Pregame: Illinois vs Alabama, Wednesday, November 20th, 8:00pm CT, SECN
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The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
Bama beat Arkansas State by 9 and McNeese State by 8. We’ll know more about them after they play Purdue on Friday.
May have to bring a little more than we did tonight.
McNeese is sneaky good with Will Wade coaching them. The Arkansas St deal is different...not sure what happened there. I still wouldn't expect a win. It's more likely that Bama wins by 20 than a close game. I think the Ole Miss game still has me a bit skeptical on how they will do against a juggernaut of an opponent, especially what amounts to a road game
Purdue looks bad to me. I think Bama will steamroll them.
Can't have the turnovers we had tonight or it will be a very long game for us.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
We're going to learn a lot about both teams during this game.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I know I literally just posted in another thread about the importance of Big Ten teams performing well in the non-conference ... but I definitely hope 'Bama wins in West Lafayette. For one, I am a bit sick of Purdue and I miss the days during my formative years when they were terrible and only deserved a casual, passing respect for Gene Keady. 
The more important thing, though, is that I really do not want to be Alabama's "rebound game," heading back to their home turf after a draining loss in the hornet's nest that is Mackey Arena. So, go 'Bama!
As for this game and ignoring how Alabama performs in West Lafayette, we will need to clean things up a lot to win. However, Alabama has looked far from invincible and we have the talent to win. Let's hope it all comes together next week!
The more important thing, though, is that I really do not want to be Alabama's "rebound game," heading back to their home turf after a draining loss in the hornet's nest that is Mackey Arena. So, go 'Bama!As for this game and ignoring how Alabama performs in West Lafayette, we will need to clean things up a lot to win. However, Alabama has looked far from invincible and we have the talent to win. Let's hope it all comes together next week!
Best case scenario... Bama beats Purdue by 40+ and then we beat Bama by 40+I know I literally just posted in another thread about the importance of Big Ten teams performing well in the non-conference ... but I definitely hope 'Bama wins in West Lafayette. For one, I am a bit sick of Purdue and I miss the days during my formative years when they were terrible and only deserved a casual, passing respect for Gene Keady.
As for this game and ignoring how Alabama performs in West Lafayette, we will need to clean things up a lot to win. However, Alabama has looked far from invincible and we have the talent to win. Let's hope it all comes together next week!
Think we get a big Kylan game a la Mayer vs Texas 2 years ago.
Whichever team scores the most points, wins.
Whichever team scores the most points, wins.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
And 'Bama somehow gains that 40+ point advantage in the third overtime.Best case scenario... Bama beats Purdue by 40+ and then we beat Bama by 40+
I'm not sure if anyone else has this concern, but I don't see anyone on our roster that's overly athletic or explosive. Maybe Morez?
The SEC teams coming up are going to be wildly athletic. Last year, guys like CH, Ty and TJ were all unique and explosive athletes. This year, it's early but I haven't seen anyone jump off the page.
The SEC teams coming up are going to be wildly athletic. Last year, guys like CH, Ty and TJ were all unique and explosive athletes. This year, it's early but I haven't seen anyone jump off the page.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Did you not see Bringin Down the House Ben Humrichous last night??
You're right though. Rez, White, and DGL have a little pop but besides that we're not overly athletic. We'll compensate with length and shooting ability.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Thanks, I accidentally had signatures disabled and forgot I even had that!
I updated it just now and added UCLA, so ... we have some more work to do!
I agree to an extent, although CH isn't really a great athlete. I think his max vertical at the combine was 32" which is below average.
There will be nobody on this team like TSJ, athletically, and that we can say for certain.
DGL looks to have what I would call tier-1 athleticism at the D1 level, but he's a role player at the moment.
Also, Sports Illustrated currently has Tre as a 2nd round pick in this year's draft, and says his athleticism "really pops".
Not to tangent on Tre, but there's a lot of chatter about how he hasn't played well. What hasn't he done well? He's shooting 47/44/83 and averaging 8 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes per game.
Anyway, back on topic: I think the euro guys are probably also more athletic than we give them credit for, KJ especially.
Our backup center is 3x the athlete as the one we used last season, and while Domask was fantastic he is not more athletically gifted than KJ.
Wouldn't categorize Harmon, Guerrier as athletic either (Guerrier actually had some nagging injuries as well, I recall) and Goode would be Jake Davis except one was a rotation player and the other currently is not.
I think on the top end we are missing some athleticism we had last season, but would say we are more balanced in that regard now, we just don't have that uber-athletic freak like TSJ this year.
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Good stuff. I agree with 98.9% of that. Those are all very good points .
The only thing I would push back on a little is Guerrier. (Quincy clearly had hops.)
I couldn’t find his vertical score from the combine. But Quincy definitely had an above the rim game. At 6foot 7in or 6ft 8in…he led the team in dunks and it wasn’t even close.
This is the game that matters. How do we actually play against a top team on the road. Ole miss ex I think we can throw out the window if Alabama doesn’t body us. If they do… well. Let’s just find out in 6 days! Go ILLINI !
IbleedOandB2014
In BU we trust
- Chattanooga
Any restaurant recommendations? And places to park for the game?
The strength of the Illini team would be numbers. We have 5 legit superstars and another 5 who are capable of being the star of the game on any given night.
Having 10 like our team minimizes the chances that off nights from even 3 or so of our core players will sink the squad. In turn, this maximizes the chances that we will have more in the tank during the 2nd half of any game.
We are in good shape for a run at winning the BIG championship.
Having 10 like our team minimizes the chances that off nights from even 3 or so of our core players will sink the squad. In turn, this maximizes the chances that we will have more in the tank during the 2nd half of any game.
We are in good shape for a run at winning the BIG championship.
I agree with LoveLovie on both of these requirements, but...
How do the Illini do that against such a good team and in Birmingham?
My hopes are: Huge heater by Will, including him hitting some really tough shots. Big contribution offensively from both Tomislav and, surprisingly, Kasparas. Surprise good ball handling despite the pressure defense, so, again, low TOs.
Also needed for an IL win is: The best defense we've played all season. Plus, an off night from Bama. Check out that losing 2nd half Bama played against McNeese State (31 to 34). Yeah, one or two Alabama halves like that could open the door for an Illinois upset win, if we played our best basketball in all these ways above.
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