Pregame: Illinois vs Alabama, Wednesday, November 19th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

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#101      
wpr
battle said:
back in the day (88-91ish), Loyola-Marymount would have had some really high O/Us - games often in the 100s for both teams
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About that same time they played UNLV Runnin Rebels. UNLV was a team that could get up and down the court too. They faced off in a preseason NIT game. LV won 102-91. Later that season the Rebs faced #11 Arkansas and won 101-93. LSU was #16 and beat them 105-107. Cal State Fullerton met them in the first round of the Big West 115-93. in The Dance Loyola got a rematch Elite Eight thriller 131-101 Rebels. Jerry Tarkanian's boys embarrassed Dookie for the championship 103-73. It probably wasn't that close. I remember watching it but don't remember the details of the game other than I was glad they thrashed them.
Top 12 draft picks were 1 Larry Johnson, 9 Stacey Augmon and 12 Greg Anthony.
 
#102      
ptgrd23
JMO - mistake to schedule Alabama for weekday. They should have done it during Thanksgiving week or Christmas week the students would be home. Wish I could go but I am on west coast and have to work this week.

Notice - UCONN MSG game is on day after Thanksgiving. That will be sellout. I attended Duke MSG saturday game last year and it was sold out.

It was different in the late 90's early 2000 when Illinois was perennial top 10 and we brought in Duke, AZ to United Center. Only 2021 #1 seed and 2024 elite 8 team generated sell out attendance. I have a feeling this team may do the same later in year.
 
#104      
mysterio2525
Fighter of the Nightman said:
RE: Ticket sales, I posted a screenshot of what it looked like on whatever date, and here has been the progression.

Friday, October 24
View attachment 45042

Monday, November 10
View attachment 45041

Monday, November 17
View attachment 45040

So in the last couple of weeks, the "TV sections" have more or less filled up, and there has been quite a bit of positive movement in the lower bowl in general. I wouldn't be surprised if it LOOKS a lot more full than people might assume, but I do hope there is a surge in late buyers over the next two days. Hell, we are going for sure and still haven't decided what tickets we want to buy yet!

FWIW - and this is nowhere near as sophisticated as what our pal @IlliniInBuckeyeState can do - this is my SUPER back-of-the napkin estimates for the capacity of the UC by section from eyeballing that ticket site and messing around in Excel (which is why my estimates will appear as exact numbers even though they're guesses, lol).

6,690 Lower Bowl (100s)
- 2,848 "TV seats"
- 3,842 baseline and corners

3,318 Middle Bowl (200s)
- 1,008 "TV seats"
- 2,310 baseline and corners

9,278 Upper Bowl (300s)
- 1,828 "TV seats"
- 7,450 baseline and corners

That would put the UC capacity at 19,286 compared to its 20,917 actual capacity, so we'll goose up my guess.

Basically, I think we have sold out or will NEARLY sell out all "TV seats" in the 200 and 300 level, and the lower level looks like 85-90% full, which is a floor attendance of like 5,300 ... probably not coincidentally what the attendance was during our last dud outing here during the Groce years! We've pretty much sold out like 90%+ of the 200 level, and probably between 55-60% of the upper bowl, with the baseline seats being especially empty.

TL;DR

I plugged in a bunch of high-level guesses by section of the percent of tickets sold, and that possibly unreliable formula came to 13,964. Since my capacity to begin with was 8.5% low, adjusting my guess up by that proportion would give an estimate of 15,145 ... which would be respectable. It might be overly optimistic of me, but it's kind of nice that the VAST majority of the remaining seats are in less expensive areas, many below $40. I don't know who is expecting to attend a game in 2025 for cheaper than that, so hopefully just a bunch of procrastinators like me can swell the numbers up. :cool:
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just purchased my section 108 tickets last Friday.

Starship Troopers GIF
 
#105      
abchew2
How is the knee swelling for big Z? Assume it’s fine as I haven’t heard any more about it since the post game presser.
 
#106      
Double Secret Probation
RollChief said:
Honestly I like our chances even without Tomi. Get him healthy and conditioned for the UConn game at MSG in 11 days, that is going to be a much tougher test for this team
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Ooh not sure about that with Big Z also hurting and questionable. I haven't seen any update on his condition in the past 24 hours, so I don't know anything about Z's "official" status
 
#107      
Cary67
MikeTisdale said:
I think people are kind of missing the fact that we're better than Purdue and this is essentially a home game (will have a homer crowd and likely officiating).

There's a scenario where Alabama gets hot and hits 40%+ of their 3s and Illinois can't take advantage of what should be a lop-sided rebounding effort, but I doubt that happens.

I agree, Illinois by 10
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Better than Purdue is just speculation at this point until we have data to support that claim.If we beat Alabama decisively at the United Center; than beat Missouri and Tennessee along with playing UConn close or beat them than you can say we're better than Purdue.
 
#108      
fulton steamer
EmeraldCityIllini said:
Of all the difficult non-con games, i circled this one to start the year as our best matchup. Alabama guards are awesome, but Boswell being able to stick on one is a luxury. And then their frontcourt is average to me for a top 25 team, and Tomi would be a huge advantage.

Without Tomi, or a limited Tomi, the matchup is a lot different. I realize am stating the obvious, hes our best player. But i think even more so this game.
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Not arguing, just wondering. Does everyone consider Tomi to be our best player?
 
#114      
Combo
RockfordIllini said:
If we can get ~35ish minutes combined from the Ivisics, I like our chances. Fill the remaining 4-5 minutes with some combo of Mirk/Ben/Jaskstys.
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I agree with this. Any news on Z? I know he was limited last game because of swelling in his knee. We need either he or Tomi to be close to 100%.

We're really not that deep right now.
 
#116      
BretMyBeachHouse
band camp said:
The staff seems to be practice more caution with injury and illness than others.
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Actually, I don't think that is the case. I think KJ came back to quickly last year. He was never the same after that injury and I really wonder if another 2 or 3 games off would have cost us some wins but helped us in March.

This year we're getting the best of both worlds. Full recuperation and wins using the healthy guys.
 
#117      
EmeraldCityIllini
hoopsfan47 said:
Wow....after watching the first four games....I am not sure anyone on the planet is qualified to call any member of this roster "our best player" ...or even most valuable. We have a roster with 6 or 7 guys that can be "our best player" on any given night. But that is the type of roster it takes to compete for a national title.

It is quite if you ask the players and coaches you would likely get about 4 different answers to "our best player?" I really like the value of them all....and they all can stink or be world elite on any given game day. Tomi is certainly one of those guys though. Can't wait to see a full roster ready to play a top 10 team but who knows if/when that will happen?
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I had no idea calling Big T our best player would cause this much turmoil. I certainly agree we have a lot of good players - i love this team, and think we should beat Bama regardless.

Let's try this again... Bama's strength is their backcourt, and there's questions on how good their frontcourt is. Big T is a really awesome frontcourt player that I think Bama would have struggles matching up with. I felt a lot of confidence in this one before the T injury.
 
#124      
hoopsfan47
EmeraldCityIllini said:
I had no idea calling Big T our best player would cause this much turmoil. I certainly agree we have a lot of good players - i love this team, and think we should beat Bama regardless.

Let's try this again... Bama's strength is their backcourt, and there's questions on how good their frontcourt is. Big T is a really awesome frontcourt player that I think Bama would have struggles matching up with. I felt a lot of confidence in this one before the T injury.
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No turmoil from me ECity and your thoughts are respected by me. But Tomi is not a lottery pick and though a huge piece of the puzzle, there are six guys on the roster that are being looked at by NBA scouts. It is just not my desire to anoint any of them as the team's best or MV player at this time.

One thing of which I am certain, several of them will receive that hype from time to time. If Tomi turns into a first team AA, I will be loving it, but he has weaknesses and those will not be overcome. His athleticism, strength and mid-range game are not NBA level....but his long-range shooting, passing, and IQ are...IMHO. It is certainly a plus for the program if he can play in the NBA for a decade or more. That will depend on his health at his size, and given his current issue, that may also be a long term limitation.

But the bottom line is I love watching him play when he is clicking. But I like all six of the stars on the roster that the NBA is looking. One will emerge at the end of the season to be named MVP. I will withhold my opinion for that honor until then...and meanwhile pull like and idiot fan for them all to play at that level....knowing that not a single one of them will do it every game.
 
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