Dan
Admin
Hall of Fame Classic (T-Mobile Center, Kansas City)
Illinois vs Cincinnati
Monday, November 22nd
5:30pm CT
ESPNews
Illinois vs Cincinnati
Monday, November 22nd
5:30pm CT
ESPNews
Pregame: Illinois vs Cincinnati, Monday, November 22nd, 5:30pm CT, ESPNews
- Status
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You’ve been VERY missed! Lol.
Seriously, though, I want to see us come out and punch Cincinnati in the mouth. If we don’t, I’ll be fairly disappointed and concerned. Beating Cincinnati handily and beating a ranked Arkansas team would help erase Marquette for me and get us back on track.
I think we come out hungry for a win
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Well, I know what Cincinnati is going to be practicing all week
we will be practicing twice as hard, I can promise you that. We win by 15 tonight with Kofi regardless of how poorly we played
frozenrope9190
- Aurora, IL
I will be there. Looking forward to the overnight stay in KC after we clobber the Bearcats.
Let us know how the BBQ is
Who’s ready for the revenge game
Looking at the remaining schedule, there is a decent chance this team goes undefeated or maybe only loses one game all the way through the Minnesota game (3rd big ten game). Kofi and Hutch coming back is massive depth wise and for just overall scoring. This is a very good and talented team, everyone needs to trust in Brad. The loss tonight will help big time down the road.
Agreed. I’m not sure people fully understand how special it is to have Kofi. His presence draws a ton of attention. You can’t play him straight up. It’s really hard for teams that have never seen a guy like him to figure out what to do.
Unfortunately, it can creates a scenario where his team isn’t sure what to do w/o him.
JFGsCoffeeMug
BU:1 Trash cans:0
- Chicago
At the end of the Kofi-less stretch, Kenpom drops us to #20 AdjO, but keeps us at #1 AdjD.
Torvik has us at #17 AdjO and #2 AdjD.
Let's see what happens when you add back in 1-2 projected starters.
Torvik has us at #17 AdjO and #2 AdjD.
Let's see what happens when you add back in 1-2 projected starters.
Everything is fine...Good Night.
As a new Cincinnati resident, I would much appreciate a blowout. Especially after last night.
danielb927
Orange Krush Class of 2013
- Rochester, MN
If you’re still on the ledge from last night, take a breath. We’re still #5 in KenPom, still #5 on T-Rank, and it’s KOFI TIME.
MDchicago
- Lake Norman NC
Cincinnati Bearcats - Program Overview
- Conference:
- American Athletic Conference (since 2005)
- Joining Big 12 (effective date TBD, likely 2023 or 2024)
- Coach Wes Miller: 1st season at Cincinnati
- 11th season as a head coach (despite being only 38 years old) after 10 years at UNC-Greensboro (185-135), winning three Southern conference championships and going to two NCAA tournaments in the last five seasons.
- Walk-on at UNC for three seasons with the stated goal of learning as much as he could from Roy Williams and becoming a college coach
- Member of UNC’s 2005 NCAA championship team
- Authored "The Road to Blue Heaven," a diary of his senior (06-07) season at UNC
- 33 NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2019 (first round exit).
- Appeared in 9 of the past 10 NCAA Tournaments.
- Amazing 5 consecutive Final 4 appearances between 1959-1963 while a member of the Missouri Valley conference
- 1961 and 1962 NCAA tournament champions (runner-up in 1963)
- 10 NBA draft picks since 2000 (1 since 2011), most recently in 2018 (four first rounders, including #1 overall Kenyon Martin in 2000). Oscar Robertson was #1 overall in 1960.
- 5th meeting between two of the top 20 programs of all time
- Cincinnati with 1,848 wins since 1902; Illinois with 1,835 wins since 1906
- Illinois has been nationally ranked (#3, #4, #13, #1 and #?) at the time of each of the 5 games spanning 58 years; Cincinnati has also been ranked at the time of 3 of the games.
- Illinois all-time record vs. Cincinnati: 3-1(all on neutral courts), most recently in 2004.
- January 1963 at Chicago Stadium: #2 Cincinnati 62, #3 Illinois 53.Battle of styles with Cincinnati slower and more methodical and Illinois more run and gun (averaging 88 ppg). Per SI article, Cincinnati controlled the pace and Illinois shot poorly, “Finally, with five minutes left and a nine-point lead, Cincinnati shifted from slowdown to deep freeze, and refused to shoot at all. The boos rattled the stadium roof, but nothing rattles a Cincinnati stall and Illinois was beaten.”
- Cincinnati was 2x defending national champion and Tony Yates, its 25 year old captain, playmaker and defensive stalwart (also the starting PG on the two title winning teams), was named to All-American teams (Helms,1st; AP 3rd) despite averaging only 7.6 points. A grown man, he served in the Air Force and got married before starting college.
- Yates went on to be a great assistant coach at Illinois, first for Gene Bartow in 74-75 and then Lou Henson (through 82-83 season), and was a key recruiter (helping land players like Audie Matthews (Top 10 Parade All-American), Eddie Johnson (Top 20 Parade All-American), Derek Harper (Top 10 Parade All-American), Efrem Winters (MVP of McDonalds AA game) and Bruce Douglas (McDonalds AA) helping Lou with the rebuild. He left to become the head coach at Cincinnati.
- December 18, 1984 at Rosemont Horizon. #4 Illinois 87, Cincinnati 65. Illini shoot 59.2% from the field and have 24 assists on 29 FGs, 5 players in double figures, led by Ken Norman with 17 (in 13 minutes) and Efrem Winters with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
- 2004 NCAA tournament 2nd round (Columbus, OH): #13 (5 seed) Illinois 92, #11 (4 seed) Cincinnati 68. Dominant performance by the Illini is a reminder of how much potential the 03-04 team had (with the same lineup) a year before the run to the title game as a 1 seed in 04-05. Turns out shooting 63.6% from the field (including 11-19 from 3FG) and having 26 assists and 4 turnovers is a good formula for winning tournament games. Deron Williams led the way with 31 points (including 6 3FGs) and 7 assists, Roger Powell had 22 points, Dee had 14 points and 8 assists, and Luther had 6 points and 9 assists.
- December 31, 2004 in Las Vegas. #1 Illinois 67, #22 Cincinnati 45. Illinois moves to 14-0 with New Year’s Eve victory in Vegas. 4 Illini in double figures (Deron, Dee, Roger and Luther).
- January 1963 at Chicago Stadium: #2 Cincinnati 62, #3 Illinois 53.Battle of styles with Cincinnati slower and more methodical and Illinois more run and gun (averaging 88 ppg). Per SI article, Cincinnati controlled the pace and Illinois shot poorly, “Finally, with five minutes left and a nine-point lead, Cincinnati shifted from slowdown to deep freeze, and refused to shoot at all. The boos rattled the stadium roof, but nothing rattles a Cincinnati stall and Illinois was beaten.”
Our entire offense is built around Kofi pick and rolls. His (exceptional) box score production is only part of the story, he opens up the game for everyone else, including ‘Belo. Would I have loved an easy W yesterday? Sure. But our “real” season starts in six days. I think there is a significant chance we win both games next week by double digits and a non-negligible chance a backboard gets shattered.
Brad would never admit this publicly, but I imagine part of him is thrilled to have a dumpster fire game like this so early in the season to check egos and light a fire under these guys.
Brad would never admit this publicly, but I imagine part of him is thrilled to have a dumpster fire game like this so early in the season to check egos and light a fire under these guys.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
Can't wait for the first press break that ends in a alley-oop to Kofi.
redwingillini11
White and Sixth
- North Aurora
As putrid and disgusting of an all-around effort as we had last night, I do believe in everyone involved to really put in the effort to turn things around. Hoping for a great week of practice and reflection, and just go out and crush Cincinnati.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
While I am not this optimistic yet (for example, Curbelo not being suicidally terrible was a big foundation point for my optimism this season
), I do agree that this loss might serve us well in the long run. It should be a nice slice of humble pie for both Curbelo and the team as a whole, and I think it probably gave Trent some essential confidence going forward that he will need ... we will be relying on his offense a lot more than last year, and he is up to the challenge, IMO!As I said in the other thread, a terrible loss at Mizzou and a bad loss at home to Maryland didn't stop us from getting a 1-seed last year. We are a long way from that goal, based on last night, but the point is this loss wasn't detrimental to our goals of a deep Tournament run in March. Not at all. If we come out at full strength and get two wins this week (one being vs. #16 Arkansas, who will likely be ranked above us), the Marquette loss will be ancient history.
Not sure of the quality of Cincy players, but doesn’t look like Illini will “out depth” them. Think they have 10 or 11 players in averaging double digit mpg. They have 4 players averaging 25+ mpg, but no one over 28 mpg. Their wins so far are against Evansville and Georgia. Not sure how those teams are, but I’m guessing better than Jackson St and Ark St respectively.
- Status