I'm not sure if I have something to look forward to, or I already missed it?OK. We're good. For now. We need to have a sidebar so I understand clearly when you will cease to view him as middle-aged.
Pregame: Illinois at Purdue, Saturday, January 24th, 2:00pm CT, FOX
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ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Probably not sure what to do with no Boswell. I would have though -5 or so.
I'm a season ticket holder and got tickets for my family to the Braggin' Rights game. We were in the upper bowl (happy to be there, but definitely not high rollers) and an old lady who was also a season ticket holder was sitting next to us and was extremely rude and terrible to us because we were cheering. She even said something rude to my wife who is a Mizzou grad. When we told her that we were also season ticket holders, she said to us "That's not how I expect season ticket holders to act". Ironically, she was wearing these orange and blue light up blinking glasses...so I guess cheering for your team is not appropriate season ticket holder behavior, but wearing crazy glasses is?
When the game was over, my brother said to her "It was nice talking to you, I hope we see you again" and she said "I hope we never see each other for the rest of my life"
The usher for that section even said to us that this lady was extremely rude to her as well.
If you see an old lady at the State Farm Center with blinking orange and blue glasses, make sure to avoid her...Or if you feel inclined, tell her that the family from the Braggin' Rights game says "hello"
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
I don't mean to be too forward here but IMO as long as she's married to someone named Mr. DawgClassic neither of you have anything to worry about in this area.Recently, I’m made a comment about myself being middle-aged. Ms. DawgClassic looked right at me and asked “you planning to live to 114?”
I didn’t dare make a comment about being on the back nine for fear she’d cut it to the back four or five.
Illini have been playing better than Purdue for a month -- 3.5 line on Torvik.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Is it really? KenPom #6 is hosting KenPom #8 with de minimus daylight separating them. I'm unsurprised and enjoying quiet satisfaction that we are merely slight dogs w/o BAM.
I absolutely love these recent Boiler-Illini games. Usually highly entertaining and down to the wire if my advanced middle-aged memory serves. Hope it remains so tomorrow. Wish I could be there. Illini @ Purdue in Mackey is on my bucket list.
Do it for Kylan!!! Come in locked and loaded!!! Drop 60 on them in first half and leave the hem gasping for breath!!! Anilate them!!!!! ILL
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
+2.5 says we're a marginally better team on a neutral floor without Boswell.
I would love to believe that's true!
I thought the Maryland line (-18.5) was too high too, but Vegas Always Knows
On the Inquirer pod the other day Latulip mentioned smith has been dealing with a knee injury. Obviously isn’t severe but worth noting. Also to note we’re better on torvik by about 10 spots than Purdue since the start of the year. This game is winnable.
That being said as other have brought up I thought the line would be closer to 5 with Boswell out.
In any case, this is our first true underdog game since UConn (can’t recall Tenn if we were favored and I don’t count Iowa believe that closed as a pickem.) hoping that lights a fire under some guys.
If we out rebound them and shoot about 30% from three I like our chances. We’ll need another A+ defensive game from Andrej. I wonder if Lee will play a role as well. Lots of shooters on Purdue.
In any case show me a competitive game and it gives me hope we can properly weather Boswells absence.
Typically a team would get about 3 points for a home game (and I'm unsure if Purdue typically gets more than that since they have one of the best home advantages in the sport)
-2.5 or -3.5 sounds about right if we were at full strength... I was thinking it would be more like -5.5 or even -6.5 with KB out. It's not a large difference at all, but when I first saw the number I also thought that maybe there was something with player availability on the Purdue side
But I'm pretty good at losing money in the small amount of times I actually decide to bet on something (which is always just for funsies), so I'm certainly not the right person to ask here
-2.5 Purdue is rather crazy. Means that Vegas is effectively favoring us on a neutral court without Boz. Makes very little sense this would be the line unless Vegas knows Purdue is going to have key players out. This seems bizarrely off, and good news for us, because usually when Vegas makes a line that looks like an easy win, it winds up being too good to be true which means Illini win?!?!?!?!
Exactly. With Kylan, this game is a pick em. I think we might still be the better team even without Kylan...but we're playing at Mackey hence the ~3 pt spread.
Also, keep in mind we beat this same team (they returned 80% of their scoring from last year) by 8 at home last year. And I think everyone would agree that our team is better this year than it was when we played them last year.
Now back to the game discussion. We are going to be playing 7. Purdue will be playing 9. Assuming Petrovic might only get a few minutes, we will never have a player on the court shorter that 6'6". If our bigs pull their's away from the hoop, shouldn't we be trying to post up every mismatch? I'm not that knowledgeable. Is that easier said than done, or just flawed?
Dee_4_Three_83
- Mahomet, IL
I was a student with season tickets in C section in the very top row for the 04-05 season. The atmosphere of the Wake Forest game that year was unlike anything I had heard before or after. It was pandemonium in that building that night, and we ran the #1 team in the country out of the building. The crowd had a huge factor in that game. There were games later in the year when our home winning streak was in doubt, and the crowd was not loud until panic set in. This has always been a thing. Big games, big time atmosphere. The overall level is higher though for all games when the team is considered a contender for national title every year. There was a time in the late Self/early Webber era where that was the general belief. I think we are near that level again, but it's hard to feel that way consistently with the roster turnover of the modern era. As a fan, you can't get excited about what the core players will be like when they are seniors. But, the good news about that is you don't have to wait 3 years for your team to be great. So, it's a tradeoff.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Hell, I would even admit to being fairly "reserved" as an in-person fan compared to what a lot of others might be like. However, eventually I cannot help but get caught up in the moment, and I'm cheering like crazy. I also just can't understand throwing that kind of money at attending an event you should care about and then seeming apathetic.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
To be clear, I obviously would agree that there has never been this "perfect era" anywhere, where AH/SFC was just electric every game. However, for a hypothetical, I would argue that the atmosphere in 2005 ranged from a 6/10 for our "boring" home games to an 11/10 vs. Wake Forest. What my opinion is about our current state is that we have reduced both of those a bit ... I think we can fluctuate down to a 3 or 4 for games like this recent Rutgers home game (seriously the worst crowd I have ever personally seen on TV in Champaign), and our best efforts (e.g., Arizona in 2021-22) are still capping out at about a 9.
So while the same dynamic has existed in all eras, no doubt, I fear we have lowered both our floor and our ceiling. Hope the fans prove me wrong for some big home games down the stretch like Indiana, Wisconsin and especially Michigan!
Even with the line being what it is, I think Purdue will play extremely well after their loss, sorry to think that Illinois goes down 76-70.
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