Doesn’t matter. We are great at the point guard position. Nothing to worry about.Yeah he will be back this season
Doesn’t matter. We are great at the point guard position. Nothing to worry about.Yeah he will be back this season
Doesn’t matter. We are great at the point guard position. Nothing to worry about.
The B1G is weaker this year than previous years.Agreed that it's definitely way to early say anything definitive as there is a long way to go in the non-con still. That said, the B10 seems to be the #4 analytic conference right now and that's also propped up at this time based on last season's overall finish as the #2 conference. The B10 definitely needs some quality noncon wins at this point or B10 bubble teams will likely need to be pretty wary come season end. Hopefully we'll be the B10 team to deliver them.
Oh here we go again with this nonsense. Do I want to, at least, get to the Sweet 16 this year, ofc. Do I want BU fired if we don't, of f&%$ing course not; I am a rational and sane individual. He hasn't done anything to warrant being on the hot seat.Given the FB situation, IMO, there should not be any give in BB.
Get it done - sweet 16 or move on.
The era of experimentation, IMO, should be over.
Oh here we go again with this nonsense. Do I want to, at least, get to the Sweet 16 this year, ofc. Do I want BU fired if we don't, of f&%$ing course not; I am a rational and sane individual. He hasn't done anything to warrant being on the hot seat.
Lord, help us sane Illini fans. Protect us and our mental health from the crazy ones. Amen.
The hell is this take?Given the FB situation, IMO, there should not be any give in BB.
Get it done - sweet 16 or move on.
The era of experimentation, IMO, should be over.
To paraphrase: "Bielema's team underperformed so now Underwood is on the hot seat."The hell is this take?
Just glad that we don't have to face Mulcahy any more. Guy was like a recurring case of tinea cruris.
He is a pretty good player. If he is on your team you love him.Just glad that we don't have to face Mulcahy any more. Guy was like a recurring case of tinea cruris.
Apples and oranges.To paraphrase: "Bielema's team underperformed so now Underwood is on the hot seat."
Did you miss the era's prior. Both FB and BB coaches are unequivocally better than at least both of their previous two predecessors. Illinois isn't a top 5-10 coaching destination, probably not even a top 20 destination in either sport. But maybe you have lined up the replacements for Josh? Care to share who would be considered a non-experimental upgrade in either sport that is also willing sign-on for 5 years in Champaign?Given the FB situation, IMO, there should not be any give in BB.
Get it done - sweet 16 or move on.
The era of experimentation, IMO, should be over.
God bless you two!! This upcoming game is the type that just puts a pit in my stomach as a long-time fan. While it would obviously be great to get a road victory and start off the Big Ten season 1-0, I do fear that we have even more to lose with a loss than we have to gain with a win. We have four very tough games in December, and we quite simply have to win at least two of them to keep momentum going, IMO.The last game @altgeld88 and I traveled to was the MD football game…granted, not a big trip. We took another friend with us who was actually rooting for MD, and look how that turned out.
This time we are taking a different friend along to NJ, but I am thinking of getting there early and buying him a RU shirt to wear during the game…why mess with a proven formula.
Winning on the road in the BT is of course difficult, no matter the opponent. The RAC is a particularly hostile place to play from what I gather. We'll see. Thank goodness Rutgers is down this season compared with recent years. We can win there but have to show up early and aggressively. Have no idea what the 8-day layoff will yield.God bless you two!! This upcoming game is the type that just puts a pit in my stomach as a long-time fan. While it would obviously be great to get a road victory and start off the Big Ten season 1-0, I do fear that we have even more to lose with a loss than we have to gain with a win. We have four very tough games in December, and we quite simply have to win at least two of them to keep momentum going, IMO.
at Rutgers
vs. #19 FAU (New York, NY)
at #7 Tennessee
vs. Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
If we go 4-0, we have legitimately set ourselves on track to fight for a top 2 seed as crazy as that sounds (with obviously still much work to do). 3-1 would be fantastic in general, but especially if one of the wins is in Knoxville. 2-2 depends entirely on who we beat ... I don't think any of these will in any way be "bad" losses for our resumes, but Tennessee and FAU represent golden opportunities for good wins that we might not have as much of during Big Ten play. I think we have to get one of those.
I also actually think Mizzou will be decent this year, and anything can happen at Braggin' Rights ... so I will feel relatively assured if we can survive and get out of the RAC with a win. Winning on Saturday takes a lot of pressure off of this team as it heads to Madison Square Garden, and the FAU game becomes less of a "backs against the wall" game and way more of a "golden opportunity" game.
Agreed. I mostly want the Rutgers win so that we can be playing with house money in the Tennessee and FAU games and still feel good about this team going into the holidays ... I want Braggin' Rights as badly as anyone, but that one just kind of is what it is. Always intense. I have nightmares of playing at Rutgers, haha ... so I'll really start to get pumped if we can win that one.Winning on the road in the BT is of course difficult, no matter the opponent. The RAC is a particularly hostile place to play from what I gather. We'll see. Thank goodness Rutgers is down this season compared with recent years. We can win there but have to show up early and aggressively. Have no idea what the 8-day layoff will yield.
I want the Braggin' Rights game badly this year. We're 1-4 in the past 5 and last year was a complete debacle. With FAU and TN the chips will fall where they may.
Small, compact arenas are hell to play in as a visiting team if the crowd is into it. I'm getting to be an old man and reflect occasionally on what, for example, Oregon lost by moving from MacArthur Court to its present, Phil Knight-funded large arena, and other programs have given up via similar moves to larger venues. In the BT, I've been to the Barn twice when it was empty (in the late '80s.) I can tell you from watching the Gophers on TV when I was a kid that you're right: the place is frightful when it's full and rockin' and the Gophers are rolling. That hasn't happened with regularity over the years, however. Look up the YouTube video of the early '70s Bill Musselman-era, Harlem Globetrotters-inspired warmup routine that the Gophers had and you'll get an idea of the potential.Agreed. I mostly want the Rutgers win so that we can be playing with house money in the Tennessee and FAU games and still feel good about this team going into the holidays ... I want Braggin' Rights as badly as anyone, but that one just kind of is what it is. Always intense. I have nightmares of playing at Rutgers, haha ... so I'll really start to get pumped if we can win that one.
In fact, slightly off topic here, but IF you tried to "control" for factors other than the arena itself, I would actually rank the RAC as maybe even the most difficult place to play in the Big Ten. In other words, is the Kohl Center really a difficult place to play, or is Wisconsin usually good plus the Kohl Center is at least a passable atmosphere. Conversely, does the Barn actually have insane potential for a home court atmosphere but Minnesota is usually just bad so we can't see it? In some magical hypothetical world where each team was somehow like 16-0 with a sellout crowd, they each had more or less the same talent level and each had an exciting/name opponent coming to town for a Saturday afternoon game, I would actually rank the other 13 Big Ten arenas like this on their "inherent" gameday atmosphere:
Rutgers - Absolute snake pit.
Purdue - Tin box of noise but less on top of you than the RAC.
Michigan State - Layout of the students feels the most suffocating in the conference.
Indiana - Overrated but still unique enough to be intimidating.
Minnesota - Seriously, imagine like Kansas playing in here with a raucous crowd...
Maryland - Also kind of overrated, but the super steep student section seating is indeed imposing.
Nebraska - Surprisingly loud and compact and laid out more strategically for noise, being a new arena.
Iowa - Absolutely terrible layout and aesthetically boring as all hell, but it at least gets really loud sometimes with that flat roof.
Michigan - Decent student section layout, but the rest is uninspiring.
Wisconsin - Literally carried only by good teams being supported by good fans over the years ... was like a morgue many times last season when I watched.
Penn State - Seems dingy, but I bet an elite program on a roll could turn it into a pretty loud arena?
Ohio State - Seems to be just new/NBA-esque enough to lack atmosphere but just old enough to not be on Nebraska's level.
Northwestern - Even when Illini fans erupted after Da'Monte's putback dunk the last time I was there, that arena just doesn't get as loud as it should for being so small ... and now it's even lost the quirky trait of being like a high school gym with the renovations, lol.
To go back on topic ... yeah, it's difficult for Big Ten teams to win at the RAC when there is a full and energetic crowd. RU has knocked off five ranked teams in the past two seasons, even while usually being a Bubble team at best.