Pregame: Illinois at Maryland, Tuesday, December 27th, 4:00pm CT, ESPN2

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#51      

Bleed O and B

B
Bleed O and B
CAHALL15 said:
No Robert Carter, Diamond Stone, or Jack Layman this time around. We can steal this game on the road.
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But
- they still have arguably the best point guard in the league
- a freshman class that was the second best in the B1G. Similar to ours next year.

We all know freshman can be up and down ...but they won't be worn down by the grind of the league yet, and are at home. I'd love to see us steal one, but I fear the turtle in this one.
 
#52      

whovous

W
Washington, DC
whovous
Illini1221 said:
Maryland is a relatively young team, except for Trimble. As mentioned, if Illinois allows Trimble to get into the lane with ease, then we will be in a lot of trouble. Cowan is one of the better freshman in the big 10 as well, from what I've seen early on, so we cant afford to give him too many open looks. I was looking at the box from their Charlotte game, and they went like 8-10 deep. Also, I'm not sure if one of their bigs, Damonte Dodd will be playing. Hes missed some games with an MCL. I think our bigs will match up well with Cekovsky, but I am worried about our guards trying to keep up with Trimble and Cowan. Justin Jackson and Gill, who I'm guessing will be matched up with Leron, leads them in rebounding, so that could lead to some foul trouble if the refs call it close. I think Hill has a big game. He will likely be matched up with one of their freshman guards, Huerter. Nickens and Brantley can do some damage of the bench, so we cant let up on them. I think this is a true toss up. I think our zone could work in this game, because I dont think we can guard Trimble one on one. All in all, I think this is a true tossup. The though of this being our first road game would generally scare me, but with our experience, its not a factor. I think we make enough plays with our experience towards the end to take it.
Illinois-74
Maryland-72
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Dodd is out indefinitely. Guard Dion Wiley, part of their nine-man rotation, missed the last game with a wrist injury and is uncertain for this one. They still seem to have an awful lot of bodies that get minutes.
 
#53      

TriCityBurbs

T
TriCityBurbs
Bleed O and B said:
But
- they still have arguably the best point guard in the league
- a freshman class that was the second best in the B1G. Similar to ours next year.

We all know freshman can be up and down ...but they won't be worn down by the grind of the league yet, and are at home. I'd love to see us steal one, but I fear the turtle in this one.
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Besides Keon Johnson going absolutely crazy on us, we have done a pretty decent job shutting down star point guards last few years (Dunn, Ja'sean Tate,Keene, Walton)...I think we have the advantage inside and are pretty even on the wings with Hill/JCL/Nichols?
 
#54      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
TriCityBurbs said:
Besides Keon Johnson going absolutely crazy on us, we have done a pretty decent job shutting down star point guards last few years (Dunn, Ja'sean Tate,Keene, Walton)...I think we have the advantage inside and are pretty even on the wings with Hill/JCL/Nichols?
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Tate usally plays the 2,3 or 4 for OSU. Jaquan Lyle would be their PG
 
#55      

TriCityBurbs

T
TriCityBurbs
ballislife17 said:
Tate usally plays the 2,3 or 4 for OSU. Jaquan Lyle would be their PG
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Realized that after I posted. Either way, it's typically role players that go off on us, besides Keon who was the last superstar player that had a career game against us?
 
#56      

FiveStar

F
FiveStar
TriCityBurbs said:
Realized that after I posted. Either way, it's typically role players that go off on us, besides Keon who was the last superstar player that had a career game against us?
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I think that's more of a function of our overall defensive deficiencies. We make everyone a threat so the top dog on the other team doesn't have to do it all.
 
#57      

alexander58

A
alexander58
ski300 said:
Agree 100%. The key to the Big this year is to survive the opening schedule. Hopefully they can pick up 3 maybe 4 wins, anything more is a bonus, in the first half of the schedule and then finish strong over the second half. The good thing is if they can stay together and finish strong they will appear to be a team peaking at the right time. I don't think how you finish is officially considered anymore but the committee members are human. They will be positively influenced by a strong finish.
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While the conference is not as deep at the top as it has been, wins against the lower half are difficult to come by. It used to be you could chalk up easy road wins at Penn State and Northwestern. You can't afford slip ups in games you should win.
 
#58      

ballislife17

ballislife17
ballislife17
FiveStar said:
I think that's more of a function of our overall defensive deficiencies. We make everyone a threat so the top dog on the other team doesn't have to do it all.
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Agreed, I hate this supposed notion/excuse that random players just so happen to always play the best game of their life against us because one, it really doesn't happen that often, (Mizzou could argue that it happened to them with Mav), and two, if it is happening it is likely due to us not guarding the player and giving them open looks
 
#59      

TriCityBurbs

T
TriCityBurbs
ballislife17 said:
Agreed, I hate this supposed notion/excuse that random players just so happen to always play the best game of their life against us because one, it really doesn't happen that often, (Mizzou could argue that it happened to them with Mav), and two, if it is happening it is likely due to us not guarding the player and giving them open looks
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Maybe it has to do with our poor close outs, and our lack of preparation of our opponent. I think a lot of the backlash that Groce has been getting as a poor in-game coach, has to do with lack of preparation.
 
#60      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
The real question is what jerseys will we where? This will be the first time in 6 games that we won't be wearing the throwbacks.
 
#63      

Joel Goodson

Joel Goodson
respect my decision™
Joel Goodson
Almost laughable to call the first conference game crucial, but, with our schedule and ambitions, it is. Is it a back breaker if we lose? No, but with the way the conf. schedule is front-loaded, we need a W. And, frankly, this is an eminently winnable game.
 
#64      

jrichisamazing

J
jrichisamazing
Joel Goodson said:
Almost laughable to call the first conference game crucial, but, with our schedule and ambitions, it is. Is it a back breaker if we lose? No, but with the way the conf. schedule is front-loaded, we need a W. And, frankly, this is an eminently winnable game.
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That's the crazy thing about the B1G. I could see us losing this one by 15 and have everyone overreact, then bounce back and beat OSU by 15. Or vice versa. This game alone isn't a measuring stick but these next 7 should tell us what kind of team we are.

Only win 1 or 2 and we are probably sweating it out on selection Sunday, at best.

Win 3 and we could go either way, but probably closer to getting in relatively comfortably.

Win 4+ and we are sitting real pretty.
 
#67      

WestIllini

W
University of Iowa
WestIllini
I'd love to see us get off to a hot start right away in conference play. I go to Iowa-yes I'm the stereotypical couldn't get accepted into Illinois so go to Iowa kid(still an Illini die hard don't worry lol) and would love to finally have something to brag about here. 10-8 and we're in the tourney I'd think. Beating Maryland would be a great way to start.
 
#68      

alaskaillini

A
alaskaillini
TriCityBurbs said:
Maybe it has to do with our poor close outs, and our lack of preparation of our opponent. I think a lot of the backlash that Groce has been getting as a poor in-game coach, has to do with lack of preparation.
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Not sure I agree that this is the case. Last year, we always started well and usually won the first half or close to it. It was the lack of response to the other teams' halftime adjustments that I would argue was the problem. No doubt this was in part because we didn't have the depth to make much in the way of adjustments last year.
 
#69      

TriCityBurbs

T
TriCityBurbs
alaskaillini said:
Not sure I agree that this is the case. Last year, we always started well and usually won the first half or close to it. It was the lack of response to the other teams' halftime adjustments that I would argue was the problem. No doubt this was in part because we didn't have the depth to make much in the way of adjustments last year.
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From what I remember the last few years the majority of our games we would start 2-15 or something awful, then hit our shots to end the half, keep it close until about halfway through the second half and then lose by 10+
 
#70      

EfremWinters84

E
S. Carolina
EfremWinters84
Rather than viewing it as first 7 vs. last 11 games --- I view it as more a matter of protecting "Our House". We need to go at least 7-2 at home this year, regardless of opponent. That means the big guys (Wisc, Purd, MSU) need to realize they can't come to Champaign expecting to win. We then pick up the remaining three wins on the road. 10-8 Big 10 record is our worst case scenario, to finish in the top half of the conference standings. I like our experience. I'm bullish again.

ILL 68
MD 62
 
#71      

JIllini

J
JIllini
EfremWinters84 said:
Rather than viewing it as first 7 vs. last 11 games --- I view it as more a matter of protecting "Our House". We need to go at least 7-2 at home this year, regardless of opponent. That means the big guys (Wisc, Purd, MSU) need to realize they can't come to Champaign expecting to win. We then pick up the remaining three wins on the road. 10-8 Big 10 record is our worst case scenario, to finish in the top half of the conference standings. I like our experience. I'm bullish again.

ILL 68
MD 62
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We don't play Purdue in Champaign this year. But I agree, winning the home games will be key.
 
#74      

BimTeckman

B
BimTeckman
This is a really good opprutunity to steal a road game. I don't think they'll have their usual raucous crowd at 4:00 on a Tuesday. However, I haven't seen enough out of this team to expect a win at Maryland. We'll keep it close, but I think they'll pull away at the end.

MD 72
IL 60
 
#75      

Whitman2020

W
Whitman2020
Said this before, I want to set us get to 4-4 but would take 3-5 for the first 8. Anything beyond is unrealistic.
 
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