Pregame: Illinois vs Florida Atlantic, Tuesday, December 5th, 5:30pm CT, ESPN

goillini30 · Dec 5, 2023

Nohops 73 said:
All good questions about matchups. Conversely, who guards Quincy? Weatherspoon is 6'-4" , 185 lbs. Quincy is 6'-8", 220 lbs. Feed him on the low blocks and Weatherspoon is a bug on the windshield.

Also, both teams tend to switch 1 through 4, so a key might be which team forces the mismatches that they want and can take advantage.

chudaman · Dec 5, 2023

PepeSilvia said:
I mean I get it but still can't you fly him out for the Jimmy V? Feel like it would be a cool experience even just to be in MSG.

Hopefully for Nico's sake he can catch up with the tam in Knoxville so he can party down for Coleman's birthday weekend!

Second place is 1st loser · Dec 5, 2023

1970 John said:
Are you sayingg that wasn’t a game?The only way that wasn’t a game is that it didn’t “count.” The only way it wasn’t a game is the no fouling out. Otherwise it was a I dive on the floor slugfest. There was too much on the line otherwise.

What was on the line? You ask people outside of Kansas or Illinois if there was a game, they'd say no. Purdue played Arkansas, MSU played Tennessee.....who did Epps go off against? It was a great tune up, it was a confidence booster and it raised good money for charity, but that's the end of it.

TheGMan · Dec 5, 2023

Second place is 1st loser said:
What was on the line? You ask people outside of Kansas or Illinois if there was a game, they'd say no. Purdue played Arkansas, MSU played Tennessee.....who did Epps go off against? It was a great tune up, it was a confidence booster and it raised good money for charity, but that's the end of it.

Yes and no. It doesn't do anything for our resume/record. But it is without a doubt still a data point for determining how good the team is. You can certainly argue that it shouldn't be weighted as much as game with something on the line. But you also can't completely ignore it.

Edit: I shouldn't phrase in such absolute terms. Read my last sentence as "you shouldn't" ignore it.

NarrowJ · Dec 5, 2023

Dang, so the win against Kansas doesn't matter? And to think this whole time I've been sick to my stomach over Jayden Epps scoring 196 points in a secret scrimmage.

Birdus · Dec 5, 2023

NarrowJ said:
FAU is the #11 team in the country, brought everyone back from a F4 team. I haven't seen anyone say we are a better team. In fact, in the form of hot takes, I've mostly seen these two posts:

"We don't have a PG so we have no chance"

and

"If we have 17 turnovers again we will lose by 20"

Yeh. Pretty ridiculous. That being said, FAU is favored with good reason. We are really going to have to play good D.

foby · Dec 5, 2023

Second place is 1st loser said:
What was on the line? You ask people outside of Kansas or Illinois if there was a game, they'd say no. Purdue played Arkansas, MSU played Tennessee.....who did Epps go off against? It was a great tune up, it was a confidence booster and it raised good money for charity, but that's the end of it.

Ga65 · Dec 5, 2023

Haven’t watched more than spots here and there. Seemed like Goodin was scoring mostly on lobs when guards got into the paint. I really didn’t see any offensive moves or shooting range. Is good on the boards but he will be outnumbered there. Worry about Marcus staying in front of smaller quicker guards. Hawk defends the rim but it will leave Goodin open. We need to own the paint offensively. Marcus, Ty, and Quincy should be playing bully ball all night.

and 69 others · Dec 5, 2023

1970 John said:
Are you sayingg that wasn’t a game?The only way that wasn’t a game is that it didn’t “count.” The only way it wasn’t a game is the no fouling out. Otherwise it was a I dive on the floor slugfest. There was too much on the line otherwise.

What was on the line?

WyattEarp · Dec 5, 2023

NarrowJ said:
Dang, so the win against Kansas doesn't matter? And to think this whole time I've been sick to my stomach over Jayden Epps scoring 196 points in a secret scrimmage.

196 points IS pretty good.
(That one got me.)

foby · Dec 5, 2023

The real significance of the Kansas fake game was that it showed this team that they could play with anyone. The players played hard. Their was pride on the line for both sides. We fake won, and that gave this team a lot of confidence.

RockfordIllini · Dec 5, 2023

foby said:
The real significance of the Kansas fake game was that it showed this team that they could play with anyone. The players played hard. Their was pride on the line for both sides. We fake won, and that gave this team a lot of confidence.

Yes, but was it fake confidence?