Pregame: Illinois vs Missouri, Sunday, December 22nd, 12:00pm CT, ESPN

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#51      
Fighter of the Nightman
Also, I think this game will at least have a chance of selling out - something that hasn't happened for Braggin' Rights since 2011-12 (although it looks like the 2013-14 game was just 13 tickets shy ... lol). We have had some bigger crowds in recent years, but we have not crossed that 22,000 threshold. FWIW, it does seem like in the VAST majority of years, Illinois has definitely filled its 11,000-seat side. It's mostly the Mizzou side that fluctuates wildly depending on how bad they are. Reminder that in the seating charts below, Illinois is on the right and Mizzou is on the left. Also, the blue/pink seats are the unsold tickets.

Braggin' Rights Tickets Sold as of Friday 12/13
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Braggin' Rights Tickets Sold as of Monday 12/16
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Still some work to do in the upper Mizzou sections, but I think virtually all pink tickets will end up being sold and a decent chunk of those blue ones will due to a couple factors:

1. Missouri fans FINALLY have a team to be excited about. That could lead to some last-minute purchases by locals.
2. With the Illini at 3 losses and having already taken down #1 Kansas, Mizzou fans might have renewed confidence after this weekend? Some of those sales might be on a "delay" that will show up mid-week.
3. I think Illinois fans who weren't as preemptive in purchasing their tickets will likely gobble up a decent chunk of those blue seats for a lower price. It always seems like we have a smattering of orange in their upper deck.

Serious question ... has any one of you regular attendees EVER been to a Braggin' Rights wear Mizzou fans outnumbered us? I have been to two, and there were always more Illini fans. In 2021-22, I would guess our side was 85-90% full, while their side was about 30% full (they were awful, and it was during their bowl game). In 2022-23, the crowd was way more even (probably 85-90% full on both sides?), but there were virtually no Mizzou fans on our side and there was a smattering of orange on theirs. It seems like the closest I've ever seen it on TV was a true 50/50, otherwise Illinois has more fans there.

EDIT: And this last question wasn't just to dunk on Mizzou fans or to try to pretend like we have more fans in that metro (which we pretty clearly don't as far as pure numbers go). Also, I have seen pictures that make it quite clear we never outnumbered them a single year at the football version in St. Louis at the Arch Rivalry Game.
 
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#53      
21ChampaignSt
Fly Illini Fly! said:
Both unranked... but Mizzou comes in at #28, Illinois #30.
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The poll seems especially silly this year. I bet if we had not even played Tennesee on Saturday and instead won a buy game by 30 we would've been ranked. Even though the Tennessee game, despite losing, made it pretty evident we are one of the 25 best teams. Meanwhile, Arkansas received twice as many votes as we did.

Here is why I care. This is the comment section of a Fox Sports post about the Tennessee buzzer beater. The casual sports world sees a team with no number next to their name and assumes they're scrubs. It hurts the brand / perception.

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#54      
Fighter of the Nightman
^ Yep. Being ranked is important because having people across the nation have a good brand impression of Illini basketball is essentially important. If it ever was good enough for us to be a cozy little fan base that didn't care what the outside world thought, it CERTAINLY isn't anymore in the age of the transfer portal and NIL. If people don't understand that by now, it just will never sink in.

As you said, though, given how wonky the polls have been this year ... beat Mizzou, and it does infinitely more to help our ranking than losing on a buzzer beater vs. #1 Tennessee. :ROFLMAO: FWIW, these are some notable games for the teams in front of us this week:

#19 Cincinnati at #22 Dayton
(RV #26) Mississippi State at #21 Memphis
#23 San Diego State vs. Cal (San Jose, CA)
#24 Michigan vs. #12 Oklahoma (Charlotte, NC)
#25 Clemson at South Carolina


And then of course (RV #30) Illinois vs. (RV #28) Missouri in St. Louis. If we beat Mizzou and 1-2 of those teams lose, we probably slide into the rankings.
 
#56      
Second place is 1st loser
21ChampaignSt said:
The poll seems especially silly this year. I bet if we had not even played Tennesee on Saturday and instead won a buy game by 30 we would've been ranked. Even though the Tennessee game, despite losing, made it pretty evident we are one of the 25 best teams. Meanwhile, Arkansas received twice as many votes as we did.

Here is why I care. This is the comment section of a Fox Sports post about the Tennessee buzzer beater. The casual sports world sees a team with no number next to their name and assumes they're scrubs. It hurts the brand / perception.

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It's Facebook. There's not a lot of active brain cells going on in there. Also, it's not the TN game that put us in the ditch. It's the NW game. That wasn't a great look. Can't really get around that outside of racking up wins.

You are right however. The difference between #25 and #26 is enormous in the casual fans eyes and to be fair, our fanbase does the same thing when a rival loses to an unranked team. It's a stigma.
 
#57      
Battle89
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Also, I think this game will at least have a chance of selling out - something that hasn't happened for Braggin' Rights since 2011-12 (although it looks like the 2013-14 game was just 13 tickets shy ... lol). We have had some bigger crowds in recent years, but we have not crossed that 22,000 threshold. FWIW, it does seem like in the VAST majority of years, Illinois has definitely filled its 11,000-seat side. It's mostly the Mizzou side that fluctuates wildly depending on how bad they are. Reminder that in the seating charts below, Illinois is on the right and Mizzou is on the left. Also, the blue/pink seats are the unsold tickets.
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How can we not when the very court is made for us? (I'm channeling Robert's "Fat I" from his rankings posts earlier this year.)

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#59      
NarrowJ
Battle89 said:
And I felt that questioning Mizzou's win over Kansas was the same. All good. I'm still raw from Welsh-Ryan.
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Yep yep, wasn't questioning Missouri's win, only referring to the 'we haven't been in a street fight' part.
 
#60      
AirNeazy
Right now, we're a soft a** team. Think it'll be another slugfest. Mizzou is tough and will punch us in the mouth, especially in a rivalry game. Let's see how Brad and Co get our guys ready to fight back.

Also, IDGAF how much NIL we allocated to Humrichous at the start of the season......if Brad doesn't park his a** on the bench for the majority of the game then I'll really start being discouraged for our ROS outlook. If you're a 5th year hired gun, sorry but you get no leash. Either perform, make your shots and get on an NBA radar, or don't and go sell insurance/ real-estate for the rest of your life.....but enough with the babying of this dude. We have some actual dogs chomping at the bit to get more minutes. Never thought we'd have a transfer forward worse than Jon Ekey but here we are LOL

For all the hemming and hawwing about previous teams, I've never thought of a Brad-coached Illini team as SOFT before but that's unfortunately where we are right now.....let's see how we respond!
 
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#61      
Fighter of the Nightman
Serious Late said:
I'll be there with a crew, section 324. 3rd straight year, can we get a good game this time?

Don't get me wrong, I'll be fine with a demonstrative win, but they've been snoozers the last 2 years.
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Las three.** My first time was 2021-22, and we humiliated them in front of a small crowd that was at least 2:1 Illini fans. It was *almost* sad. ;)
 
#62      
Illiniam1984
If they lose this game, I’m going to be very unhappy. If they continue to lose I may not go to a game this year.
 
#64      
Fighter of the Nightman
Interesting trends over the years with Braggin' Rights attendance. As far as I can tell (someone please correct me if I am wrong here), basketball capacity at that arena has more or less been 21,900 or so since 2000. So, that is what I used for percentage capacity below. Also, just for context, I included what ranking either/both team(s) had at the time of the game.

Also, just to try to show ebbs and flows, here is a color key:

100.0% or More
90.0% to 99.9%
80.0% to 89.99%
70.0% to 79.99%
60.0% to 69.99%
Below 60.0%

2024-25: ??? ... tickets website certainly makes it look north of 90.0% once again.
2023-24: 84.4% ... ILL #13
2022-23: 84.3% ... ILL #16
2021-22: 68.3%
2019-20: 69.7%
2018-19: 74.9%
2017-18: 97.2%
2016-17: 56.7%
2015-16: 66.0%
2014-15: 91.7%
2013-14: 100.4% ... MIZ #23
2012-13: 100.2% ... ILL #10, MIZ #12
2011-12: 100.9% ... ILL #25, MIZ #10
2010-11: 100.0% ... ILL #21, MIZ #9
2009-10: 93.6%
2008-09: 89.4% ... MIZ #25
2007-08: 100.2%
2006-07: 101.2%
2005-06: 101.2% ... ILL #6
2004-05: 101.2% ... ILL #1
2003-04: 101.2% ... ILL #21, MIZ #11
2002-03: 101.2% ... ILL #12, MIZ #11
2001-02: 101.2% ... ILL #9, MIZ #8
2000-01: 100.9% ... ILL #5

So obviously attendance goes up and down depending on how good the teams are. I distinctly remember that low point in 2016-17 ... they kept showing the Mizzou side, and it was HORRIFICALLY empty. Like astonishingly empty, haha. While it's fun to laugh at Mizzou, that's just bad for the rivalry/event at that point. It's also interesting to note that spike in 2017-18. While neither team was good, that was Underwood's first year and there was plenty of drama/interest regarding the decommitted STL recruits.
 
#65      
Fighter of the Nightman
Umit9 said:
Thank you for the warning.

Go Illini
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Literally LOL'd at this, thank you. :ROFLMAO: However, I agree with one thing ... I will be VERY unhappy if we lose this. Something about losing to Missouri and having the taste of that loss just linger throughout Christmas until we can start Big Ten play is always so brutal.

Luckily since the first season I actually remember as a kid (2000-01), we are 16-8 vs. Mizzou ... so twice as many warm/fuzzy feelings as angry/sad ones! :cool:
 
#72      
BashCtIllini
Does the fact that we have next to no one familiar with this rivalry, while Missouri has transfers from Indiana and Iowa and at least 2 guys that played last year mean anything?
 
#73      
PizzaHutParkingLot
AirNeazy said:
Right now, we're a soft a** team. Think it'll be another slugfest. Mizzou is tough and will punch us in the mouth, especially in a rivalry game. Let's see how Brad and Co get our guys ready to fight back.

Also, IDGAF how much NIL we allocated to Humrichous at the start of the season......if Brad doesn't park his a** on the bench for the majority of the game then I'll really start being discouraged for our ROS outlook. If you're a 5th year hired gun, sorry but you get no leash. Either perform, make your shots and get on an NBA radar, or don't and go sell insurance/ real-estate for the rest of your life.....but enough with the babying of this dude. We have some actual dogs chomping at the bit to get more minutes. Never thought we'd have a transfer forward worse than Jon Ekey but here we are LOL

For all the hemming and hawwing about previous teams, I've never thought of a Brad-coached Illini team as SOFT before but that's unfortunately where we are right now.....let's see how we respond!
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Friendly reminder that Domask didn't really start cooking until January, but I agree with your larger point.

Ben's gotta find other ways to contribute when the shot isn't falling... 1 rebound in 30 minutes ain't gonna cut it.
 
#74      
Bbuck21
Battle89 said:
Nope, and didn't miss the one in Evanston either. Silly to assume either a win or a loss in this volatile season, and Mizzou beating #10 Kansas is a valid data point. Having said that, let's please win!

and this +1, might add NW but oh well

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You'll enjoy the Wildcats visit to Champaign. Mizzou is not a pushover. It is going to be an interesting season when the BIG kicks in come January.
 
#75      
jrichisamazing
BashCtIllini said:
Does the fact that we have next to no one familiar with this rivalry, while Missouri has transfers from Indiana and Iowa and at least 2 guys that played last year mean anything?
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I've wondered this for the past few years now. I know it sounds cliche, and the TV announcers say it almost every year, but this rivalry is extremely underrated and almost unknown if you are not an Illinois or Mizzou fan. I've lived in multiple states and met many college basketball fans who had no idea about this rivalry, or that this game was played in STL every year for a very long time.

But to answer your question, I don't think it matters where the players are from. I'm sure both coaches make sure to fill the team in on the history of the game and what it means. But even if a player didn't care about the history....the atmosphere (even during warmups) would immediately let them know it's a big game.
 
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