Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Saturday, January 23rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN

westcoastillini · Jan 23, 2016

whovous said:
If his original injury was his only injury and it was before the halfway point, and if he is unable to play from here on out, it could certainly be argued that it was a season ending injury even if he did try to come back for one second half case.

The NCAA being the NCAA, and Illinois having the luck of Illinois, I would not want to put money on that argument, but the argument certainly passes the giggle test (i.e., one can make the argument without laughing).

But if we want to make that argument, we need to keep Big Mike's scholarship tied up for many, many months while the NCAA ponders a ruling. While we do that, other potential bigs are likely to head elsewhere.

My original preference was for MT to come back for a sixth year, as I thought a good case could be made for it and I thought it would have been best for Illinois. Now, I hope Mike gets better and suits up just as soon as he can. That is certainly best for him, and it will be good for this team as well, even if this is a lost season already.

this season has become tragic. i wouldn't even want to guess what the probability of so many things going wrong with personnel in one season. as a fan for 35+ years, i have never seen the illini deal with something like this.

TCTORNADO · Jan 23, 2016

Soxfreak64 said:
Sh**, you don't need stats for this. Tell me which B1G PG you would put below Jaylon Tate OR Khalid:

Glynn Watson Jr.
Yogi Ferrell
Denzel Valentine/TumTum
Melo Trimble
Bryant McIntosh
Bronson Koenig
Corey Saunders
Mike Gesell
Derrick Walton
Johnny Hill/PJ Thompson
Jaquan Lyle
Nate Mason

With the possible exception of Penn State (who I can't even find right now), J and K are the worst PGs in the league.

Shep Garner PSU PG=14.1 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2,7 RPG, and 37.2% 3 pt %

Soxfreak64 · Jan 23, 2016

TCTORNADO said:
Shep Garner PSU PG=14.1 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2,7 RPG, and 37.2% 3 pt %

There it is. It doesn't get any clearer.

illinitiger · Jan 23, 2016

illini8507 said:
If the team doesn't have a good showing in this game it is not going to be pretty in illini land (and rightfully so.) I want to say they will be up for this game and blow Minny out, but nothing ive seen over the past couple games gives me any reason to believe that's any more possible than not. Plus Minny is desperate. This is a game we have to win.

I agree that they will be motivated. I think k it will be a competitive game. They only lost to indiana by 7 and michigan by 5 the last two outings. They probably believe this is one they can get at home.

illiniknight · Jan 23, 2016

And the problem at point is not just on the offensive side, it is probably worse on the defensive side. Our rebounding numbers are bad but a lot of that number is because of our non-existent offensive rebounding. Our defensive problems start on the perimeter.

geneseo · Jan 23, 2016

Soxfreak64 said:
There it is. It doesn't get any clearer.

Probably take us from last to first in rebounding in the B1G, huh.

zoggle101 · Jan 23, 2016

I'm not quite sure how Vegas has us as the favorites after the last two games. As of now the team we saw against Purdue is an anomaly. The Gophers are at home, plus they bring three guys off the bench who have played good against us last season. This should be in their favor, but I guess when you have one of the more talented junior duo in the country it's hard to not favor you against a winless young Gophers squad. We need this one bad! Go ILLINI - TNT!

illini8507 · Jan 23, 2016

westcoastillini said:
this season has become tragic. i wouldn't even want to guess what the probability of so many things going wrong with personnel in one season. as a fan for 35+ years, i have never seen the illini deal with something like this.

Seriously...

Jalen Coleman-Lands stress fracture on foot misses the entire summer and is questionable for the season
Tracy tears his Achilles - out for season
DPaul rages in Europe and gets booted - out forever
Leron tears his meniscus - out for the first several games, then indefinitely after a couple games
Kendrick hurts his hand - out for first several games
Tate breaks his pinky - out a few games, and lingering effect on his capabilities to shoot and dribble
Thorne tears his meniscus - out almost 2 months
Lewis gets effing MUMPS - out 2 games
Kendrick has a baby the night of a game - out 1 game

Did I miss anybody? I feel like I missed something

Oh, and our first 6 home games were not at home, had to travel to springfield and play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country

TCTORNADO · Jan 23, 2016

zoggle101 said:
I'm not quite sure how Vegas has us as the favorites after the last two games. As of now the team we saw against Purdue is an anomaly. The Gophers are at home, plus they bring three guys off the bench who have played good against us last season. This should be in their favor, but I guess when you have one of the more talented junior duo in the country it's hard to not favor you against a winless young Gophers squad. We need this one bad! Go ILLINI - TNT!

Crazy isn't it, but Vegas line has now moved to Illinois -2 pts. Maybe somebody knows something about Thorne.

Illinijose · Jan 23, 2016

illini8507 said:
Seriously...

Jalen Coleman-Lands stress fracture on foot misses the entire summer and is questionable for the season
Tracy tears his Achilles - out for season
DPaul rages in Europe and gets booted - out forever
Leron tears his meniscus - out for the first several games, then indefinitely after a couple games
Kendrick hurts his hand - out for first several games
Tate breaks his pinky - out a few games, and lingering effect on his capabilities to shoot and dribble
Thorne tears his meniscus - out almost 2 months
Lewis gets effing MUMPS - out 2 games
Kendrick has a baby the night of a game - out 1 game

Did I miss anybody? I feel like I missed something

Oh, and our first 6 home games were not at home, had to travel to springfield and play one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country

I concur I have never seen something like this and I've been following the Illini since 1983. I say 85% was bad luck the other 15% scheduling/home conditions are the AD and head coach.

illini8507 · Jan 23, 2016

Illinijose said:
I concur I have never seen something like this and I've been following the Illini since 1983. I say 85% was bad luck the other 15% scheduling/home conditions are the AD and head coach.

You could make the arguement that DP shouldn't have been on the team and that's on the coaches, but yeah I mostly agree

geneseo · Jan 23, 2016

Soxfreak64 said:
Sh**, you don't need stats for this. Tell me which B1G PG you would put below Jaylon Tate OR Khalid:

Glynn Watson Jr.
Yogi Ferrell
Denzel Valentine/TumTum
Melo Trimble
Bryant McIntosh
Bronson Koenig
Corey Saunders
Mike Gesell
Derrick Walton
Johnny Hill/PJ Thompson
Jaquan Lyle
Nate Mason

With the possible exception of Penn State (who I can't even find right now), J and K are the worst PGs in the league.

I provided a link to a list of 314 TEAMS that rebounded better than us. Add another 300 PGs to your list please.

UrbanaIsTheShiz · Jan 23, 2016

let's just beat these turdblossoms and try to keep moving. I've done plenty of worrying about past and future. time to win tonight and forget the rest.

alaskaillini · Jan 23, 2016

geneseo said:
I provided a link to a list of 314 TEAMS that rebounded better than us. Add another 300 PGs to your list please.

314 teams don't rebound better than the Illini. These stats include a lot of teams that have schedules far easier than ours. if we were in the Horizon or some of the other non-P5 conferences our rebounding numbers would be way up there. I am not saying we are good rebounders or that national rank isn't an indication of our ability, but it is not a relative ranking system.