State Farm Center

Kind of a slow day, and I just wanted to say that I really hope the atmosphere at SFC is just simply flat-out better than last year on a consistent basis this year. All throughout this great renaissance of our program since 2019-2020, the SFC has just simply not gotten back to the mid-2000s level, EVEN for many big games. It has shown flashes of an absolute frenzied atmosphere for some really big, especially hyped and relatively rare games ... but our baseline for, say, a Tuesday night home game vs. Minnesota, always falls back to a frankly unacceptable level.

I am hopeful that this year could be different. The Krush seemed to respond to online criticism last year, and it got a lot better toward the end of the year, IMO. Additionally, whatever "reservations" our fans could have POSSIBLY had are now gone. We made it back to the NCAAs, we won multiple Big Ten banners, we've had elite NBA-level players come through, we have made it out of the Second Weekend AND we then we didn't just finally make it back to the Final Four ... we followed that accomplishment up with returning so much talent that we have a reasonable goal of doing it in back-to-back years for the first time in most fans' living memories.

There should be no excuse not to sell out every single home game that isn't vs. a total cupcake, and I would hope even those would easily break 15k.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Kind of a slow day, and I just wanted to say that I really hope the atmosphere at SFC is just simply flat-out better than last year on a consistent basis this year. All throughout this great renaissance of our program since 2019-2020, the SFC has just simply not gotten back to the mid-2000s level, EVEN for many big games. It has shown flashes of an absolute frenzied atmosphere for some really big, especially hyped and relatively rare games ... but our baseline for, say, a Tuesday night home game vs. Minnesota, always falls back to a frankly unacceptable level.

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Really good point about the atmosphere comparing unfavorably to decades ago, but I wish more people here would attend games. There have been multiple times I've been flabbergasted after getting home and reading the post-game comments from people who watched the game on TV talking about lack of a good environment - while the actual at-game experience was the exact same as a previous game they mentioned as being better.

I think at least some part of those discussions are really just people criticizing Peacock sound design vs ESPN sound design vs FOX/B1G sound design, but people don't realize that's what they're actually talking about when they're complaining about the crowd's "lack of energy".

Illini IndyCar Fan said:

Really good point about the atmosphere comparing unfavorably to decades ago, but I wish more people here would attend games. There have been multiple times I've been flabbergasted after getting home and reading the post-game comments from people who watched the game on TV talking about lack of a good environment - while the actual at-game experience was the exact same as a previous game they mentioned as being better.

I think at least some part of those discussions are really just people criticizing Peacock sound design vs ESPN sound design vs FOX/B1G sound design, but people don't realize that's what they're actually talking about when they're complaining about the crowd's "lack of energy".

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Good point as well, although "sound" at the United Center games is always off the charts. It seems to me that the Chicago-area Illini nation fans that hit up that game don't sit on their hands at all and the whole arena becomes orange krush like. I don't get a sense of that in Champaign.

Unpopular opinion. I think people just complain about this every year since the beginning of time, but from going to the games it is basically about the same as always. The place is rocking for Top-tier opponents and in huge situations. It is not against teams we should beat or cupcakes. I remember posts like this even during the 05 run, and when I look at other team forums they have the same thread going. I even saw Duke fans complaining about their own environment.

I'll also say comparing our basketball atmosphere to football makes our basketball atmosphere seem better

Illinidrew said:

Unpopular opinion. I think people just complain about this every year since the beginning of time, but from going to the games it is basically about the same as always. The place is rocking for Top-tier opponents and in huge situations. It is not against teams we should beat or cupcakes. I remember posts like this even during the 05 run, and when I look at other team forums they have the same thread going. I even saw Duke fans complaining about their own environment.

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Illinidrew said:

Unpopular opinion. I think people just complain about this every year since the beginning of time, but from going to the games it is basically about the same as always. The place is rocking for Top-tier opponents and in huge situations. It is not against teams we should beat or cupcakes. I remember posts like this even during the 05 run, and when I look at other team forums they have the same thread going. I even saw Duke fans complaining about their own environment.

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Everyone is entitled to an opinion on this one, but I disagree. Our atmosphere in overtime vs. Wisconsin last year was so pathetic … it simply can’t be compared to another season with that quality of team in that type of situation. And as much as it seems like trying to divide our fan base unnecessarily, the Illini contingents at Braggin’ Rights, the United Center, Evanston, Iowa City, the NCAAT, etc. are just WAY louder and more engaged.

Fighter of the Nightman said:

Everyone is entitled to an opinion on this one, but I disagree. Our atmosphere in overtime vs. Wisconsin last year was so pathetic … it simply can’t be compared to another season with that quality of team in that type of situation. And as much as it seems like trying to divide our fan base unnecessarily, the Illini contingents at Braggin’ Rights, the United Center, Evanston, Iowa City, the NCAAT, etc. are just WAY louder and more engaged.

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That game specifically was a just a turd. Had a double(ish) digit lead with around 6-7 minutes left then Wisconsin couldn't miss for awhile and our O-rebounding got frustrating with bad bounces right to Wisconsin (doing this from memory, but that should be generally correct). Then Wisconsin basically put it away within the first 2 minutes of overtime (Wagler and Humrichous made some miracle 3s in the final seconds but we never had a shot to tie or win). I remember that game being plenty loud, but getting the air sucked out of the stadium when you blow a big lead then immediately tank in OT is a common occurance everywhere.

Last year the schedule kind of screwed us, but the place was rocking for Texas Tech and definitely was ear cracking loud for Michigan (while the game was competitive). We got screwed by weather for that Nebraska game. All of our other big games were on the road. That's a big difference between the (imo imaginary) hay day of Assembly Hall and now - we don't get home and homes with everyone.

MikeTisdale said:

That game specifically was a just a turd. Had a double(ish) digit lead with around 6-7 minutes left then Wisconsin couldn't miss for awhile and our O-rebounding got frustrating with bad bounces right to Wisconsin (doing this from memory, but that should be generally correct). Then Wisconsin basically put it away within the first 2 minutes of overtime (Wagler and Humrichous made some miracle 3s in the final seconds but we never had a shot to tie or win). I remember that game being plenty loud, but getting the air sucked out of the stadium when you blow a big lead then immediately tank in OT is a common occurance everywhere.

Last year the schedule kind of screwed us, but the place was rocking for Texas Tech and definitely was ear cracking loud for Michigan (while the game was competitive). We got screwed by weather for that Nebraska game. All of our other big games were on the road. That's a big difference between the (imo imaginary) hay day of Assembly Hall and now - we don't get home and homes with everyone.

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As I said above while we bemoan our basketball atmospheres, Bielema would kill for that atmosphere for a football game

MikeTisdale said:

That game specifically was a just a turd. Had a double(ish) digit lead with around 6-7 minutes left then Wisconsin couldn't miss for awhile and our O-rebounding got frustrating with bad bounces right to Wisconsin (doing this from memory, but that should be generally correct). Then Wisconsin basically put it away within the first 2 minutes of overtime (Wagler and Humrichous made some miracle 3s in the final seconds but we never had a shot to tie or win). I remember that game being plenty loud, but getting the air sucked out of the stadium when you blow a big lead then immediately tank in OT is a common occurance everywhere.

Last year the schedule kind of screwed us, but the place was rocking for Texas Tech and definitely was ear cracking loud for Michigan (while the game was competitive). We got screwed by weather for that Nebraska game. All of our other big games were on the road. That's a big difference between the (imo imaginary) hay day of Assembly Hall and now - we don't get home and homes with everyone.

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We actually did have a shot to win the game, but Wagler’s desperation three clanged off the rim.

Illinidrew said:

Unpopular opinion. I think people just complain about this every year since the beginning of time, but from going to the games it is basically about the same as always. The place is rocking for Top-tier opponents and in huge situations. It is not against teams we should beat or cupcakes. I remember posts like this even during the 05 run, and when I look at other team forums they have the same thread going. I even saw Duke fans complaining about their own environment.

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I don't think Duke fans will be complaining this year when we roll into Cameron. We beat them there once. We can do it again.

Birdus said:

I don't think Duke fans will be complaining this year when we roll into Cameron. We beat them there once. We can do it again.

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We've beaten them twice in Cameron. In fact we're undefeated in Cameron.

Toews said:

As I said above while we bemoan our basketball atmospheres, Bielema would kill for that atmosphere for a football game

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I get your point, but it really is apples to oranges, haha. Even if we forget the incredible difference between the two programs when it comes to both recent and long-term history of winning, a stadium's or arena's atmosphere shouldn't just randomly plateau. Our football gameday environment is in a MUCH earlier part of its journey toward a noteworthy atmosphere than our basketball one should be.

Kramerica Industries said:

We've beaten them twice in Cameron. In fact we're undefeated in Cameron.
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Thank you for that trip down memory lane- that 1995 game as I recall snapped a very long home winning streak for them against non-conference opponents

Then in 2020 I remember the coach K commented
"We got beat by a team that is better than we are, and older, more mature, They kind of imposed their will on us. We are not as good as they are."

That’s about as satisfying as a quote you can get from the best coach to ever do it in college basketball

HensonHall71 said:

Thank you for that trip down memory lane- that 1995 game as I recall snapped a very long home winning streak for them against non-conference opponents

Then in 2020 I remember the coach K commented
"We got beat by a team that is better than we are, and older, more mature, They kind of imposed their will on us. We are not as good as they are."

That’s about as satisfying as a quote you can get from the best coach to ever do it in college basketball

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It was also oh-so-sweet listening to Bilas go from rather normal at the beginning of the game to totally spiraling toward a rant about how they never should have played this season during COVID once we were spanking them.

Further OT, but sometimes I still can't believe that team went down in the Second Round ... at a few specific times during that season, they looked as good as any team we've ever had (again, not on a consistent basis, but during their shiniest moments).