I'm not sure I've ever wanted to be friends with an Illini player as much as I do with Georgi. He seems like a fascinating guy would would just be an excellent guy to have as a friend.
Pregame: Illinois vs Purdue, Saturday, January 2nd, 5:00pm CT, BTN
- Status
FeelYourPaign
- So Cal
Seems like a great scouting report. I'm going to be watching for all of this later today. Thanks !
Tacomallini
- Washington State
Giorgi has been climbing trees and taken up woodcarving. I think Underwood said in a press conference at the start of COVID quarantines that Giorgi was teaching himself to walk on his hands. Definitely an interesting fellow, and very glad he's Illini for life.
Illinois' Bezhanishvili navigates in Champaign with his family across the world
Forward uses FaceTime to stay in touch with his family in Austria.www.stltoday.com
Great article
The only team I would even consider against the 89 team is the 05 team. Both were worthy national champions that had the #1 ranking during the season, and came up just short on the last weekend.
Damn Michigan for having a third game in the FF. Having won two double digit blow-outs didn't help. Lost by 2. Ton of talent on that squad.
Damn North Carolina for those cheesy foul calls on Augustine and being loaded with NBA talent up and down the line. Not quite the overall talent as the 89 team, but ran the offense like no team I've seen since, and brought a killer instinct and competitiveness that was unreal.
IMHO, this team is elite, but doesn't have the extra gear both of those teams had. Baylor, for example has it, and showed it when they clamped down. Offensively, this team is on a national championship level. Defensively, they're solid, but not getting stops or disrupting at a really high level. There are some intangibles that aren't quite there either. The rotation has 2 true freshman, so our ceiling is definitely higher. Hard to say where we'll be come tournament time, and match-ups matter. I'm still optimistic, but FFs are hard to come by, and at best, you get one easy game if you're a high seed. Gotta have consistency for multiple games, which I'm concerned about. Lotta bball left to get better, and overall these guys are hungry. Fun to get a team like this as a fan --savor it!
89 seemed to have the "killer instinct." They just kept coming at ya - relentless.
I agree --didn't mean to imply otherwise.
Few weeks ago I said likely wouldn’t see Hutch this year (unfortunately came to be) and that BBV wouldn’t play more than 100 minutes this season. Still stand by that and wouldn’t surprise me if he doesn’t get to 60.
No offense Eye, but I hope you are wrong, we will be a better with him available.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
Happy gameday! I have been as excited for the next Illini game as I honestly have been since 2006, and this week felt like it took forever!! It would be SO nice to just blow Purdue out. If there is one thing that has consistently disappointed me about these last two teams, it's that we will just randomly let a team stick around, even when I think we're playing pretty well. In other words, it's not like we're just having an off day (which happens to everyone), it's that we seem to lack the extra energy to just punch them in the face and not let up, and also that our defense is just lagging enough to let the other team shoot well enough to stay in it. Some games that come to mind:
2020
#24 Illinois 75, Northwestern 71
#19 Illinois, Minnesota 51
Illinois 67, Indiana 66
2021
#8 Illinois 77, Ohio 75
#18 Illinois 69, Indiana 60
I know that doesn't seem like too many, but it psychologically sticks with me for this team. When we're feeling it and the energy/defense is there, we are just simply hard to beat! I hope we come out fired up today, because as I alluded to previously in this thread, we have the chance to go on a decently long winning streak and have some confidence/swagger headed into the gauntlet!
2020
#24 Illinois 75, Northwestern 71
#19 Illinois, Minnesota 51
Illinois 67, Indiana 66
2021
#8 Illinois 77, Ohio 75
#18 Illinois 69, Indiana 60
I know that doesn't seem like too many, but it psychologically sticks with me for this team. When we're feeling it and the energy/defense is there, we are just simply hard to beat! I hope we come out fired up today, because as I alluded to previously in this thread, we have the chance to go on a decently long winning streak and have some confidence/swagger headed into the gauntlet!
Only January 2nd and we already have 2 wins in 2021. I’ll take it!
No offense taken. I just don’t see BBV making it too much into the rotation at this time. But if he can give us even a few productive 6-8 minute games during the remainder of the season, that could be big.
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
Throwback script whites today.
Gonna have to bust mine out!
Whitmans Sampler
- Eastern Iowa
Me too! I got my hands on a free giveaway from last year’s Maryland game. Some krush member accidentally grabbed 2 and handed me one. I am forever in his debt.
Niiiiiiice...Nike missed out - the only size left on Gameday is the small.
I know it seems like it, but if you look at scores with just about every other ranked team playing unranked opponents, blow outs are not as common as you think.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
(2020-)2021 season.
Kind of like how our awesome butt whooping of #1 Wake Forest “was in 2005.”- Status