Pregame: Illinois vs Jackson State, Monday, November 3rd, 7:30pm CT, BTN

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#177      
The road to the national championship starts...
the-grinch-evil-smile.gif
 
#192      
I have often wondered about how the trajectory of the program would have changed had Kruger stayed.
Yeah that's a tough one, because Kruger was a great coach but his replacement, Self is the best coach to ever come through Illinois... but also didn't stay very long. So the confluence of factors is tough to assess. If Kruger never takes his shot at NBA, he probably just coaches at Illinois all the way through 2020-21 (when he retired from Coaching). Possible the '05 season never happens, but also likely the 6 straight missed tournaments (or 7 out of 8, or 8 out of 10, depending on how you want to frame it) period of darkness never happens. I think on balance, Illinois probably benefits just from the stability that comes with having same coach all those years. Fun thought experiment.. so many variables to consider.
 
#193      
Also, already worth pointing out. The TV networks love to do the exact 2 hours back to back broadcasts to ensure no dead air. This, of course, creates problems when the prior game runs even remotely long for any reason whatsoever and cuts deeply into the broadcast. One of my biggest pet peeves. Maryland plays Coppin State beginning at 5:30 PM Central, which means if that game runs remotely long, the BTN could miss the start of the Illinois game. Of course Maryland is expected to win in a blowout, so hopefully there will be no impact, but something to be mindful about.
 
#194      
I have a question for insiders: Will Petro be able to play tonight? BU's presser makes it sound like Stoyakovic will play with his minutes somehow limited. Am I wrong? I guess that's 2 questions for insiders. LOL
 
#195      
Honest question and one that was born out of the chaos from last year.

Petrovic is out today because of the infamous "tweak" the the hamstring. That's a feel better term for reinjury.

They're not a big deal from a structural standpoint, but they cal linger for a LONG time. A lot of it depends on the precautions, which are generally 4+ weeks if you really want to limit the chance of reoccurrence.

Do we really expect him to be ready in a week or is the comment an absolute best case scenario?
 
#196      
Totally agree. I felt like Kruger could have won a national championship here if he had stayed. But alas he really never stayed anyplace for an extended period of time.
He didn't stay places because he didn't really have what it takes to build recruiting relationships. He got lucky with generational downstate talent. But his classes after that show that he really wasn't interested in recruiting.
 
#198      
Yeah that's a tough one, because Kruger was a great coach but his replacement, Self is the best coach to ever come through Illinois... but also didn't stay very long. So the confluence of factors is tough to assess. If Kruger never takes his shot at NBA, he probably just coaches at Illinois all the way through 2020-21 (when he retired from Coaching). Possible the '05 season never happens, but also likely the 6 straight missed tournaments (or 7 out of 8, or 8 out of 10, depending on how you want to frame it) period of darkness never happens. I think on balance, Illinois probably benefits just from the stability that comes with having same coach all those years. Fun thought experiment.. so many variables to consider.
I loved how hard Krugers teams played.
 
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