My grade school did not have a gym and therefore no team. But in fifth grade, we moved across town and about 1/2 block away from the school that had grades 1-8....and a lightweight and heavyweight jr. high program I was allowed to play on the lightweights....fourth string that year...and games were played at the high school gym. I played in a couple of blowout games there and even scored my first basket in a road game. The next year, I started on a team that went to the Sweet Sixteen...not hardly because of me but due to a talented eighth-grader who went on to play at University of Evansville that won a national title in his freshman year when frosh were ineligible.I really don't feel so bad now after all these years, now that one of our posts wrote he played 8 years at his H.S. gym. My 6 doesn't even compare
Pregame: Illinois at Rutgers, Saturday, December 2nd, 3:00pm CT, BTN
- Status
Dan
Admin
BTN (Cory Provus & Stephen Bardo)
fightingillini.com
No. 24 Illini Open B1G Play Saturday at Rutgers - University of Illinois Athletics
No. 24 Illinois begins its 119th season of Big Ten play Saturday afternoon at Rutgers (3 p.m. CT, BTN).
fightingillini.com
Here are our Quad 1 opportunities this season (from Torvik)...
@Rutgers
(N) FIU
@Tenn
@Purdue
MSU
@Mich
@NW
@tOSU
@MSU
@Maryland
@Wisconsin
Purdue
@Iowa
This game is arguably our easiest Quad 1 chance, or at least one of the easiest. Also, see how there are only 2 Quad 1 home games? We are going to have to be road warriors if we want to have a good looking resume this year. Now would be a perfect time to start collecting those signature road wins that the committee loves.
I think we can do it. Last year we were 3-7 on the road. This year our defense is better, and I think we are tougher and play better as a team. Those things travel.
@Rutgers
(N) FIU
@Tenn
@Purdue
MSU
@Mich
@NW
@tOSU
@MSU
@Maryland
@Wisconsin
Purdue
@Iowa
This game is arguably our easiest Quad 1 chance, or at least one of the easiest. Also, see how there are only 2 Quad 1 home games? We are going to have to be road warriors if we want to have a good looking resume this year. Now would be a perfect time to start collecting those signature road wins that the committee loves.
I think we can do it. Last year we were 3-7 on the road. This year our defense is better, and I think we are tougher and play better as a team. Those things travel.
+1 for the Chicago Stadium memories. Seeing a Hawks game back in the day was an experience like no other. Will never be replicated in modern stadiums.
Beyond the engineering and acoustics, I think it is short attention spans. As someone here mentioned the other day, people are looking at their phones half the the time, instead of the game. Even the older folks (looks in mirror).
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
Need a win for orange and blue morale.
Illinois -1 on draft kings at the moment
Co-Hawk's availability probably moves the line a bit, I'd think. Honestly, I'd just like to get out of there with a win. Don't care if it's 49-48. Any road win in the Big 10 is a good win. It seems we have a little momentum based on the 5-1 start, win over Kansas in the scrimmage, and practices seem to be very competitive and solid. To open with a road conference win could be huge for confidence and momentum. I think this team has a pretty high ceiling. That Oakland win is looking decent since they had Ohio St. worried late and have gone to Xavier and won. I could see us 11-2 heading to Purdue for a monster matchup of something like #3 vs. #14. If we can stay healthy, this might be the year we make a deep run with our depth. I could see an Elite Eight appearance, but really think Co-Hawk is the key. Shannon is Shannon - a stud. Goode can shoot it. Love how Guerrier hits the glass. Harmon provides meaningful minutes. Domask hasn't even shot well yet, but does a little of everything. Dain gives us good size. Rodgers plays very hard and has good size. Our freshmen also play hard and have talent and could provide a few important minutes here and there. If Co-Hawk plays up to his potential and doesn't get complacent we could be REALLY good. He's the wildcard in my opinion. The question is, is he all in and focused on this year's team or is his mind thinking about the next level? If he's all in for this year we are one of the top 10 teams in the country, in my opinion.
Joel Goodson
- respect my decision™
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Coffee's made, Illini garb has been donned, am preparing to hit I-95 North to glorious NJ (the Tollbooth State), enjoy the bounty that the Rutgers campus will no doubt offer us, and savor a sweet Illini win in the RAC. Get 'er done, boys!
View attachment 29249
Definitely a possibility and a concern. If I had to guess, we probably had a couple mini-training camp style practices to re-establish our foundation on offense and defense.
We probably also looked at how we’ve been guarded by teams and what tweaks we might make when we see those schemes.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Rutgers wearing their throwback red script jerseys … hope we bust out our superior white script ones!
That game, and the noise, was something one can never truly understand unless they were there. And to think, when we were down 15, I was ready to head to the door to beat traffic, thank goodness my (now) wife said she wanted to stay until the end.
Now for tonight, as others have said, as long as we come out with high energy and don't start tossing up threes (unless we're hitting them), I see a very close win for us.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Going on the road for the conference opening game has always been a tough task in the B$G...........Both road teams lost yesterday.....I'm confused why the twerps look so lost on the court this year......they have veterans in Young , Scott and Reese still there and they looked so lost yesterday.........
the mildcats vs. purdont game was a very entertaining tussle with plenty of top notch highlights.....As some have already posted , if you look at the stats you would think that purdont won the game...........life in the B$G is a rock fight every game.....With that being said I feel like our game today will result in an Illini victory..............I just feel it in my 72 year old bones.......
We have a multitude of weapons we can unleash at them , and our defense is borderline " ELITE "......It really really is...........
Illini 66
RU 59
Happy Holidays Everybody.............................
the mildcats vs. purdont game was a very entertaining tussle with plenty of top notch highlights.....As some have already posted , if you look at the stats you would think that purdont won the game...........life in the B$G is a rock fight every game.....With that being said I feel like our game today will result in an Illini victory..............I just feel it in my 72 year old bones.......
We have a multitude of weapons we can unleash at them , and our defense is borderline " ELITE "......It really really is...........
Illini 66
RU 59
Happy Holidays Everybody.............................
@Maryland the easiest out of that last... will that even be Q1 though? Not a good start for the Terps
Yup. Spent 2 full days on the offensive end too. Rutgers has been predominantly drop coverage and I would expect that again today. Expect a lot of the same actions we saw against WIU.
- Status