If Ivisic is back by the TENN game, that's a win in my book.
I also think that of our marquee non-conference games, UConn in NYC is the one where you consider yourself to be playing with house money … I want that statement (revenge) win vs. UConn, but I’d rather have a healthy Tomi in Nashville than rush it.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
That is kind of hard to believe.
I don't know if anyone has seen this, but here's a good resource:
Men's Basketball History University of Illinois Athletics
Men's Basketball History University of Illinois Athleticsfightingillini.com
Now the line is down to -3.5 lol. That was fast. Maybe it was the Tomi news?
Absolutely! I was about to post my prediction, so I'll just do it here. I'm going with a close game until 5 minutes left in the first half. O&B win 92-77Anyone else feeling Illinois winning big Tuesday?
Without Tomi and with Andrej and Mihailo just barely getting back into the fold their is little reason to feel as optimistic as I do. But darn it...this team is gonna have a Veteran's day statement win.

Got to keep him out of foul trouble. Toppin is very physical and will go right at him.Big Z will be huge in this game. Have to have him as a rim protector. I actually like this game more than Tomi's.
I think he causes a lot of problems for the other teams offense.
I don't think that arguments works. Supposed the Nuggets were suddenly an NCAA team. They would only be ~10 spots ahead of us. Is our talent close?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.
Sorry for thatYou and @Fighter of the Nightman sent me down the rabbit hole. Here are the teams in the current major conferences (plus Wash St and Oregon St) that we have never played. I did this pretty quickly so someone can fact check me if they want to.
ACC - SMU, Boston College
Big 12 - Texas Tech
Big East - None
SEC - Mississippi St
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I'm sure that the entire staff is going nuts having him on the bench, he's got to be the de facto best passer on the team, right? I've posted about this before and I want to tread lightly making this comp, but...This will probably anger some of youbut Tyler raves about Petrovic more than anyone else on the roster
Relative to the rest of the NCAA? Yes. We would be closer than like 97% of teams.I don't think that arguments works. Supposed the Nuggets were suddenly an NCAA team. They would only be ~10 spots ahead of us. Is our talent close?
I don't think that arguments works. Supposed the Nuggets were suddenly an NCAA team. They would only be ~10 spots ahead of us. Is our talent close?
I think you just nailed the difference in what the two groups are trying to say. "Closer" vs. "Close." It is possible to be significantly closer than 99% of the other teams yet still not close to the top team.Relative to the rest of the NCAA? Yes. We would be closer than like 97% of teams.
I know. I was being a bit facetious with my response. "Close" by definition is a relative term. It all depends on your point of reference.I think you just nailed the difference in what the two groups are trying to say. "Closer" vs. "Close." It is possible to be significantly closer than 99% of the other teams yet still not close to the top team.
Top 20 compared to who? You subconsciously already compared us to 360 teams by breaking us out into a subset of said teams.Comparing our talent levels against 360 teams doesn’t make any sense.
The question is against the other top 20 teams, who we likely play for anything of value this year, are we more or less talented?
Northwestern I’m sure looks more talented then 250 teams (top quartile - omg they are so talented!), yet do we think that they are the benchmark of us being talented…
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