Pregame: Illinois vs Duquesne, Saturday, March 23rd, 7:40pm CT, TNT

Status
Not open for further replies.
#78      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
Watched the Sleepers game recap. (Thanks @Kramerica Industries for posting it.) They're right. We have an effort problem at the outset of games, which is kinda crazy at this point. Unless that gets fixed, stat, it will likely take us down soon. Can't have these 9-0 deficits or drop 10 behind in the first half anymore.

They also agree with @ChiefGritty: the Duquesne game Saturday is the biggest one in the recent (~20-year) history of Illinois basketball. Get to the Sweet 16, the first BU weekend demons are gone, and everyone is playing with house money and feeling loose. Their comp is 2013 Michigan team v. VCU in the second round. Many parallels: a coach dismissed for lack of March results, and a team suddenly realizing that it has weapons no one can counter.

Here's to Saturday. :illinois:🏀
 
Last edited:
#79      

Second place is 1st loser

S
Second place is 1st loser
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Someone had asked earlier about the history of us having a favorable upset in our region when we were a decently high seed, such as #11 Duquesne upsetting #6 BYU. Since the modern seeding started in 1985, this is the history. Limiting it to top 5 seeds, since a #5 seed is more or less the same as a "protected" #4 seed.

1985: #3 Illinois makes Sweet Sixteen. No upsets, we had to beat #6 Georgia and lost to #2 Georgia Tech in the Sweet Sixteen.
1986: #4 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, we lost to #5 Alabama in the Second Round and would have had to play #1 Kentucky in the Sweet Sixteen.
1987: #3 Illinois loses First Round. Yes, we all know the Austin Peay disaster. However, there were no upsets waiting ... we would have had to beat #6 Providence and #2 Alabama.
1988: #3 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, we lost to #6 Villanova in the Second Round and would have faced #2 Kentucky.
1989: #1 Illinois makes Final Four. Zero upsets, after our First Round win, we beat #9 Ball State, #4 Louisville and #2 Syracuse to get to the Final Four.
1990: #5 Illinois loses First Round. While we would have had to beat #4 Arkansas in the Second Round, #8 seed North Carolina knocked off #1 Oklahoma in our region ... and proceeded to lose by 23 to #4 Arkansas. And then #4 Arkansas made the Final Four by beating #10 Texas in the Elite Eight because of two upsets in the bottom of the bracket.
1998: #5 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, we would have had to beat #1 Arizona if we got past #4 Maryland.
2000: #4 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, #5 Florida (who beat us) had to go through #1 Duke and #3 Oklahoma State to make the Final Four.
2001: #1 Illinois makes Elite Eight. No upsets, we ran through #4 Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen before going down to #2 Arizona (the first Illini game I remember).
2002: #4 Illinois makes Sweet Sixteen. As another poster mentioned, we WERE helped out here by #12 Creighton taking down #5 Florida in the First Round.
2003: #4 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, if we had beat #5 Notre Dame, we'd have #1 Arizona waiting.
2004: #5 Illinois makes Sweet Sixteen. No upsets, we beat #5 Cincinnati (like a drum!) before falling short vs. #1 Duke.
2005: #1 Illinois makes National Championship Game. After beating #9 Nevada, we did get to face #12 UW-Milwaukee (who had just knocked off #5 Alabama and #4 Boston College).
2006: #4 Illinois loses Second Round. While we would have had to beat #1 UConn in the Sweet Sixteen, #11 George Mason waited in the Elite Eight.
2021: #1 Illinois loses Second Round. Frustrating missed opportunity ... if we got past #8 Loyola, we would have faced #12 Oregon State for a trip to the Elite Eight.
2022: #4 Illinois loses Second Round. No upsets, we had #1 Arizona waiting.

TL;DR
So, 2024 (#11 Duquesne standing between us and a Sweet Sixteen) is one of the most favorable setups we have ever had to make the Second Weekend. GET IT DONE!

P.S. I was not around for 1990, but MAN that one seems like a huge wasted opportunity. We lost by 2 to #12 Dayton who then lost by 2 to #4 Arkansas ... who would go on to the Final Four.
Click to expand...
Which year was it that we lost to Chattanooga in the 2nd round after they had a monster upset? Rumor was that they heard out players cheering and already making plans for the Sweet 16? Was that 1997?
 
#80      

fatboyslim

F
fatboyslim
altgeld88 said:
Watched the Sleepers game recap. (Thanks @Kramerica Industries for posting it.) They're right. We have an effort problem at the outset of games, which is kinda crazy at this point. Unless that gets fixed, stat, it will likely take us down soon. Can't have these 9-0 deficits or drop 10 behind in the first half anymore.

They also agree with @ChiefGritty: the Duquesne game Saturday is the biggest one in the recent (~20-year) history of Illinois basketball. Get to the Sweet 16, the first BU weekend demons are gone, and everyone is playing with house money and feeling loose. Their comp is 2013 Michigan team v. VCU in the second round. many parallels: a coach dismissed for alck of March results, and a team suddenly realizing that it has weapons no one can counter.

Here's to Saturday. :illinois:🏀
Click to expand...
Not a big fan of Sleepers but they are wrong. I think our effort is fine at the outset. It was fine against Iowa and Purdue. We've played some good and hot teams in this stretch. The other team is trying to win too.
 
#81      

altgeld88

altgeld88
Arlington, Virginia
altgeld88
fatboyslim said:
Not a big fan of Sleepers but they are wrong. I think our effort is fine at the outset. It was fine against Iowa and Purdue. We've played some good and hot teams in this stretch. The other team is trying to win too.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Brad acknowledged it's a problem in the postgame presser. My take today was that MSU was hot early and also they doubled Marcus and forced us out of what we normally do. Once we adapted, they couldn't cope. I didn't believe we were flat out of the gate, but that OSU game last Friday, and Nebraska, bothered me. We were fine v. Wisconsin.
 
#83      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
fatboyslim said:
Not a big fan of Sleepers but they are wrong. I think our effort is fine at the outset. It was fine against Iowa and Purdue. We've played some good and hot teams in this stretch. The other team is trying to win too.
Click to expand...


I can't possibly imagine why. They are maybe the hardest working dudes covering college basketball, they are clearly huge fans and not homers, and they are genuine.

I've never seen or heard anything controversial come from them, but I haven't seen it all so maybe they could offend someone.
 
#85      

Snoopy

S
Snoopy
altgeld88 said:
Interesting. Brad acknowledged it's a problem in the postgame presser. My take today was that MSU was hot early and also they doubled Marcus and forced us out of what we normally do. Once we adapted, they couldn't cope. I didn't believe we were flat out of the gate, but that OSU game last Friday, and Nebraska, bothered me. We were fine v. Wisconsin.
Click to expand...
Brad will never pass up an excuse to push the team to work harder. I was happy the team is resilient enough to come back. Remember Illinois teams of the past that would have tensed up and started missing layups or just not have had enough offense to make up the points. With this team, scoring in the 80s night in and night out, I worry more about a team hanging around and then going on a late run against us, where we don't have time to counter.
 
#87      

Chad Fleck

Chad Fleck
Eureka, IL
Chad Fleck
skyIdub said:
I can't possibly imagine why. They are maybe the hardest working dudes covering college basketball, they are clearly huge fans and not homers, and they are genuine.

I've never seen or heard anything controversial come from them, but I haven't seen it all so maybe they could offend someone.
Click to expand...
I could imagine someone not appreciating their "bits" and jokes. I think they are hilarious, but a more serious person might not enjoy listening.
 
#90      

skyIdub

skyIdub
Winged Warrior
skyIdub
Thaillini22 said:
I like the dragon motif you've got going in your posts the last few hours.
Click to expand...

TSJ is the Dragon. Errbody know who the Bear is now!!

Terrance just isn't going to let the game be played at the opponents pace. That's what got us in '21 with Loyola. It's about to get Kentucky.

He forces the issue like no other player I've ever seen in college. Morehead thought they could run...they FAAFO.
 
#91      

cs04

cs04
cs04
The refusal to play the opponent's pace and push it up court when possible was so refreshing, like there’s some actual thinking happening outside of the immediate possession.
 
#92      

IlliniKat91

IlliniKat91
Chicago, IL
IlliniKat91
Chad Fleck said:
I could imagine someone not appreciating their "bits" and jokes. I think they are hilarious, but a more serious person might not enjoy listening.
Click to expand...
I want to get beers with them, honestly. They seem like quality dudes.

The fact that Greg admitted on a recent episode that the got into Michigan and was set to go there after his dad raised him as a die hard fan, only to realize he hated the people that were going there (too snooty) so he went to State instead. My kind of dude, honestly
 
#94      

aaeismacgychel

A
aaeismacgychel
altgeld88 said:
Interesting. Brad acknowledged it's a problem in the postgame presser. My take today was that MSU was hot early and also they doubled Marcus and forced us out of what we normally do. Once we adapted, they couldn't cope. I didn't believe we were flat out of the gate, but that OSU game last Friday, and Nebraska, bothered me. We were fine v. Wisconsin.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty close to you in my thoughts. I thought effort needed to be much better on the defensive glass in those first few minutes but I didn't think we came out effortless or flat as we did come out nervous and tentative. I also thought Morehead State came out with their hair on fire and we were down 9-0 a minute in because they made their threes with a hand in their face. But they also did it while moving at about double the speed
they have all season based on the film I watched on them. They were amped, sped up on offense, and putting in a lot of energy to get their shots. It just didn't seem sustainable. And sure enough, they fatigued hard that 2nd half.

Now after those first few minutes, I did feel we had some lulls in that 1st half in possible effort and sloppiness issues, but I didn't see us down 9-0 due to lack of effort as much as I saw us blitzed. And credit to Morehead State for that. But in doing so and playing that entire first half at such a high effort and pace they had no legs for the 2nd half kick. Game over. No effort was 1st half OSU in the BTT, not this one in my opinion
 
#96      

phats22

P
phats22
Dukes gonna get fletched.....
qHRDSI5.gif
 
#99      

PattyOBryant

P
PattyOBryant
kyillinifan said:
It looks like on offense Ty seems to speed himself up going for a layup. Need Ty to do his thing on offense.
Click to expand...
That was his entire freshman year. He'd come in the game like he was all jacked up on something. Massive energy but massively out of control.

I think he's actually made great strides playing to his strengths this year, but that motor still takes over sometimes.

I bet he's great at parties.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.