blackdog
- Champaign
But you can bet I'm going to cheer as loudly as I can for Hunter to trip and fall face first into the stanchion.
Pregame: Illinois vs Kansas (Exhibition), Sunday, October 29th, 5:00pm CT, BTN
- Status
But you can bet I'm going to cheer as loudly as I can for Hunter to trip and fall face first into the stanchion.
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
We can boo without hate, it's kinda fun sometimes to just boo. It's like when I boo at an opposing pitcher who has done his first pickoff of the game in the 7th inning, I don't hate the guy I just think it's a solid tradition to boo. I don't think people should be worried if the boo birds come out when Self walks into the SFC, it comes from a place of love and respect.
lol. Coachspeak. See his comments on last year's group at this time last year:This quote at the end of the article…
“”They know how to practice, and they do things right,” Underwood said. “They are very, very astute listeners. They pick things up. Last year, at times, it felt like you were coaching kindergartners because you had to keep repeating things over and over and over and over and working on things over and over and over to get one simple thing done. This group is very different that way.””
Kansas will test Illinois' depth
Illini freshmen pushing veteran teammates with season opener two weeks outwww.news-gazette.com
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is literally the biggest thing for me in this game, haha.
I couldn't care less about Bill Self leaving 20 years ago; I am over it, I am thankful for what he did for our program and I DO believe him when he said that KU is the only job he'd have left Illinois for. A lot of people have a "dream job," and you cannot fault them for taking the opportunity when it presents itself!
I would not at all be upset if we lost a game, let alone an exhibition game, to the #1 team in the nation. That would be "expected" at any point in the season, but especially this early.
What I CAN say will bother me is if Hunter Dickhead doesn't end his college career never having beaten us ... not even once, not even in an exhibition game. Therefore ... we must win!
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I agree, but as I said in my earlier post ... I am not sure it would have mattered. I think with the right money, we could have easily kept Self from leaving for any non-Blue Blood job ... I even think we might have kept him from leaving for a different Blue Blood with a fat enough pay raise! However, I think KU is the one job that he would leave any situation for. We got unlucky he left, but we were lucky to have him!
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Sharing this in case anyone wasn't aware. Self and Underwood came close to being college teammates. https://www.news-gazette.com/sports...cle_b2ba49ee-bd40-11ec-bb4f-779c6673fa4e.html
the national
- the Front Range
I misspoke. I’m not surprised that’s how he acted on the court is more what I was thinking. Among several issues, I do think he was one of the root causes of the lack of cohesion last year.
Big Jack
- Decatur
i for one will stand and cheer him... i have no hard feelings
GallopingGhost
- Denver, CO
To dive into the game and the players just a bit:
Kansas is good. Consensus top 5 good.
What makes them dangerous is their perimeter players. We all know Hunter is a good player and has a sneaky outside shot, but I don’t think he ever had as good of a pure point guard as junior Damian Harris Jr. He will find him open in pick and rolls and they will go to that look vs us very often I wager. I’d look to see Sencire out there early bothering the hell out him.
KJ Adam’s is a beast wing and Elmarko Jackson is so so talented. mcCullar is lock down defender with some scoring upside.
What they don’t have is cohesiveness, which we return more than them, especially our key pieces like TSJ, Coleman and Dain. If we were gonna play them this year I’d rather play them early than late. I expect a very entertaining, close game.
Kansas is good. Consensus top 5 good.
What makes them dangerous is their perimeter players. We all know Hunter is a good player and has a sneaky outside shot, but I don’t think he ever had as good of a pure point guard as junior Damian Harris Jr. He will find him open in pick and rolls and they will go to that look vs us very often I wager. I’d look to see Sencire out there early bothering the hell out him.
KJ Adam’s is a beast wing and Elmarko Jackson is so so talented. mcCullar is lock down defender with some scoring upside.
What they don’t have is cohesiveness, which we return more than them, especially our key pieces like TSJ, Coleman and Dain. If we were gonna play them this year I’d rather play them early than late. I expect a very entertaining, close game.
I'm not gonna lie, Amani is like a less athletic E.J. Liddell!
orange100
time to hop on the wife
Ron Guenther hired Bill Self.
Plenty of reasons to not like Guenther. This isn't one. We were never going to win that battle and the only possible result of a counter would have been a higher salary for Self at Kansas.
We were Thad Motta’s dream job, but Guenther refused to even interview him to replace Self.
This is so true, I have met him several times at the NCAA tournament over the years. One year we were at the “coaches” event for the final four (Indy after our final four). He sat with me and my best friend for at least 30 minutes, had a beer and really enjoyed talking about Champaign. He could not have been a nicer guy.
Coors light? lol
Thad Motta would've been an excellent choice, and Motta was an excellent coach. However, something tells me it might not have been as easy to recruit at UI as it was at tOSU. (Not that recruiting can ever be called "easy.") At least that has been my impression over the many decades of following the Illini.
How we ever get anyone out of Ohio is amazing to me. (Can anyone say Nick Weatherspoon or Maverick Morgan?)
And yet they often raid our state and get our top athletes.
With the exception of the Matta years I don't think OSU has historically or currently attracted more talent than us. EJ as a one off withstanding.
I know Matta from when he was in Hoopeston. Great guy! I think he would have done super here but what do I know. I just hope no one gets injured in the exhibition game. We will see lots of bodies coming in and out. Works for me.
So anyone have a scouting report on Kansas? Key players — both returners and newcomer — to keep an eye on?
Homecoming 2019
- Chicago
I do know they have no transfers in of any note.
In fairness to BU, what's he supposed to say? I agree with the sentiment though. We're not going to see the cracks until they appear.
Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
- Bloomington, IL
I was about to contradict this, but I see what you did there.
While he has had similar coach speak, I’ve also never heard him speak so poorly of a former team.
Plus it would be nice to identify a line-up that can take care of the ball and hit FTs at the end of close games
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