Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan, Friday, February 27th, 7:00pm CT, FOX

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#229      
One thing I hope we do is foul Mara — especially rather than give up a layup. Make him earn it at the line.

I highly doubt it, that's not our M.O.

We will let them get points inside. Contest without fouling and hope they are inefficient. Take away their transition game and don't let them get hot from 3.

Transition is what I'm most worried about. We gave up way too many fast break points against MSU. And Michigan pushes it much more than MSU does.
 
#230      
Mirk and Z better show up because Morez is going to be ready to play.

Sidenote: I genuinely have no clue who guards Yaxel here.
Oh wow it’s nice to know that Morez is going to show up guaranteed!! Mirk and Z better show up though. Like they take games off or something. Ok

Sidenote: one of our defenders who will be on the floor when Yaxel is on the floor.
 
#231      
I highly doubt it, that's not our M.O.

We will let them get points inside. Contest without fouling and hope they are inefficient. Take away their transition game and don't let them get hot from 3.

Transition is what I'm most worried about. We gave up way too many fast break points against MSU. And Michigan pushes it much more than MSU does.
No body in the U S tries to push the ball more than MSU.
 
#233      
This might sound absurd but bare with me.
This is purely speculation but I would think that they have Morez on David. If they can shut him down for the most part, it will be tough for us to win. I think all of us have seen the stats for his performance between wins and losses. Morez is great defensively. I was impressed with his performance against Duke. Now I do believe David can have his share of wins if the opportunities are presented.
As far as Wagler is concerned, Yaxel could wind up on him. We all know how important his offensive production is. If that is true Z ,Tommy, & Boswell are going to be given the opportunity to step up more in this game. Mora was not much of a factor in the Duke game because he was called for some ticky tack fouls. The guy is an eraser around the basket and he is 7'4". Tough guard for anyone. He shuts the lane down and that is not great for Dre. Good thing that Mora will not play anymore that 25 minutes if healthy. One more thing. If David is not healthy, I do not see us winning this game. We need his rebounding. One more thought. Yaxel is going to GET his. He will light it up. After watching him against Duke, we have No One with maybe the exception of Boswell that can stay with him.
 
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#234      
That 06 Michigan State game was the end of our peak run. We won that game to get to 15-0. Then the very next game lost at Iowa and sputtered the rest of the season with the big blow being the McBride faux buzzer beater vs Penn State.

To go a step further I think this Michigan team, while ranked #3, is better than just about every other team that has came in to SFC that I can remember. I’d put the Oden/Conley team above them but not many others. If you go by Kenpom they are the best of the KenPom Era but there might be some wonky inflation going on since Kenpom has this current Illinois team as better than the 04-05 team.

It’s def not hyperbole to say this is the biggest home game in 20 years given the quality of both teams and the Morez situation adding more juice
The Indiana team from 2012-2013 was awfully good. They were a #1 seed. They were the number 1 team in the country most of the season. They also had a great backcourt of Yogi Farrell and Victor Oladipo.
 
#236      
I highly doubt it, that's not our M.O.

We will let them get points inside. Contest without fouling and hope they are inefficient. Take away their transition game and don't let them get hot from 3.

Transition is what I'm most worried about. We gave up way too many fast break points against MSU. And Michigan pushes it much more than MSU does.
I guess I just don’t want to give up layups when the guy’s a 40% foul shooter. However, we also can’t afford our bigs to get in foul trouble. So there’s a downside either way.
 
#237      
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#239      
He’s a 79.4% FT shooter. He’s no shak at the line.
But that's when he takes his normal 12 seconds, isn't it? Get him speeded up to shoot within the 10 second limit, who knows what his percentage is. 😄
 
#241      
Just watched LaTulip’s breakdown. He’s SO good. Seriously, I can think of much worse ideas than offering Mike a position on the staff.
 
#242      
I highly doubt it, that's not our M.O.

We will let them get points inside. Contest without fouling and hope they are inefficient. Take away their transition game and don't let them get hot from 3.

Transition is what I'm most worried about. We gave up way too many fast break points against MSU. And Michigan pushes it much more than MSU does.
You're saying our M.O. is to not let people get hot from 3?! .... That's news to me. Seems like we frequently let teams go nuclear on us from 3.
 
#243      
That 06 Michigan State game was the end of our peak run. We won that game to get to 15-0. Then the very next game lost at Iowa and sputtered the rest of the season with the big blow being the McBride faux buzzer beater vs Penn State.

To go a step further I think this Michigan team, while ranked #3, is better than just about every other team that has came in to SFC that I can remember. I’d put the Oden/Conley team above them but not many others. If you go by Kenpom they are the best of the KenPom Era but there might be some wonky inflation going on since Kenpom has this current Illinois team as better than the 04-05 team.

It’s def not hyperbole to say this is the biggest home game in 20 years given the quality of both teams and the Morez situation adding more juice
I was at that PSU game. Awful. If that happened today, they would have reviewed the clock and added time back and the shot would have counted.
 
#246      
End game coaching seems to be our problem. Why wasn’t someone put on the in bonds player, and maybe have 2 players back. One at the foul line and one closer to the basket. I guess we’re due to win one at the end.
 
#247      
^^^ + the early pregame takes that follow on the heels of a loss.

I wasn't able to watch the UCLA game. Had a commitment; checked my phone from the early 2H onward. Didn't even think of looking at the postgame thread. Tucked into this thread yesterday evening and departed quickly.

We've lost four conference games. One in regulation on a crazy Nebraska trey. Three in OT, all three by a single possession, and two of those on the road. Could easily have won all four. We're #4 in KenPom. #6 in Torvik and there we're statistically indistinguishable from #3.

And yet the sky is falling and it's certain that we won't make it out of the first tournament weekend.

Is Michigan the better team? Yeah. Will we lose? Probably not. And if we do, go back and have a gander at the post-game summary of our games v. #6 Michigan at home in January 1989 and v. #8 Michigan in Ann Arbor on their Senior Day in March 1989. IIRC, Michigan had a very good team that year.

Get a grip, ye who have abandoned all hope. And see y'all Friday evening for what I expect to be the most riveting BT conference game of the year by a country mile.
Well said sir, well said. For this my Illini brother, this post gets five Tiggers!
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#249      
I think Andrej is going to be the X factor for us, at both ends, particularly as a rebounder. Let's make sure that mom is there watching live, to draw out his best performance. ;-)
Among other reasons, lol
 
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