Pregame: Illinois vs Michigan State, Monday, January 22nd, 8:00pm CT, FS1

Status
Not open for further replies.
#51      
KSmooth
My educated guess is that the Wisconsin game was the outlier. A frustrated team fell behind, got discouraged, and mailed it in. Underwood was right to call them out on it -- you don't want this be become a habit. I think the Illini come out and battle against MSU. But I also see them struggling, especially on offense against a more talented team. The score is respectable but not particularly close, 70-55.
 
#53      
Illiini
oleoleahy51 said:
Please, let this not be the worst season in Ilinois basketball history. But if it is, so be it.
Yeah, Frazier and Black - are their teammates really watching what it takes? Frazier and Black: co-MVPs so far. They are indeed Fighting Illini! As I said before, Illini for life!
But it's hard. I don't ask for championships any time soon, but get relevant! I truly believe Josh and the Bradster feel the same. I hope U of I administration feels the same, but I'm not sure it wants Illinois to be a sports school.
Click to expand...

I remember someone in administration calling athletics the university’s “front porch.” For better or worse, justified or not, the quality of the school’s athletics reflects on the university as a whole. The difficult thing of course is that it’s a zero sum game. Some one will be first...and someone will be last.
 
#55      
JFGsCoffeeMug
#56      
bombayIllini
We have run out of Lite beer.

MSU has a LOT of Lite beer.

This is a must win for us. For our survival.
 
#57      
Calvin
jrichisamazing said:
Ridiculous. It was one game.
Click to expand...

So you were for keeping Groce? It's just one more season. When is playing without pride supposed to stop?

And honestly, I don't care if it is one game. If a guy's taking the game off, you pull him and put in a guy who can, or at least wants to contribute. In the long run, you gain more by sending the message that you gotta play with pride if you're going to be in the line-up. The team is bigger than the individual.

It concerns me that the guys who are trying the hardest may get discouraged if their teammates aren't willing to push themselves and get on the page. I don't think we have a winning culture yet, and that really concerns me. And if you're trying to convince me we don't have the roster to have won a single game, I don't believe it.

From a pure numbers standpoint, the season is a lost cause, and we have an astounding 11 conference games remaining. Let that sink in, and then tell me you don't care about guys mailing it in for "one more" game.
 
#58      
whovous
Mailing it in is never acceptable. But never in the history of sports has there been a team that NEVER mailed one in. MSU needed overtime to beat Rutgers. They mailed that one in.
 
#61      
skyIdub
tpbradley said:
We do have "sand" though. Is that the same thing as mettle?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois_Loyalty
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
#63      
Fighter of the Nightman
I think we'll keep it "close" (maybe down 41-33 at half?) for a while, have some runs that get the crowd into it and then fade into a 78-61 loss. Hope SO badly that I am wrong, as I just read that this would be the first 0-8 start in school history ... yikes.
 
#65      
Ransom Stoddard
#66      
FC Illiniman
Very frustrating to watch, and I was very optimistic before the season, but it has turned into what it is, ateam with alack of size, with no perimeter shooting. You can call out individuals, but the fact is we are not scoring because the people who we thought might, are not even shooting.. TF and LB can not carry the load. Our defense is ok on some aspects but too many times we lose our opponent, and he slams it home.
Coach can draw up the plan but without any players, it's just a waste of time. Till the guys step up and make consistent offense plays, we will struggle. Don't have faith in a different outcome today, always hopeful, but Sparty is much better than us. See what happens.;):illinois:
 
#67      
aluma
It was interesting to see in that Tupper article that Tupper would be shocked if Lucas was on the team next year and he also hinted toward a veteran being gone next year too (I'm guessing Finke).
 
#68      
The Sprouting Divot
oleoleahy51 said:
OSU with a new coach, 7-0. No reflection on Coach Underwood intended. But, c'mon!
Click to expand...

I know you're not making a direct comparison here, but something else to keep in mind when looking at the greener grass is that Matta shouldn't have been fired in the first place.
 
#69      
ChiefIllini
SescIllini said:
I thought of Finke being a grad transfer and possibly joining his bro at Grand Canyon U. I think Tejon would be a good back-up but we will have 4 players who can play the PG position next year, with 2-3 that are clearly better.
Click to expand...

Both would be missed, like it or not. If we lose Finke, its going to be a larger blow than I think a lot of people would like to admit. He's someone who should be a reserve on any B1G, but given our situation is a starter. Like it or not he's more valuable to this team than Greg is right now. Ebo will grow and his progess this season is extremely promising, but Finke provides quality minutes on a team that will most likely be just as thin next year up front.
 
#70      
JFGsCoffeeMug
ChiefIllini said:
Both would be missed, like it or not. If we lose Finke, its going to be a larger blow than I think a lot of people would like to admit. He's someone who should be a reserve on any B1G, but given our situation is a starter. Like it or not he's more valuable to this team than Greg is right now. Ebo will grow and his progess this season is extremely promising, but Finke provides quality minutes on a team that will most likely be just as thin next year up front.
Click to expand...

Yeah, unless you're bringing in so many bigs that Finke will never see any playing time next year anyway, losing Finke will definitely hurt us.
 
#72      
Deleted member 11241
I think it's ridiculous that a team can be 2/3 of the way through the season and only had 2 true road games. Especially when they are almost halfway through the conference season. Meanwhile, we have had 6 (7 if you include UNLV even though that was a "neutral " court) and 5 in conference. That is terrible scheduling by the B1G. They should do a better job of evening that out and trying to make it more even.
 
#73      
BRucks
oleoleahy51 said:
Well, scheduling like that happens when you're a premier basketball power. Good for MSU. It's a reward, much like the top-four seeds in the tournament playing close to home. The thing is, some of the top programs - Duke, Kansas - play close to home no matter where they're seeded. Rewards program.

But let's see: Spartans on the road tonight. They sure aren't the power all the pre-season experts predicted. They're 3rd in the Big 10. By some magic, Illini please get it together tonight and send MSU packing back to their home-field advantage.
Click to expand...

We whipped 'em last year at our place and they don't start a single upperclassman. Our upperclassmen should (I say should) take it right at them.
 
#74      
SescIllini
This is our worst match up of the season. MSU bigs are much better than ours and deep. Their guards will match Trent's speed. We need to hit our 3's and play solid defense. Can't play the Iowa/Wisconsin vanilla defense.
 
#75      
skyIdub
Effort and execution is what we need to win this. It's not completely David vs. Goliath. It would be nice to see a rowdy crowd tonight. We'll need that too.
:illinois:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back