Pregame: Illinois vs UCLA, Friday, November 18th, 8:30pm CT, ESPNU

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#26      
Who knows, but per inside reports we played toe to toe with Kansas in the secret scrimmage.
True, but things are a lot different under the bright lights — especially for freshmen. Win or lose (of course hoping for wins), I’m looking forward to next 2 games. As fans we’ll get a much more accurate picture of where this team is, and BU will have plenty to coach them up about after this weekend.

Not going to get worked up over a loss. Just means team has more work to do. And they’ll have plenty of time in which to do it and develop into the team we all believe they can be.
 
#27      

PizzaHutParkingLot

McPherson, KS
Normally we talk in these pregame threads about who will matchup with who defensively. But with all the switching we're going to do, I guess it doesn't really matter right?
Knowing the competitor TJ is he probably wants first dibs guarding Jaquez.

Clark/Epps v. the veteran Campbell should be interesting as well... Hopefully Mayer shows more than he did in the tune ups.
 
#28      
Knowing the competitor TJ is he probably wants first dibs guarding Jaquez.

Clark/Epps v. the veteran Campbell should be interesting as well... Hopefully Mayer shows more than he did in the tune ups.
Much more likely that he’s on Jayden Clark. Don’t sleep on Clark. He put up nice numbers late last year when they had injury issues, and he’s leading team in scoring. I’d guess Mayer when he’s in and RJ when Mayer isn’t on Jaquez. RJ and Ty on Bailey — though I could see Ty on Jaquez too if he proves too big for RJ.
 
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#32      
Illinois.jpg
 
#33      
Skyy will need to step it up and show more intensity on D than he has so far if he is guarding Tyger.
AndvI would expect the press to yield far fewer turnovers and be lire of a nuisance/make the use clock in this game with Tyger. But we’ll see.
 
#39      
I’m contemplating a last minute trip to Vegas for the Friday game — I would appreciate someone telling me what are the “Illinois” sections in the Arena. Thanks.
 
#41      

LGIllini

La Grange, IL
Here are the team section assignments:

Team Sections:
UCLA Sections 1-5
Virginia Sections 6-10
Illinois Sections 11-15
Baylor Sections 16-20

The Illinois section has been sold out for Friday's game for awhile. We bought tix in the VA section for that one. Last time I looked there were a few tickets left in the Illinois sections for Sunday. Should be a great time!
 
#42      
Was Deron as quick as Dee Or Luther?
The only thing comparable between Skyy and Deron is their weight class. Clark is supposed to be our PG. If anything we could compare his quickness to Dee..... And we all know how that race would end.

I'm not saying he can't improve. I'm saying he looked slow against inferior competition. This weekend will tell us quite a bit......
 
#43      
The only thing comparable between Skyy and Deron is their weight class. Clark is supposed to be our PG. If anything we could compare his quickness to Dee..... And we all know how that race would end.

I'm not saying he can't improve. I'm saying he looked slow against inferior competition. This weekend will tell us quite a bit......
I didn’t think he looked slow. He’s not a jitter bug type and plays smooth and within himself, so maybe at times it might look like it. But like you said, we’ll see.

And FYI, Deron led team in assists, so he was more the PG than Dee. And not many are going to come out on top when compared to Dee for quickness anyway.
 
#48      
Just want to chime in to remind everyone what a complete joke it is that this game is on ESPNU, lol. Two ranked, storied basketball programs that will no-doubt deliver a great rating on a normal channel.
What is the difference? It’s not like they were bumped to the U for a Corn Hole tournament and bowling. I really don’t think it is a joke at all or disrespectful as another poster said. ESPN networks has broadcast rights to tournament. I haven’t checked, but I’m guessing an NBA game is on ESPN and a college football game on ESPN2. A lot of these good basketball matches during the holiday tournament season end up on ESPNU because of programming issues. And it’s not like 20 years ago when a lot of people might not have had ESPNU. Outrage is probably better saved for bad officiating in football.
 
#49      
I'm excited to get a better idea of what we've got here. I still have no idea how good this team is going to be and am curious to see how Dain stacks up against high major talent and if Mayer stays a bit more engaged when the lights are up, among other things. If we split the four games in Vegas and against Texas and SU I'll be very happy. Think I'd only be really disappointed if we come away empty, but I really don't think that's gonna happen.

If nothing else, I'm not expecting this team to be boring, so at least we have that over Virginia...
 
#50      
What is the difference? It’s not like they were bumped to the U for a Corn Hole tournament and bowling. I really don’t think it is a joke at all or disrespectful as another poster said. ESPN networks has broadcast rights to tournament. I haven’t checked, but I’m guessing an NBA game is on ESPN and a college football game on ESPN2. A lot of these good basketball matches during the holiday tournament season end up on ESPNU because of programming issues. And it’s not like 20 years ago when a lot of people might not have had ESPNU. Outrage is probably better saved for bad officiating in football.
I suppose. I guess it's more "annoying in general" that such a good early season matchup is on an also-ran channel that always gets horrible ratings no matter who's on it, but you are correct that ESPN has the rights. My annoyance should probably actually be targeted at Baylor/Virginia getting the 6:00 pm ESPN slot and Illinois/UCLA getting the 8:30 pm ESPNU slot. One can argue what is a better matchup, but I would argue at least that Illinois and UCLA might have a bigger combined fan base.

During our time slot, ESPN has the NBA (as you predicted), and ESPN2 has football ... South Florida vs. Tulsa. "Football is king" and all, but I would wager the Illinois/UCLA game would outdraw USF/Tulsa. Browsing through recent ratings, similar football matchups on ESPN2 usually draw between 250k and 500k viewers, whereas all of Illinois' "marquee" basketball matchups the past three years have been around 1 million.
 
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