We probably don’t have the top end talent to take the crown, but top to bottom our roster has as much talent as anyone in the country.
Pregame: Illinois vs Texas Tech, Tuesday, November 11th, 7:30pm CT, FS1
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"Not even close"? Offensively we could certainly be and I'm not sure anyone would be that shocked. The key here is obviously health.
Google/youtubeTV and Disney going at it over the new contract. So no ESPN on YouTubeTV now.
Chuck Nuggets
Dip your nuggets in my staff source sauce.
And, FYI, look for a $20 credit from YouTube TV, if you haven't checked your email recently.
I think we win this one 87-81. Regardless, I can't wait to see us against some tough competition to see where we are.
While I totally agree with you, the broadcasters have a conflict of interest where they want to maximize viewership to sell ad space, but they also want to justify the existence of their cable networks/streaming services. Adding another wrinkle to this- Big Ten Network (majority owned by Fox) owns the media rights to our games and sublicenses them to the other broadcasters.
My biggest complaint with our media at the moment is the continued existence of B1G+. The other conferences' bonus streaming networks (SECN+, ACCNX, etc.) are part of ESPN+, but ours isn't bundled with anything (not even the recently launched Fox One) and might be the worst value proposition in all of media.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I wonder why they wouldn't do a similar draft for basketball as the networks do for football ... and maybe they do. Either way, I feel like FOX in general is not active enough in the college hoops space, even in January/February/March, and they seem way too content to let cool games fall to FS1.
According to Torvik, we're the 10th most talented team in the country. 10 out of 365 is at least a little bit close by most definitions.
There must be a draft of some kind seeing as how CBS seems to favor certain teams, but the contract is heavily weighted in Fox's favor (BTN included) in terms of total games allocated. If I were to guess how it works- Fox, CBS, and NBC draft games until CBS fills its quota. Then Fox and NBC go back and forth until NBC fills its quota. Fox gets all remaining games.
10th seems in the reasonable range (and roughly corresponds to our 14 ranking). The OP said (if Petrovic is that good) that we'd be the most talented team in the country. This is the type of observation that we seem to hear almost every year about this time. Others - "If we don't make the FF this year, it's a failure" or "we could go 11 deep and come at them in waves."
It's worth mentioning that lots of fan bases do that same thing. Fan is just short for fanatic.
I have no problems with people saying whatever they want, but I think a reasonable view might be "we are one of the 10 or so most talented teams in the country."
This will probably anger some of you
but Tyler raves about Petrovic more than anyone else on the roster
but Tyler raves about Petrovic more than anyone else on the rosterI think that is good news for our backcourt then.This will probably anger some of you
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Well, at least it’s not Hamer with the compliment.This will probably anger some of you
Chuck Nuggets
Dip your nuggets in my staff source sauce.
I'd guess that when you hear a radio station say, "109.7 The Goose. No one plays more rock per hour," you go straight to ChatGPT and ask if it's true or false that 109.7 The Goose actually does play more rock songs per hour than any other radio station.
Yes, but 4 meaningful OOC games + a bunch of cupcakes in a period where games are sparse anyway is WAY preferable to missed time in January/February. It’s not that these games don’t matter, but I’d rather win the B10
That's great. We could use another skilled guard. Right now, when Boz or Keaton goes out, there's a huge dropoff.This will probably anger some of you
I think Kylan will make life hard for Anderson, but I don’t think we have an answer for Toppin. My strategy would be to let him get his and try not to let anyone else go off. He’s not a good FT shooter so letting JJ use his fouls on him would could be another part of the strategy- we just can’t let Mirk and Big Z get in foul trouble trying to guard him
If we hit our threes I don’t think they hold us down very much (true for most games), I think the first team to 90 wins this one in an offensive back and forth. I can’t believe the line is 6.5 without Tomi
If we hit our threes I don’t think they hold us down very much (true for most games), I think the first team to 90 wins this one in an offensive back and forth. I can’t believe the line is 6.5 without Tomi
Tomi being out for a few weeks isn't ideal, but getting Stojakovic and Petrovic back is huge.
This is also why you got Mirkovic and Z.
This is also why you got Mirkovic and Z.
If we could get him back by 12/8 (Tennessee) that’s a huge win in my book. Would be great if he’s back for UConn (11/28) but I imagine with Tomi’s there’s a conditioning element beyond the missed time solely from injury
I love your enthusiasm, but no. This is going to be a team where the whole is better than the sum of the parts. We have some really good players, but nobody on the roster visually blows your doors off.
It's not at athletic group, which is worrisome. We're not going to be playing above the rim. Defensively, you're seeing zone implemented. We're not a team that's has guys, outside of Boswell, who can shut the water off of on the defensive end. We're going to funnel offenses into the paint and hopefully our bigs can alter shots.
Nobody on our roster is going to jump off the page at you. Heck, late in a game, I'm not even sure who our closer will be. Who takes the last shot in a tie game?
There's a lot of TBD with our group.
It's not at athletic group, which is worrisome. We're not going to be playing above the rim. Defensively, you're seeing zone implemented. We're not a team that's has guys, outside of Boswell, who can shut the water off of on the defensive end. We're going to funnel offenses into the paint and hopefully our bigs can alter shots.
Nobody on our roster is going to jump off the page at you. Heck, late in a game, I'm not even sure who our closer will be. Who takes the last shot in a tie game?
There's a lot of TBD with our group.
Not ideal would be putting it mildly. Outside of Tomi and Boswell, we don't have a ton of experience with guys who have played in big time atmospheres, in front of 15,000, on national TV, versus elite competition.
Tomi and Bam are known commodities and are battle tested. There isn't a moment too big for them. We're going to find out about the rest. Tech has stars that you know are going to play like stars.
Was it Mirk who said that the exhibition game versus ISU was the loudest crowd he's ever played in front of? That was cringe worthy. Let's see how they react tomorrow.
It'll be interesting. Hopefully the three is going down.
Tomi and Bam are known commodities and are battle tested. There isn't a moment too big for them. We're going to find out about the rest. Tech has stars that you know are going to play like stars.
Was it Mirk who said that the exhibition game versus ISU was the loudest crowd he's ever played in front of? That was cringe worthy. Let's see how they react tomorrow.
It'll be interesting. Hopefully the three is going down.
I have been eagerly waiting for his debut. I have pointed out in other posts how BU calls him a “jet” and Trotter said he is the Energizer Bunny. I think once he is fully healthy he is going take this team to another level. If you think Illinois is playing uptempo now, just wait until he starts. Underwood has already talked openly about how the Illini will play faster with Petrovic at the controls than they did a year ago under Kasparas Jakucionis. In addition to the “jet” and Energizer Bunny comps, there have been other hints about his abilities, I don’t remember exactly, but Werner wrote this: He has tremendous speed, he excels in ball screens and has all the finishes. Petrovic's arrival is a game-changer for the Illini, giving them a maestro of a ball-handler and table setter to run the Illini's five-out offense. He should operate incredibly well with Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivisic — the twins are pick-and-pop big men — in ball screens, and Petrovic has great speed to get downhill and collapse a defense with great feel as a passer to spread it out to the Illini's multitude of shooters. Petrovic also should really push the ball in transition as well, an area in which the Illini struggled last season. Maybe this is the year that Illinois institutes that 7 second plan that was touted a few years back.
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