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

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#101      

WeWillWhen

WeWillWhen
WeWillWhen
I've watched a lot of UCLA the past few years. Their defense will give us fits. Turnovers will kill us if we don't take better care of the ball; that, and over-reliance on three-pointers, which I anticipate we'll struggle with being on the road for the first time in an unfamiliar arena. I also don't think that UCLA will have any problem with our full-court pressure, and I won't be surprised at all if coach calls it off at some point.

On the flipside, I think that UCLA will be bothered by our size, especially if Mayer shows up. They are not particularly deep at forward and they will NOT be able to handle Coleman, Mayer, Dainja and Shannon if all of them are playing up to their potential.

I hope that we can keep it close.
 
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#103      

Loyalillini10

L
Urbana, IL
Loyalillini10
I have watched all of our games more than once. I cannot understand how anyone is questioning Skyy’s speed or how some dude named Chud is questioning his intensity. We are watching totally different games. If we lose any games this weekend, it isn’t going to be because of speed or intensity. Ffs…
 
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#106      

CharliedonSurf

C
CharliedonSurf
CHI 1086 said:
VEGAS BABY!
Alert the media, I have arrived!
GO Illini!
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Las Vegas GIF
 
#110      

WWWWRocU

W
Herndon, VA
WWWWRocU
Fighter of the Nightman said:
Looks like we have played UCLA 9 times (3-6 record) but not since 1998. The last time we beat the Bruins was in 1996-97 at the United Center. Kind of surprising that this will only be the second meeting all-time where both teams are ranked.

1997-98: #9 UCLA 74, Illinois 69 (at UCLA)
1996-97: Illinois 79, #24 UCLA 63 (Chicago, IL)
1972-73: #1 UCLA 71, Illinois 64 (New Orleans, LA)
1966-67: #1 UCLA 102, Illinois 82 (Chicago, IL)
1965-66: #1 UCLA 97, Illinois 79 (at UCLA)
1964-65: Illinois 110, #1 UCLA 83 (at ILL)
1963-64: #4 UCLA 83, Illinois 79 (Los Angeles, CA)
1951-52: #2 Illinois 73, #16 UCLA 67 (at ILL)
1949-50: UCLA 65, Illinois 63 (at ILL)
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Thanks for the recall Fighter. This was my freshman year and first exposure to ILLINI basketball. Led by Nick Weatherspoon, Nick Conner, and Jim (Jeff?) Dawson. In fact, following the team all season, it turns out the 7 point loss was the closest anybody came to UCLA all season. This team taught me ILLINI toughness.
 
#111      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
pruman91 said:
That is the thing I will be looking at the most .....if we start out 1-18 in FGA then we may be too far behind to come back ......if we shoot 75 % in the first half like we did against mono then we should have a double digit lead .......if we average @ 50 % then I think it will be a great game.......

Our first game against higher level competition will be interesting and give us a snapshot of what the rest of the season will look like.........I don't fear ucla and i know BU and staff and players don't either.........we should be in the game from tip off to the buzzer........I don't know enough about the bruins to do what some here do as far as a manifesto analysis , but they are ranked higher than we are so i think it;s a chance to enhance our ranking and personna with our pressure D and long length , then bring in Epps , Rodgers , Harris and Dainja @ 3-4 minutes in will confuse , confound and completely wear down the bruins and we will win this game ......then we will play either bu or uva and we will ruin their holiday season also......

The Illini are a team of skilled athletes at least 9 deep right now.............I see NO reason to doubt the Illini until shown that my homerism is unfounded and then I will still be "" high "" on my beloved Illini........I do know this years team fears no one and relishes the chance to prove how good they really are........


Illini 78
ucla 72

Illini 80
bu/uva 72

Hope I'm right.....Would be a great feeling to start the holiday season off with the Illini unbeaten and highly thought of.................jmho
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Pru, I caught your creatively inserted pun...we love you man!

" ..start the holiday season off with the Illini unbeaten and "HIGHLY" thought of...."
 
#112      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
WWWWRocU said:
Thanks for the recall Fighter. 1972-73: This was my freshman year and first exposure to ILLINI basketball. Led by Nick Weatherspoon, Nick Conner, and Jim (Jeff?) Dawson. In fact, following the team all season, it turns out the 7 point loss was the closest anybody came to UCLA all season. This team taught me ILLINI toughness.
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I can also vaguely recall that UCLA game 50 years ago, against the Bill Walton-led Bruins. That was a pretty good loss for a not-so-good Illini team. Walton was definitely one of the "top 5" best college players I've seen in my lifetime. Without any research..............Alcindor-Walton-Maravich-Bird-Magic. (Bias: I don't count/acknowledge anyone in the "one and done" era since 1 year does not a college career make.)

Walton: Three years of eligibility and three National POY awards.
 
#113      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
ChiefKingfisher said:
Do you guys think UVA will drop out of this tournament? Football team already cancelled their game this weekend, although obviously they're more affected by the incident than the basketball team. If they did drop out, I wonder what would happen. Guessing the winner of Illinois/UCLA would play Baylor and the loser would be done for the weekend.
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As someone pointed out, if they were going to we would have likely already heard. Football game was likely canceled because 3 of those killed were football players and it was at home. If UVA basketball was scheduled to play at home on Friday, I think game might well have been canceled. But being on the road, I think they’ll play.
 
#114      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
Cronin presser. Talks some about Illini. Nothing real specific, but complimentary of BU. And I think people will enjoy his first description of Illini.

I don’t watch much in the way of pressers, and typically ones I see are BIG coaches after Illini game (by coaches I can’t stand). Cronin seems likeable.

 
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#115      

combes

C
combes
WWWWRocU said:
Thanks for the recall Fighter. This was my freshman year and first exposure to ILLINI basketball. Led by Nick Weatherspoon, Nick Conner, and Jim (Jeff?) Dawson. In fact, following the team all season, it turns out the 7 point loss was the closest anybody came to UCLA all season. This team taught me ILLINI toughness.
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Spoon averaged 25 that year. Jeff Dawson over 18. Conner 13 and 9. At 6-6, Conner blocked one of Walton’s shots in the game.

Jim Dawson was Jeff’s older brother and the Big Ten MVP for Illinois six years earlier.
 
#116      

illinitiger

I
illinitiger
EyeoftheIllini said:
Cronin presser. Talks some about Illini. Nothing real specific, but complimentary of BU. And I think people will enjoy his first description of Illini.

I don’t watch much in the way of pressers, and typically ones I see are BIG coaches after Illini game (by coaches I can’t stand). Cronin seems likeable.

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Cronin presser is a Good watch.
-- He had accolades for BU and Illini
--.talked about our team overhaul..."top scorer is transfer and guards are freshmen"
-- he wondered who our go to guy would be
-- didnt seem too worried about us...."they are going to get better through the year"
 
#117      

IllinoisssssssVarsity

I
IllinoisssssssVarsity
WeWillWhen said:
I've watched a lot of UCLA the past few years. Their defense will give us fits. Turnovers will kill us if we don't take better care of the ball; that, and over-reliance on three-pointers, which I anticipate we'll struggle with being on the road for the first time in an unfamiliar arena. I also don't think that UCLA will have any problem with our full-court pressure, and I won't be surprised at all if coach calls it off at some point.

On the flipside, I think that UCLA will be bothered by our size, especially if Mayer shows up. They are not particularly deep at forward and they will NOT be able to handle Coleman, Mayer, Dainja and Shannon if all of them are playing up to their potential.

I hope that we can keep it close.
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We don’t press to cause people major problems and turn them over, we press to disrupt their rhythm and start their half court offense with <18 seconds on the shot clock. Tyger is a really, really good player, but he’s also like 5’10. With a 6’10 Hawkins and 6’7 TJ/RJ buffering him up the court, that could give him some problems because they don’t need to be close to cause problems with their height/length.

If we were pure run and jump, I don’t know that we could run with him like that. But the fact that we just kinda softly box people in makes me excited for this matchup. How does a top tier college pg fair against our pressure is a good thing to have on film for us for the future.
 
#118      

EyeoftheIllini

EyeoftheIllini
EyeoftheIllini
illinitiger said:
Cronin presser is a Good watch.
-- He had accolades for BU and Illini
--.talked about our team overhaul..."top scorer is transfer and guards are freshmen"
-- he wondered who our go to guy would be
-- didnt seem too worried about us...."they are going to get better through the year"
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One of my takeaways wasn’t that he didn’t seem too worried — or at least not in a disrespectful way. I think he’s more worried/interested in seeing how his team does in its first game away from Pauley.

But you seem to have missed the quote that Illini fans will love. Hint. Hint: Michigan fans would disagree.
 
#121      

Illini in Italy

Illini in Italy
Illini in Italy
DeonThomas said:
I can also vaguely recall that UCLA game 50 years ago, against the Bill Walton-led Bruins. That was a pretty good loss for a not-so-good Illini team. Walton was definitely one of the "top 5" best college players I've seen in my lifetime. Without any research..............Alcindor-Walton-Maravich-Bird-Magic. (Bias: I don't count/acknowledge anyone in the "one and done" era since 1 year does not a college career make.)

Walton: Three years of eligibility and three National POY awards.
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Good choices . . . I’d add a 6th. - Ralph Sampson. No one has ever done (and may never do) what he did in college, a true unicorn.
 
#122      

DeonThomas

DeonThomas
South Carolina
DeonThomas
EyeoftheIllini said:
Cronin presser. Talks some about Illini. Nothing real specific, but complimentary of BU. And I think people will enjoy his first description of Illini.

I don’t watch much in the way of pressers, and typically ones I see are BIG coaches after Illini game (by coaches I can’t stand). Cronin seems likeable.

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Laid back southern calif.

I totally agree that the outcome of this game is simply a nice-to-have. (In fact, the same is true of Baylor/UVA, Texas and Syracuse.) The important thing is to play well and give all the guys some experience in a neutral court "big game" situation. 2-2 would be nice. 1-3 acceptable. 3-1 pushes us up the rankings.
 
#124      

Chad Fleck

Chad Fleck
Eureka, IL
Chad Fleck
DeonThomas said:
Laid back southern calif.

I totally agree that the outcome of this game is simply a nice-to-have. (In fact, the same is true of Baylor/UVA, Texas and Syracuse.) The important thing is to play well and give all the guys some experience in a neutral court "big game" situation. 2-2 would be nice. 1-3 acceptable. 3-1 pushes us up the rankings.
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I disagree on Syracuse. That's a home game. I expect wins at home.
 
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