I'm in Vegas 3 times a year and have been to most. The FountainBleau and Resort Worl have nice books and comfortable place to watch. There is no on one the north side, so it is boring. My comps are typically from MGM properties and I like the Cosmo book and hotel in general, especially now that Mirage is gone. The MGM grand book is vastly overrated as is the Caesars book.
Okay, I’ll respond in good faith:
It's also not just Illinois with frustrating losses in league play.....Okay, I’ll respond in good faith:
1. Everyone was frustrated with those losses, so your perspective isn’t novel or a “breath of fresh air” to get a bunch of blind homers to see the light.
2. As frustrating as those losses are, they in no way earn any reasonable person the right to genuinely question the capabilities of this coaching regime at the level you did. We already had multiple Big Ten banners and the best record in the conference over the last couple years, but even the “gotta perform in the Tournament!” critique was shattered last year. The Sweet Sixteen or Bust ultimatum was met with an Elite Eight appearance via defeating a 2-seed Iowa State team to whom nearly everyone had us losing.
3. This staff then lost nearly EVERYONE from that Elite Eight team and reloaded to the point where we have a team mostly led by freshmen back in the top 10 of the NET Rankings and on track for a 3/4 seed, even with our young-squad-hiccups. There is more than enough reason to believe this team will continue to refine its rougher edges as the season progresses. I can honestly say that the improvement from Alabama to Tennessee to now is astounding.
4. With all that in mind, the frustrating NU and USC losses have dug a shockingly shallow hole out of which we must climb. Dominant Quad 1 road wins at Oregon and Indiana have at least cancelled them out. Let’s give these guys a chance to regroup with KJ at home this week and see how we’re feeling. We all know there are things to clean up, but it’s unreasonable to expect otherwise with this young of a team. I think we’ll be humming along when March comes (just like last year), and I think this team’s ceiling is higher than last year’s. This squad might remain slightly erratic (which needs mostly fixed by Selection Sunday), but I’m QUITE confident they won’t regress. Enjoy the ride!
Painter and the Boilers say "Hi"
and scUM . . . Brad preaches it, the Big 10 is a tough league. Hard to show up every single game mentally and physically...especially with a group that has no real league play experience.
Okay, I’ll respond in good faith:
1. Everyone was frustrated with those losses, so your perspective isn’t novel or a “breath of fresh air” to get a bunch of blind homers to see the light.
2. As frustrating as those losses are, they in no way earn any reasonable person the right to genuinely question the capabilities of this coaching regime at the level you did. We already had multiple Big Ten banners and the best record in the conference over the last couple years, but even the “gotta perform in the Tournament!” critique was shattered last year. The Sweet Sixteen or Bust ultimatum was met with an Elite Eight appearance via defeating a 2-seed Iowa State team to whom nearly everyone had us losing.
3. This staff then lost nearly EVERYONE from that Elite Eight team and reloaded to the point where we have a team mostly led by freshmen back in the top 10 of the NET Rankings and on track for a 3/4 seed, even with our young-squad-hiccups. There is more than enough reason to believe this team will continue to refine its rougher edges as the season progresses. I can honestly say that the improvement from Alabama to Tennessee to now is astounding.
4. With all that in mind, the frustrating NU and USC losses have dug a shockingly shallow hole out of which we must climb. Dominant Quad 1 road wins at Oregon and Indiana have at least cancelled them out. Let’s give these guys a chance to regroup with KJ at home this week and see how we’re feeling. We all know there are things to clean up, but it’s unreasonable to expect otherwise with this young of a team. I think we’ll be humming along when March comes (just like last year), and I think this team’s ceiling is higher than last year’s. This squad might remain slightly erratic (which needs mostly fixed by Selection Sunday), but I’m QUITE confident they won’t regress. Enjoy the ride!
Okay, I’ll respond in good faith:
1. Everyone was frustrated with those losses, so your perspective isn’t novel or a “breath of fresh air” to get a bunch of blind homers to see the light.
2. As frustrating as those losses are, they in no way earn any reasonable person the right to genuinely question the capabilities of this coaching regime at the level you did. We already had multiple Big Ten banners and the best record in the conference over the last couple years, but even the “gotta perform in the Tournament!” critique was shattered last year. The Sweet Sixteen or Bust ultimatum was met with an Elite Eight appearance via defeating a 2-seed Iowa State team to whom nearly everyone had us losing.
3. This staff then lost nearly EVERYONE from that Elite Eight team and reloaded to the point where we have a team mostly led by freshmen back in the top 10 of the NET Rankings and on track for a 3/4 seed, even with our young-squad-hiccups. There is more than enough reason to believe this team will continue to refine its rougher edges as the season progresses. I can honestly say that the improvement from Alabama to Tennessee to now is astounding.
4. With all that in mind, the frustrating NU and USC losses have dug a shockingly shallow hole out of which we must climb. Dominant Quad 1 road wins at Oregon and Indiana have at least cancelled them out. Let’s give these guys a chance to regroup with KJ at home this week and see how we’re feeling. We all know there are things to clean up, but it’s unreasonable to expect otherwise with this young of a team. I think we’ll be humming along when March comes (just like last year), and I think this team’s ceiling is higher than last year’s. This squad might remain slightly erratic (which needs mostly fixed by Selection Sunday), but I’m QUITE confident they won’t regress. Enjoy the ride!
Eh, Auburn will likely have some stumbles this year. The SEC is a good league. Duke, on the other hand, ought to run roughshod over a terrible ACC this year.
I tend to agree. I would just LOVE if it this group could do something like get up to the top #3 seed and be in a bracket with the theoretically weaker #1 seed. Then you hope someone catches fire and knocks Auburn out on their off day, and we have a nice path to the Final Four. While I actually think our bracket last year was set up VERY well to at least get to the Sweet Sixteen, it was obviously unlucky to get UConn if you are looking to make it out of the Regional. In fact, in the post-2005 years where we have had a top 4 seed , I would argue we have had some decently bad luck, at least from the perspective of trying to hang another Final Four banner:
SEC is very deep. Beating a ranked Mississippi State team and a ranked Georgia team at Georgia without Broome was impressive. I despise Pearl and can’t stand the talking heads that fawn over him. But Auburn is good. I do believe in karma. Would love the Illini to end Auburn’s season in March…or even better yet, in April.
fightingillini.com
Surprised by Penn State since they seemed to be our Achilles Heel for awhile.
since Covid, Auburn hasn't made the S16.
I actually was, too, but the broader streak vs. them was actually not that bad ... before we lost 4 in a row to them, we had beaten them 4 times in a row. And, of the 4 straight losses to PSU, 2 were in State College and 1 was at the United Center in the BTT.
Now WE give opponents the "positional size problems."
I've been to both of those OSU losses and two of the Maryland losses. I only go to 2-3 games a year. I also went to the Iowa game where we clinched the share of the B1G season title.
No doubt Underwood will talk to the refs and make sure they know we got a bum deal in East Lansing. I hope he mentions something one of their big guys does repeatedly and how the refs have to be on the lookout for hook and holds or moving picks that Maryland does.
