Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Sunday, February 11th, 6:00pm CT, BTN
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They have two good big men, not feeling good about our chances
We’re going to lose by 20+.
FightingIllini09
- Belleville, IL
Agreed - I picked WI by 15, I think PSU will beat us by about the same. The big guys down low will dominate Finke & Ebo.
They have 2 NBA’ers. We don’t have the horses.
It's a home game, but agree that it's not a great matchup. I think they have one of the better starting 5s in the Big Ten. They have decent size, and are skilled and athletic. Their starters will be a tough group to guard. They don't have much depth though, so it'd be nice if we could take advantage of that by wearing them down and/or getting them in foul trouble. I think we'll have a chance. I don't feel great about our ability to win, for obvious reasons, but I don't imagine this one playing out much differently than most of our conference games have.
Illiini
- In the land of the Nittany Lion
With all due respect, I think I've heard that song before. Unfortunately.
BananaShampoo
Captain 'Paign
- Phoenix, AZ
Whoops. You're right. Read versus as "at" for some reason. Still think it will take a Herculean effort to win.
I don't disagree, just digging deep for any optimistic scenario I can find right now. Tonight's game against a pretty shallow Wisconsin roster certainly doesn't inspire much confidence.
I'm as pessimistic as one can get, but I think we are gonna win this one
GortTheRobot
- North Bethesda, Maryland
Honestly, who the hell knows with this team? We could just as easily lose by 15 as win by 20. Or be up by 20 and lose by 15. Every game is a huge "?".
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
PSU 75
Illini 60
optimism = 50 %
pessimism = 50 %
the Illini are better than their record shows ( or are they ? )
the future is bright ( or is it ? )
with this team, who the hell knows ?
more exciting than the JG teams ? ( hell yes )
more disappointing with the talent and coaching skills ? ( HELL YES )
I keep thinking we have turned the corner but the corner we turn is into a dark alley with no vision...
Sunday could be a beat down as this is a very good PSU team trying to make the dance....Ill be tuned in ...hope I don't tune out !!!
Illini 60
optimism = 50 %
pessimism = 50 %
the Illini are better than their record shows ( or are they ? )
the future is bright ( or is it ? )
with this team, who the hell knows ?
more exciting than the JG teams ? ( hell yes )
more disappointing with the talent and coaching skills ? ( HELL YES )
I keep thinking we have turned the corner but the corner we turn is into a dark alley with no vision...
Sunday could be a beat down as this is a very good PSU team trying to make the dance....Ill be tuned in ...hope I don't tune out !!!
Penn State fighting for something bigger, the ILLINI fighting is in our name! Games are a YO-YO at best for us now with team/talent/coaching staff/system.
Optimistically I will call ILLINI at home with Carr and Frazier going head to head. Black stays out of foul trouble, we win 78-73, if not we lose by 12 78-66 at home.
Optimistically I will call ILLINI at home with Carr and Frazier going head to head. Black stays out of foul trouble, we win 78-73, if not we lose by 12 78-66 at home.
6 am meeting after a later night game, oh boy, I bet that was sweet. If they didn't like things before they sure loved that. Hope we have some good shooting vs PSU. Our lack of any perimeter shooting has given us the biggest problem. No shots from the outside allows it to be a clogged lane. Let's see who shows up. Jordan, Alstork Finke, could you please shoot? And make a few?
Have we gotten anyone into foul trouble?
Add to this group the following who scored 0 last game: Ebo, Lucas, Nichols, and Williams.
We need all the help we can get even though these 4 may not be the most adept shooters - go Illini.
15 & 20 point loses? Very interesting. Illinois has only lost one game by over 10 points. Yes, Penn State will probably win, but it won't be by the margin some here are predicting.
Anyone? Yeah. We did several times early in the season. Have we done it much recently? No.
We did shoot 32 free throws against Indiana, and for as bad as Morgan still killed us in that game he did have to sit for a critical 5 minute stretch in the second half that I would argue was the difference in the game. Unfortunately, PSU isn’t as reliant on any one player as Indiana is Morgan. What PSU doesn’t want, more than most teams we play in conference, is to have to go more than a player or two deep on their bench. Will we take advantage of that? Probably not. But it is one area where they are particularly vulnerable.
Don't see us winning this and don't see Underwood making the adjustment he needs to. Sorry I don't care what defense Alstork brings because his lack of offense and his lack of what seems to be basketball IQ hurts more. Yet you see someone like Smith who has a short leash and seems to play afraid. Its time to give Smith the minutes and tell him go out and just play and not pull him right after a mistake. Alstork gets many minutes even after a dumb play.
Deleted member 29907
D
Guest
Williams should be seeing the court before Smith IMO. Better D, passer and high BB IQ. I almost feel like BU is forcing the Smith play to backup his earlier comments.
Here’s a fun stat: from the time today’s high school juniors started first grade (11 seasons), we are 79-112 in conference with two seasons above .500.
If we finish 2-4, it will be the worst season of the eleven, and our most conference losses of all time.
Also, this stretch coincides with the BIG going to 18-game conference seasons. Clearly we need to go back to 16.
Oops: meant to put in recruiting thread, sorry
If we finish 2-4, it will be the worst season of the eleven, and our most conference losses of all time.
Also, this stretch coincides with the BIG going to 18-game conference seasons. Clearly we need to go back to 16.
Oops: meant to put in recruiting thread, sorry
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He has been lately until the last game. Williams has not been a good outside shooter and against Wisconsin that is what we needed. Didn't work out anyway.
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