sounds familiar….
Pregame: Illinois vs Penn State, Thursday, March 3rd, 6:00pm CT, FS1
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Most analysts agree you need 3 players on the floor the majority of the time that are legitimate 3-point threats. We have right now 4-5 players that are legit in that role. Of those, only Trent and Plummer can get their own shots. Curby and Hawkins right now don't fit that bill of legit 3 point threats, and to me that's OK. They do other things so well. DMW needs to play like the DMW we know he can be. We need Payne to get his confidence back because he can be very important for defense, rebounding, and put backs. I refuse to give up on that guy.
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I think I'll always remember Illinois-Iowa in the Ayo/Garza years was some of the best, most entertaining college basketball I've ever seen.Well, I'm nothing if not pedantic
I'd forgotten about the reg season game last year v. Hawks. I remember that season finale in 2020 because it seemed like the first time in well over a decade when it was the final weekend of the season and our game mattered monumentally. I don't believe my pulse dropped below ~ 150 for the entire second half.
IlliniKat91
- Chicago, IL
Chris Evans or Ryan Reynolds are also acceptable substitutes
I would probably say 80%, but agree with the thought process. And similarly, I would say (without going back to review history) that the NCAA tournament title is won by the best team only about 20-25% of the time.
BillyBob1
- Champaign
PruMan would be eligible, but he will be watching the game too!
Yep, to a degree this is unavoidable. Even in the MLB with 162 game seasons and 7 game series, I can think of examples where the "best" team hasn't won. But conference championships, unbalanced or not, are the closest we have to a meritocracy in college basketball.
Bigtex
- DFW
I think the Michigan game the offense flowed well with dmw getting 17 minutes.
Going forward let dmw be a defensive stopper to give others a short break
Agree with you. Need him to rebound and hit kick out 3's though, too.
Bigtex
- DFW
Our guards rebounds totals haven’t been very high in February
the national
- the Front Range
Can’t be @pruman91, nobody else would stand a chance.
I’m gonna counter a couple of these.
Marquette and Maryland were without Kofi.
Cincinnati obviously terrible. But a concussed Curbelo and Kofi’s first game back made for an odd mix. Despite that circumstances I think this is the one that’s least forgivable.
Rutgers has proven that they have top 1% level home court advantage. A loss there is nothing to be ashamed about. The shameful part was that they played harder, but that’s what playing at home in a hostile atmosphere will help you do.
Eh, fair points to be sure but a couple counters of your counters.
We beat MSU at home 4 days after losing to Maryland away. No Kofi in that game either. MSU is a better team than Maryland. Perhaps home court helped?
Being away from SFA was clearly not the main problem against Cincinnati, But when's the last time we looked that bad at home?
And I don't think Rutgers' very impressive track record refutes the point. The fact that you don't have to face a team on its own court, in front of its own fans, is kind of part of home court advantage.
Let's hope we don't have a let down against psu Thursday. O$U did last night against the last place team. You could see osu legs were not under them. Put psu out by the end of the first half. Can't look ahead to Sunday's game. Will be senior night and will it be Kofi's last game in State Farm Center. Trent and DMW go out winners and look forward to the BTT. When we win two games I would think we should be a 3 seed and no less than a 4 seed. Go ILLINI.
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
My 2 cents on Maryland: it was four days after we left it all on the SFC floor against Purdue. We had no Kofi. Curbelo had a fever of 102 but played anyway. DMW was off. BBV played his first full game in place of Kofi (25 mins starting c/w 20 coming off bench v. Purdue) and just couldn't handle playing the 5 on D through the second half after MD moved Donta Scott there. We were flat, though it was a one-possession game w/5 mins left.
Don't disagree, but to go back to the original conversation it's still a data point against the take that we are better on the road than at home, and I still haven't seen any evidence to support that take, as good a road team as we are.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
You've got to figure these guys are due for a true Big Ten beatdown of their opponents now, right? We haven't really had a start-to-finish whoopin' since we went to the Barn on January 4th. I know ~every Big Ten game is a battle~, but we are simply a better team than PSU and we will put them away early if we come out and execute with effort and intensity. I would love to have a game where these guys really get their confidence going after an "easy" win as they head into a huge game with Iowa. We can always hold out hope that the red hot NEBRASKETBALL ruins the party in Madison on Sunday, too!
So 11 wins in a row will do it ?
Go Illini
If BBV gets clearance, expect some good minutes for him to defend Harrar and keep him off the boards.
76-55 ILL
26 regular season games???
I might be crucified, but I'd rather go back to the 16 game slate. I'd much rather face more teams in the preseason from other conferences. The Big Ten is such a grind. I'd love it if we could do an extra preseason tourney.
Yes, I also recall BU saying he would prefer them too. The atmosphere, competition, and other benefits it would bring to trying to play games fans really don't care about or may take more effort to get fired up for. So yes I can do the math. I heard BU say that more than once.
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