Pregame: Illinois vs Iowa, Tuesday, February 25th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

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#153      
Zach34
Tomorrow seems like a game where Humrichous goes 3/9 from 3 in a 25 point win and Underwood gases him up in the postgame and locks him into the lineup for the rest of the season.
 
#155      
Thompson1
OrangeKrush1981 said:
Will is a phenom. Will has no fear, because he's having a blast. If he had any idea -- he hasn't -- how much WE think is on the line, he'd crumple under the pressure.

He's a fun kid to watch. Illinois won't go anywhere this way though. And that bothers me: I think it's absolutely fantastic that kids have fun playing this game. That kids dream "that he is me ... if I could be like Mike." I never get mad at Will when he is simply out there having fun. I bet parents, teachers and coaches country-wide grin watching him -- like any other youngster -- live their dream. :)


But this is a man's game, and winning is the only true goal. Sigh.
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I don’t think Will is a phenom. He’s a gifted shooter and scorer, yes. He’ll score a lot of points in the NBA someday, yes. But Will is 6’9 have you seen him dunk once in a game this year?? I honestly don’t remember a single dunk. A phenom at 6’9 would be yammin it. He has super slow feet and can’t get through screens. Obviously we need his offense but at this stage in his career he’s a nice threat to have on offense for spacing and playmaking but major liability defensively. Probably worse than Ben. The team is incredibly soft
 
#157      
illini80
Man there are a lot of dejected fans in my area! I’m. Not giving up, but my expectations are pretty low like most everyone. I think we win this one. Too much of a talent gap not to.
 
#158      
Se Il Illini
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Link doesn't appear to be working for me, or I am too dumb to figure it out, lol ... any hints??

As for this game, my expectations for this season are absolutely zero now, but I am hanging on to two pipe dreams at this point, with the latter being the especially unrealistic one:

1. Beat Iowa in Champaign or die trying. It would extend the winning streak vs. Iowa to 3 games, and it would extend the streak in Champaign to 5 games. Fun fact, until we finally lost a home game to the Hawkeyes in Groce's second year, Iowa had lost 11 straight games in Champaign and 22 out of its last 23 games in Champaign entering the 2012 season. Let's at LEAST not slide all the way back into Groce Era futility, losing to mediocre Iowa teams on our home floor?!?!

2. Somehow, SOME way keep our hilarious winning streak vs. Michigan alive. It stands at 8 straight victories, dating all the way back to Ayo's clutch game winner in 2019-20. Given all of the drama with Juwan, Hunter and Michigan's asterisk title in 2020-21, it would just be oh so sweet if even during a seeming collapse, we could just extend that winning streak at least one more offseason, haha.
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Point 1 makes up for the Lute Olson years in Iowa, when Illinois had a most difficult time defeating the Hawkeyes.
 
#160      
IlliniFan42
STLflyinIllini said:
I predict we beat a bad Iowa team and several on here will say "C i tOLd u bU iz MaZinG, u nO fAitH lOsERS"
Then we get crushed by Michigan
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Michigan is tied with Nebraska at 37 13 minutes into the second half. I think there's real meme potential for us to lose to Iowa and then beat Michigan.
 
#165      
Snoopy
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Link doesn't appear to be working for me, or I am too dumb to figure it out, lol ... any hints??
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Website is a mess. Awful design.

www.news-gazette.com

WDWS Newstalk 1400

WDWS Newstalk 1400
www.news-gazette.com www.news-gazette.com

Scroll down the page to Latest Podcasts. There is one labeled 'Illini Pella Saturday Sports Talk | 2-22-25'. About 3/4 of the way in they welcome in Paul Klee. The link is in the picture above the text. In my mobile view of the website there is a small play triangle ▶️ in the upper right of the picture of the guy talking into a mic 🎤. Not at all intuitive. But I tap the play symbol and sound comes out.
 
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#167      
Gregjacksonfan
illini80 said:
Man there are a lot of dejected fans in my area! I’m. Not giving up, but my expectations are pretty low like most everyone. I think we win this one. Too much of a talent gap not to.
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Not sure about that. I have watched a ton of Iowa games this year and when Sandenfort and Dix get rolling they can beat anybody. Let’s hope our defense can bounce back from that embarrassing showing.
 
#168      
kyillinifan
Iowa will be using the high pick and roll. The two Sanford and Dix will be doing it. Lets hope they shoot 3’s like we did against Dook.
 
#169      
csd
FormerIllini said:
Couple of things. We were told to be patient during recruiting that the staff was “cooking“. And by all accounts, we killed it recruiting now we are at a point where multiple fans are calling for the head of every Coach saying things like Coach has lost his fire he’s too soft.

Interestingly, one of the biggest strengths of Coach has been his ability to survive in adapt. My question is is this new Underwood where he’s more reserved, easier on the players just that. In the 2023 season multiple people suggested he was too hard. He needed to go easier on the young guys. Who’s to say this is not him adapting to that. Paul Klee said himself that you can’t coach the European players like you can American players. Reading between the lines that tells me he cannot get after them so is this “lack of fire“ just his adaptation to that?

I do agree that staffing changes need to happen. But I don’t think canning somebody fresh off in the lead is the answer. Period I highly doubt I’m in the minority in this thought process.
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You are not alone.
 
#170      
Illini2010-11
kyillinifan said:
Iowa will be using the high pick and roll. The two Sanford and Dix will be doing it. Lets hope they shoot 3’s like we did against Dook.
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How Is That Possible Season 7 GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
 
#171      
Snoopy
PepeSilvia said:
Don't know if I explained that very well but that's how I would attack it.
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Good explanation. Opposing teams are taking the ball and decision making away from KJ and giving it to Tomi. To me it looks like things break down when the pass to Tomi isn't clean or he hesitates on the decision to shoot or pass and who to pass to. That allows the d to recover. Running your offense through a sick, injured, center rather than your lottery pick point guard seems problematic.

Edit, but I have no idea what the alternative would be other than iso Will and hope he goes on a heater.
 
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#172      
Oracle21
IL is -9.5
171.5 O/U

Implies a 91-81 game. I think IL wins 85-65. I think IL’s strategy of going over screens is the right way to play Iowa bc their guards aren’t athletic enough to beat it. And IL offensive rebounds will dominate Iowa. Riley scores 25 and IL wins easily
 
#173      
Vinegarben
The problem with the Illini is the IF'S. IF they can shoot 3's, If they can play good defense, If they can control the boards, if they are healthy, if will, KJ, KB, Tomi, Ben, show up, If they play will energy and fire.
That has been the story all year, Which team will show up? Jekyll or Hyde. I just think they will come out with some fire for at least the first 10 minutes the revert back to sleepwalking. Iowa is not very good, but they can put points on the board. I am not sure the Illini will be able to put the horrible taste of the Duke game behind them. It will be a struggle again tonight. I think the game is a tossup!
 
#174      
Se Il Illini
Iowa is on a different level. If Illinois shows up ready to play this one goes in the win column.
 
#175      
gibb52
The only thing that scares me about this game: This is a Francon team, so not very good defensively but they always have 3 or 4 guys that can shoot it. Fran runs good sets to get his guys shots. If we don't pay attention on D they will light us up.
 
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