Pregame: Illinois at Minnesota, Tuesday, January 4th, 6:00pm CT, FS1

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#126      

IlliniRunIn07

IlliniRunIn07
Tampa, FL
IlliniRunIn07
While I think we have every right to worry about rust, Minnesota hasn't played since 12/22 either, so it's not like it's a huge advantage for them. I guess something like that could make the game more chaotic which will normally favor the underdog, but college hoops have all pretty much been on pause since Christmas. Can't wait to end that tomorrow.
 
#127      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
Back when the BT slate was 16 games it wasn't unusual for 12-4 to win the title (and 13-5 when the slate was 18 games.) And these days 14-6 probably does it (it did a couple years ago.) Finish in the top five and you've likely got 7-9 conference losses but a fairly decent March seed.

Winning on the road is difficult and has always been so, and losses are to be expected. It's a grueling Jan/Feb grind, players get sick, teams wax and wane. We got kneecapped the past week or so with players sequestered in rooms. Even if none of them were ever palpably sick, tomorrow evening would be a tough draw given the enforced layoff and deconditioning even if were were @ Nebraska.

I'll be delighted if they pull out a win and completely unsurprised if they don't. As someone said earlier, better to get this out of the way now than in late Feb.

:illinois:
 
#128      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
For a little pregame Golden Gopher entertainment, check out this video from early 1975 (v. the Hoosiers) of the Harlem Globetrotter warmup routine that coach Bill Musselman (father of Eric) choreographed. Point guard Flip Saunders leads it. I queued the video to the point where the team runs onto the floor, preceded by the strains of Also sprach Zarathustra from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For those unfamiliar with him, Musselman's temperament at times made Bobby Knight look like Roy Williams. He scooted out of town in '75 for the ABA with the NCAA on his heels. It nailed Minnesota for more than 100 rule violations during his five-season tenure, and imposed a three-year probation including a two-year postseason ban, a TV ban, and scholly reduction.

 
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#131      

thehass

T
thehass
We will have some rust but I feel as long as we avoid excessive turnovers and rebound well we will prevail.
 
#132      

BillyBob1

BillyBob1
Champaign
BillyBob1
altgeld88 said:
For a little pregame Golden Gopher entertainment, check out this video from early 1975 (v. the Hoosiers) of the Harlem Globetrotter warmup routine that coach Bill Musselman (father of Eric) choreographed. Point guard Flip Saunders leads it. I queued the video to the point where the team runs onto the floor, preceded by the strains of Also sprach Zarathustra from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For those unfamiliar with him, Musselman's temperament at times made Bobby Knight look like Roy Williams. He scooted out of town in '75 for the ABA with the NCAA on his heels. It nailed Minnesota for more than 100 rule violations during his five-season tenure, and imposed a three-year probation including a two-year postseason ban, a TV ban, and scholly reduction.

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Wonder if that was filmed on a Panasonic cell phone?
 
#137      

pruman91

pruman91
Paducah, Ky
pruman91
I think it will be a low scoring hard fought game.....The goofer games I've watched this year , they shoot a lot of 3's but late in the shot clock....
Since both teams haven't played in a while I agree with others that there will be a lot of TO's , but I believe we prevail.............

Illini 70
goofers 64

Illini should go to 3-0 in the B1G.......fingers crossed......
 
#141      

JFGsCoffeeMug

JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
Chicago
JFGsCoffeeMug
altgeld88 said:
Winning on the road is difficult and has always been so, and losses are to be expected. It's a grueling Jan/Feb grind, players get sick, teams wax and wane. We got kneecapped the past week or so with players sequestered in rooms. Even if none of them were ever palpably sick, tomorrow evening would be a tough draw given the enforced layoff and deconditioning even if were were @ Nebraska.
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I'm confused. As someone who is new to college basketball and only has the previous season as a reference, isn't this the point at which we cancel the next 3-4 games and call it "return-to-play planning" to reduce our chance of picking up conference losses?
 
#142      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
altgeld88 said:
For a little pregame Golden Gopher entertainment, check out this video from early 1975 (v. the Hoosiers) of the Harlem Globetrotter warmup routine that coach Bill Musselman (father of Eric) choreographed. Point guard Flip Saunders leads it. I queued the video to the point where the team runs onto the floor, preceded by the strains of Also sprach Zarathustra from 2001: A Space Odyssey.at

For those unfamiliar with him, Musselman's temperament at times made Bobby Knight look like Roy Williams. He scooted out of town in '75 for the ABA with the NCAA on his heels. It nailed Minnesota for more than 100 rule violations during his five-season tenure, and imposed a three-year probation including a two-year postseason ban, a TV ban, and scholly reduction.

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Now that was fun!! .........and back in the day when Minny was actually good at basketball with Mychal Thompson (father of Klay & Trayce) and the #1 overall pick in the NBA draft, Kevin McHale, etc.
 
#145      

Hopingfor500

H
Hopingfor500
DeonThomas said:
Too much disruption over the past 10 days..........I'm turning pessimistic:

- Big 10 road game
- Williams Arena
- A healthier Gopher squad

75 Minn
68 Illini
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Can't disagree. Hard to prepare when you can't practice. Should be interesting.
 
#146      

IllinoisssssssVarsity

I
IllinoisssssssVarsity
Hopingfor500 said:
Can't disagree. Hard to prepare when you can't practice. Should be interesting.
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The mental prep, such as understanding personnel, favorite actions, and other elements of the scouting report should be fine. I’m sure they have been watching film of gopher personnel, showing what each individual player does well so they know how to guard everyone. They have probably also watched 8-10 sets, BLOBs, etc so they know how to guard those when they come. Yesterdays practice probably accomplished 3 things:

1) get our guys moving again
2) physically guard gopher actions and scout team players emulating gopher players
3) running through our basics to get some rhythm back.

I think we’ll see some rust and limited conditioning, but our level of prep should be fairly unaffected. It’s mostly mental anyway.
 
#147      

Deep

Deep
Deep
Damn.........I did not realize we are a 7 point favorite. I guess Vegas does not think the layoff will effect us.
 
#149      

Kathy

K
Kathy
thehass said:
We will have some rust but I feel as long as we avoid excessive turnovers and rebound well we will prevail.
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I don't think we'll have rust at all. I have a feeling, (don't doubt my feelings), we come out hot and Minny calls a time out in the first 5 minutes. YOU heard it here first.
 
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