'-0, MSU, Purdue, Iowa , Wisconsin appear to be the elite in the group with the Illini peeking from the outside.
I wonder which team will show up on Tuesday In Bloomington then in East Lansing. If it is the team, we saw against SC it will be a long week. 2 more losses will give us 4 already and probably knocks us out of the title race.
Listened to the Illini Guys postgame podcast of the USC game and Kedric Prince said that KJ did well in the practice the day before the game. Brad Sturdy said that it's possible that the inflammation may linger longer than what is expected. If KJ does play with the inflammation still lingering a bit then hopefully it doesn't affect his effectivness on the court too much.
And what is causing this inflammation? Did he fall,get in a fight? Why the secrecy?
The Sprouting Divot
Invisible and Bulletproof
- Miracle Mile
Does a 2-0 week..making us 14-4 & 6-2..make everyone happy?
It was already said the injury occurred against Washington. However, a podcast did recently speculate there was more to it than that because he appeared to have a lot of marks/cuts on his hands.
What some fans view as "secrecy" is normal though as teams don't release any more information than what the injury report requires.
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A win isn’t a guarantee here by any means…but if you honestly think it will take an Oregon or PSU type effort to beat this IU team idk what to tell you. Have some faith. We’re a good team & find me a better road coach in the conference than Underwood.
That would make the USC home loss tolerable because it creates a balance. Yes, happiness will be restored. Until then, it's a good awful loss with huge season ramifications. There's no way around that. It's a fact. Get two huge road wins and order is restored.
You mean those practices that Underwood has said aren’t open to the press/public?
We’re roughly halfway through the season…I wonder if the physicality is wearing Tomi down. His post game is surprisingly weak for a 7-footer. He needs to get a lot stronger.
Another thought…I know we had the flu tear through the locker room for last year’s Maryland game and it showed. I wonder if some of our guys were sick this past week after the road trip. Just a thought but most people I know have gotten sick over the last 3-4 weeks. I’d feel better about things knowing that was the cause of our lackluster showing and not effort and focus.
For the most part, yes. It would go a long way. But hopefully that’s just the beginning…
When you are dealing with a top 5 pick, you absolutely don’t want to publicize any injuries because of his future draft prospects. This is more of an issue with the NFL draft, but basketball is the same thing. Don’t put out any info that could be construed as a player being injury prone or a serious injury.
This staff has always been vague on injuries going back to Curbelo’s concussion issue
This staff has always been vague on injuries going back to Curbelo’s concussion issue
I have adjusted myself to avoiding the post game threads after a loss. I'm assuming a reasonable meltdown over poor focus, trap game environment, early game juju, and KJs long term criticality to a natty instead of whether he shoots too much.
I hated Iowa during the Bruce Pearl fiasco. And that hate hasn't declined. And I hated Indiana due to the insufferable Bobby Knight. I'll never forget the day Nick Anderson nailed the hoosiers on a verrrry long three pointer at the buzzer. Man, how I loved that game. Beating the hoosiers like that on their home court. So I'd like nothing better than a win at Bloomington tomorrow night. BTW, I have a subscription to Peacock now, so I should be able to watch the game on the computer.
Some of you think that the Illini will get amped up for the Hoosiers after this horrible performance. Don't you think the Hoosiers will be amped up after their beatdown in Iowa. Beside they are HOME against a rival. Maybe both of them will be so "amped" up they can't even hit the backboard with the ball. That seems to be the norm in most games for the Illini.
Don't imagine any player feels humiliated, these guys grow up playing basketball all the time. They all know sometimes you lose,for whatever reason. Just because a bunch of old slow guys who couldn't make a 3 to save their life made up quads, they should care? On to the next
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