One wasn’t enough. Needed two bailouts.
Week of 1/22 Games Thread
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Big time bailout for them.
Clemson got completely jobbed by the refs. The fact that the announcer feels he needs to repeat that it was a foul over and over is proof enough that it was not. No one seems to be mentioning that before that even happened, the Duke player jumped and took a step before jumping into the defender standing with his hands straight up. Not even leaning into the contact. Just standing there straight. BS to decide the game on a call like that.
Kentucky on track to score 10 points in a half is something
Can't imagine that call being made anywhere other than Cameron. Just atrocious.
This. How many times did he say it—6?
Wildcats heating up - might break 30 for the game
Duke probably moves ahead of us in the ranking thanks to the refs there. Auburn bumps below us for sure. I don’t see us leaping Arizona even if they lose against the ducks. I imagine we’re ranked 10th on Monday and I can live with that.
Texas Tech is probably one of the most underrated teams right now. They are on a hot streak
If Arkansas could shoot, they would've buried Kentucky.
Unfortunately, they cannot.
Unfortunately, they cannot.
It’s coaches vs cancer. Creighton is doing a pink out. PSU in their pink uniforms are tough to beat
I really feel like the home atmosphere contributes to this. But, college basketball is more even from top to bottom program to program than it’s probably ever been. At least in my opinion. At the same time, teams have less continuity than ever before, so what you are likely to see is less predictableWithout any data to back it up, I was saying to my wife the other day that it just seems like college hoops is SO much more unpredictable than when I was a kid. Take our 2001 team as an example of a "really good Illini team" that had similar rankings to this year's squad at times, and whose results we would all consider a fulfillment of this group's "ceiling" - a Big Ten title and an Elite Eight ... this was its Big Ten results:
#9 Illinois W 80-64 vs. Minnesota
#9 Illinois W 83-68 vs. Ohio State
#7 Illinois L 78-62 at Iowa
#7 Illinois W 80-51 vs. Michigan
#11 Illinois W 63-49 at Northwestern
#11 Illinois W 92-60 vs. Penn State
#7 Illinois W 55-51 at Michigan
#6 Illinois L 95-95 in OT at Penn State
#6 Illinois W 84-59 vs. Northwestern
#7 Illinois W 77-66 vs. #4 Michigan State
#7 Illinois W 82-61 at Purdue
#4 Illinois W 68-67 vs. #19 Wisconsin
#4 Illinois W 67-61 at Indiana
#3 Illinois L 63-61 at Ohio State
#3 Illinois W 89-63 vs. Iowa
#5 Illinois W 67-59 at Minnesota
Then its NCAA Tournament results
#1 seed Illinois W 96-54 vs. #16 seed Northwestern State
#1 seed Illinois W 79-61 vs. #9 seed Charlotte
#1 seed Illinois W 80-64 vs. #4 seed Kansas
#1 seed Illinois L 87-81 vs. #2 seed Arizona
Sure, you had your disappointing losses ... but they were a rivalry game at Iowa or a comedown game at Ohio State. And yes, you had wins that were closer than they should have been, but they were in a hostile gym in Bloomington. And yes you might have your off game vs. another equally great team during the Second Weekend of the Tournament and get sent packing, but you disposed of the lower seeds by a comfortable margin before that.
Of course there are exceptions, but I just don't remember (and I am including other top programs, not just us) as many of your "WTF" losses to the likes of Maryland at home where we just look like a totally different basketball team. I do not remember practically KNOWING that a First Round matchup with a #13 seed would scare us all to death like it did in 2022 vs. Chattanooga.
Maybe it's romanticism, but I feel like I used to be excited for a return to the House of 'Paign where we would just beat the living crap out of a team because (A) we were better and (B) we simply didn't hardly ever lose at home. I love watching the Illini as much as the next guy, but the only games where I am just purely pumped are when we play a tough road game or host a top-ranked team at home ... for pretty much all the others, I am equally as nervous and practically want to get it over with and survive with a W, haha.
TL;DR ... I cannot place what it is and I admit I am rambling ... but I just feel like in the mid-2000s with teams that were objectively no better than this squad, I would be far less nervous for "how bad it would be" to lose to Indiana at home if we have a game where we "don't show up." The atmosphere would just be too electric, and it would carry us through. So maybe the issue is just with a decline in the SFC or with a crazy increase in parity in college hoops, but I would just LOVE for us to get a few more performances like NU at home vs. some of the not-as-good Big Ten teams.
Edit: I’d also say Bill Self was obviously just that good. Kansas fans always expect to win, like we used too
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Arkansas guards pooooooped the bed against Kentucky on-ball pressure the last five minutes of this game.
Speaking of home atmospheres…had the pleasure of playing their as their opponent once. Awesome arena
Watch Boo Buie score 6 points on 2 of 17 shooting tonight against OSU
PSU in trouble at home against the Gophers. Just gave up a offensive putback and 1 on a missed free throw.
Wish there was a laugh button. He chucks a lot and turns it over a lot. Also plays little or no D. Epps transferring out was definitely addition by subtraction.
skyIdub
"I can't tell you. Secret."
NW has f#$ked around and found their way to my "Never Gonna Root For You No Matter What Wouldn't P#ss On You If You Were On Fire"...list.
I used to have a little B1G love for Collins and NW...but now they can sit there with Iowa, scUM, Indiana, Miznoz, UNC, and whatever team Pea....err Satan is coaching....and
I used to have a little B1G love for Collins and NW...but now they can sit there with Iowa, scUM, Indiana, Miznoz, UNC, and whatever team Pea....err Satan is coaching....and
The other Xavier Johnson with a game winner for SIU today:
Northwestern continuing their absurd shooting.
Yeah Cats are very good at home against teams not named Chicago State
OSU doesn’t look good tonight.
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