RU board seems awfully confident! I hope our loss to Mizzou can serve as both a chip on our shoulder AND allowing other top-half Big Ten teams maybe underestimating us a bit. When we play to our potential, there is no one in this conference that we can't run with, including Iowa and Michigan State and definitely Rutgers. With that said, I think RU is a very good team, and this will be a REAL challenge for us. If we win this game, I will buy right back in to us as a sure-fire top 10 team that is playing for a top 2 seed this year. I worry about matchups in this one, and our guards will have to be hitting some shots to take some pressure off both Kofi and Ayo. My prediction as of now:
#13 Illinois 76
#19 Rutgers 71
P.S. I really like Rutgers, and they are probably my second favorite Big Ten hoops team right now. While our success in basketball over the years obviously outshines theirs by light years, I also see many similarities between our schools. It's easy to root for another big state school in a populated state that probably prioritizes professional sports. Their NYC is kind of like our Chicago (massive metro area nearby that is full of transplants, definitely prefers pro sports, but also jumps on the bandwagon when a local team is good), and Philly is kind of like our St. Louis (smaller metro in the opposite direction, with suburbs in two states, that is mostly dominated by Mizzou/PSU but is still good recruiting ground for us), though I'd say we have a much stronger pull in and around St. Louis than Rutgers does in Philly.