Pregame: Illinois vs Washington, Thursday, January 29th, 8:00pm CT, FS1

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#176      
IlliniCC16
PNWIllini said:
Just enjoy it guys. You’re winners. The floor needs to be raised. The view becomes a lot better.
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And D@MN it feels good! My family is enjoying every second of this ride. Every game night becomes a family event and my 4 young kids know the coaches and players on a first name basis in our house...It's good to be an Illini, ladies and gentlemen!
 
#177      
LouHenson
Fly Illini Fly! said:
This is not even close to true. Bardo, Liberty, Anderson, Battle, Hamilton were ALL 6"6 or taller.
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Not Nick, he was only about 6’4”, but yes the rest were all about 6’5” or better except Kendal who was also right at 6’4”.
 
#178      
kyillinifan
Look at last night games with IU and PU. Rutgers vs MSU. Can't let the PU win stymie the game against Washington. Rutgers should have won and IU did. Get off to good start and put them away early and don't look ahead to NB.
 
#179      
AirTran
Fly Illini Fly! said:
This is not even close to true. Bardo, Liberty, Anderson, Battle, Hamilton were ALL 6"6 or taller.
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No Bardo is 6'5" Battle 6'6" Anderson 6'6" Liberty 6'7" and Hamilton 6'7." But the premise is correct - they weren't very big. They were however, the most athletic and physical team I ever saw. I keep thinking about Bardo's baseball pass to Nick in the Indiana game. You realize how difficult that entire play was?
 
#180      
Illinirog70
Yes he was! and he turned out to be a serviceable player for the Illini, scoring often in the low teens and rebounding well.
 
#181      
Illinirog70
I seem to remember...
Bardo 6'7...Battle 6'6...Anderson 6"5"...Liberty 6'8"...Hamilton 6'6"... Gill 6'4"...Smith 6'4"... Small 6'7", all super-athletic but Bardo.

One of the greatest plays in u of Ill history, with Anderson's shot from 30 feet, a pure jump-shot!
 
#182      
aaeismacgychel
Second place is 1st loser said:
I think that his point is that there were a lot of areas that stick out like a sore thumb and we'll get beat 95 times out of 100 if they occur again.

1)Being outscored 44-14 in the paint, 26-4 in the first half. That's not ok. That's being dominated.

2)They shot 56% from the field.

3)Only forcing 3 turnovers to our 10.....leading to 20 points off turnovers to 2.

4)They had 19 assists to our 10

5)We only had 10 assists on 27 made baskets

If Wagler didn't go off, we would have considered our offense stagnant, which is really was. There were a lot of late shot clock, deep threes that went down.

We got 12 offense boards off of long rebounds and dropped 18 threes on their head. That is how we won.

Nebraska did that to us and we called them lucky and said they couldn't do anything like that again.

46 points, by one player, on 13/17 shooting, 9/11 from three is unlikely to be replicated.

I could be wrong with what he was trying to say, but that would be my guess.
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I mean, ok, those are indeed numbers from the game, but I think sometimes as fans we forget there's a whole other team playing also. And I'll stand by the fact that I thought Purdue is not only one of the best offenses in the country but they were playing a damn good game as well. You point to Purdue's 1st half and overall shooting, and honestly, I thought and still think it was way more about them playing extraordinarily well while also making some tough midrange shots than it was about us playing poorly.

You are correct that in almost all games when opponents shoot outrageously well and don't turn the ball over they win. But that was from running into Purdue's A game not us playing an F game outside of Keaton. And while yes, Keaton made some tough shots, I'd almost argue that Braden and even TKR made tougher ones. Shots that aren't automatic for them either most nights that they drained.

As others have said, it's a strange argument to make coming off of beating a Top 5 team playing their A game in their own building. It's not like our players no showed...
 
#183      
CrazyIlliniLady
IlliniCC16 said:
And D@MN it feels good! My family is enjoying every second of this ride. Every game night becomes a family event and my 4 young kids know the coaches and players on a first name basis in our house...It's good to be an Illini, ladies and gentlemen!
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Same here. My grown sons and I try to watch every game together. Sometimes my 2 year old granddaughter joins us, and she will now say "INI" when we say "ILL." We allow my husband, an MSU grad to watch with us if he's in town, as long as he at least pretends to root for the Illini. Is it just me, or are the Illini much more fun to watch than Sparty who usually manages to win, yet rarely in a pretty way?
 
#184      
aaeismacgychel
AirTran said:
As for the "eye test" you need to have your eyes checked.

I can proudly say that I have seen every Illini basketball game that has been televised on cable/sattelite since they started. When I lived in the Chicago area I attended 6-10 games per year. My first Illini game was Jan 29, 1967 at Chicago Stadium.

I went to 6 games in the '89 season and more than that in 2005. I have been able to meet a couple members of the '89 team and several players from '07 - '12.

So let's be clear, the '89 team only had 7 players. Same with the 2005 team. 1989 team was better than the '05 team, but that's only because college basketball overall was better in '89. The '89 group had speed, athleticism and tenacity. They could also shoot 3s when they had to and they shot them better than the '05 team and better than the 2026 team. The '89 team had the best defense we have ever had.

But the '89 team did not have depth, they didn't rebound as well as this team, they didn't shoot foul shots as well as this team and they turned the ball over far more than the 2025 and 2005 team. One other ENORMOUS Difference between the 2025 team and the other 2. Every one of the players we put on the floor can shoot 3 point shots and therefore have to be guarded. That completely changes what this team can do offensively on each possession.

BTW those are facts and my eyes are fine. This team can play inside and out and completely change their offensive set depending on the match ups they get. Neither the '05 or the '89 team could do that and that is why they lost the games they lost.

When this team has Kylan Boswell on the floor and uses 8 - 9 players, they are at times the best team Illinois has ever had. They can play lock - down defense with Boswell, Stojakovic, Mirkovic able to play serious MTM and the Ivisic bothers both able to block shots. The difference here is that the 2026 team doesn't play lock down defense for 40 minutes. That's a mystery to me.
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These type of convos are always tough for me because each team played in a different era and each team excelled in many ways based on how rules were enforced in that era. And that’s not to say they couldn't win in another era, but each team would need to alter their play significantly to truly excel in that era. That said, I think this '26 team would have a much tougher time adjusting to the '89 era than the '89 team would to this one. I mean can you imagine that '89 team learning you were allowed to palm the ball and that traveling and offensive fouls aren't a thing anymore? While they'd obviously need to learn to be less physical in this era, I could see the '89 team as a more athletic version of Houston right now which is very scary to think about.

And then that '05 team... Dee would be a nightmare in the backcourt for both '89 and '26. Deron was deadly. And Luther's 2 way play makes for a backcourt that would really cause this '26 team some issues and could certainly ball with that '89 team. Powell and Augie were undersized but they'd have no issue guarding the five out and crashing the boards. The '89 team would struggle guarding the '26 bigs but they would do major damage inside.

It's an interesting argument for sure. And the '21 and '01 teams should probably also be in the conversation. If I were to rank the teams as of this very second, I'd go:

1. '89
2. '05 (very very close to #1)
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3. '21
4. '01
5. '26

That said, I think '26 can move up. We keep improving defensively and playing with consistency this team is capable of going on a big run and starts getting into the "expecting" them to make a Final 4 territory. And the '26 team just isn't there yet while the Top 3 teams on my list were.
 
#185      
pruman91
I have only watched a couple of the husky's games this year so I'm not going to have a lot of info other than this Steinbach (sp) frosh is kinda good especially at rebounding......he does get called for a lot of over the back fouls so get him in foul trouble early will help......

my always worthless prediction is..........................

Illini 84
huskeys 67

continue the winning streak and use the short turn around time to get ready to get revenge from the cornhusks...............

GO ILLINI !!!!!!!!!!!
 
#186      
Second place is 1st loser
aaeismacgychel said:
I mean, ok, those are indeed numbers from the game, but I think sometimes as fans we forget there's a whole other team playing also. And I'll stand by the fact that I thought Purdue is not only one of the best offenses in the country but they were playing a damn good game as well. You point to Purdue's 1st half and overall shooting, and honestly, I thought and still think it was way more about them playing extraordinarily well while also making some tough midrange shots than it was about us playing poorly.

You are correct that in almost all games when opponents shoot outrageously well and don't turn the ball over they win. But that was from running into Purdue's A game not us playing an F game outside of Keaton. And while yes, Keaton made some tough shots, I'd almost argue that Braden and even TKR made tougher ones. Shots that aren't automatic for them either most nights that they drained.

As others have said, it's a strange argument to make coming off of beating a Top 5 team playing their A game in their own building. It's not like our players no showed...
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I agree with this 100%. The conversation got started and I made the utter mistake of chiming in. Should have kept my nose out of it!
 
#187      
Curbelo Fanboy
aaeismacgychel said:
These type of convos are always tough for me because each team played in a different era and each team excelled in many ways based on how rules were enforced in that era. And that’s not to say they couldn't win in another era, but each team would need to alter their play significantly to truly excel in that era. That said, I think this '26 team would have a much tougher time adjusting to the '89 era than the '89 team would to this one. I mean can you imagine that '89 team learning you were allowed to palm the ball and that traveling and offensive fouls aren't a thing anymore? While they'd obviously need to learn to be less physical in this era, I could see the '89 team as a more athletic version of Houston right now which is very scary to think about.

And then that '05 team... Dee would be a nightmare in the backcourt for both '89 and '26. Deron was deadly. And Luther's 2 way play makes for a backcourt that would really cause this '26 team some issues and could certainly ball with that '89 team. Powell and Augie were undersized but they'd have no issue guarding the five out and crashing the boards. The '89 team would struggle guarding the '26 bigs but they would do major damage inside.

It's an interesting argument for sure. And the '21 and '01 teams should probably also be in the conversation. If I were to rank the teams as of this very second, I'd go:

1. '89
2. '05 (very very close to #1)
-------------------
3. '21
4. '01
5. '26

That said, I think '26 can move up. We keep improving defensively and playing with consistency this team is capable of going on a big run and starts getting into the "expecting" them to make a Final 4 territory. And the '26 team just isn't there yet while the Top 3 teams on my list were.
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I'd put the 2001 team ahead of 2021. That team was shoddy officiating in the elite eight away from going to the final four. And eventual champ Duke wanted no part of Illinois again that year. We lost at Cameron in the ACC challenge by 1 in a game where we had 26 turnovers. We had the physicality that was Duke's kryptonite in that era. Also in the sweet 16 that year we made a real good Kansas team just tap out with about 5 minutes left. They didn't want any more. Loved that team.

2021 was great. Fun group of guys but the turd they laid against Loyola just makes it hard for me to consider them above the 2001 team.

This year is trending in the right direction. I suspect they may enter the "if they don't win it all it's gonna hurt real bad" territory soon. It always sucks when the season ends but there have only been a few seasons where it really hurt bad when it ended cause there was a solid shot to take it home. I'd put the 4 listed above on that list along with 1984 (Kentucky screwjob), 2002 (preseason #1 in SI), 2004 & 2024 in that category also.
 
#189      
SCottm
I am guessing there is no way Keaton comes back for some year 2 seasoning now.?
 
#191      
Todd99
Illini4Christ said:
View attachment 46907
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Excuse Me Wow GIF by Apple TV+
 
#195      
LarryGotFouled
Fly Illini Fly! said:
This is not even close to true. Bardo, Liberty, Anderson, Battle, Hamilton were ALL 6"6 or taller.
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well, sort of close to true. Bardo was 6'6; Liberty was 6'8 but not a huge contributor, Anderson was max 6'5 - definitely shorter than Bardo, Battle 6'6 but that seemed generous too, Hamilton absolutely not taller than 6'7 and that is probably generous. So you're right that it's not '100% true' but I do think pretty darn close to true.
 
#197      
jrichisamazing
This game is a Q2 game. We have never gone undefeated in Q2 or worse games under BU.

2025 - 2 Q2 losses (USC, @Rutgers)

2024 - 1 Q2 loss (@PSU), 1 Q3 loss (Maryland)

2023 - 1 Q2 loss (PSU)

2022 - 3 Q2 losses (Cincy, @MD, @Rutgers)

2021 - 1 Q2 loss (MD)

2020 - 1 Q2 loss (Miz), 1 Q3 loss (Miami)

2018, 2019 - Plenty of Q2 or worse losses in the rebuilding phase

Not that surprising, as only a handful of teams each year do it. This year we have a pretty good shot IMO. 4 Q2 games left all at home. 2 Q3 games left, Oregon and @Maryland.
 
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