Please allow me to introduce you to the Michigan Wolverines. They are worthy of your hatred year in and year out.
Week of 1/26 Games Thread
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On one hand, the line of thinking with not fouling up 3 is worst case you end up in OT, where if you do foul it opens up a bunch of scenarios where you lose in regulation.
On the other hand, Rutgers was sloppy all game long, and the defense they went with was "leave their best 3pt shooter wide open in the corner to make sure Fears doesn't take a 10 foot floater with 3 seconds left", but such is life.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
It's not conference games, but this was a pretty enjoyable 3-game string of tournament exits, as a huge favorite in each.
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
Battle89
- Cary-Grove, the better Trojan team
It's not an evolution, you're all just not old enough to know what they've always been like.
My Purdue-grad M-I-L texted me before the game to see if I was watching live or on delay, so she'd know when to 'send her regrets'. Her words, not mine.
Post-game, the only text I got was 'who's this Wagler guy?'.
Well since Michigan hasn’t played Purdue, I’d guess not. My post wasn’t about me wanting Morez to still be here. He made his choice and I’m fine with it. Just stats I found interesting given his FT troubles with Illini as well as those who said he shouldn’t or couldn’t shoot 3s. Also, I miss spoke. Stats I pulled didn’t include last night’s game. He is actually shooting 79.2% from the line and 41.7% from 3 (5 of 12).
I apologize. I didn’t mean to make that sound like a criticism for bringing up Morez - I’d actually very much agree the free throw shooting improvement has been by far the biggest step forward for him.
I was just making a joke about loving David
One other thing that Illinois' 9 game win streak has achieved is there are now just 12 teams with fewer than 3 losses (they're still the highest ranked 3 loss team, but the # of teams with fewer than 3 losses is very small now).
Of those 12, I am somewhat skeptical about the quality of Miami-OH, George Mason, and Saint Louis, which leaves 9 teams that you could consider better than Illinois just by record: Arizona, Gonzaga, UConn, Duke, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa State and Houston.
Of those 12, I am somewhat skeptical about the quality of Miami-OH, George Mason, and Saint Louis, which leaves 9 teams that you could consider better than Illinois just by record: Arizona, Gonzaga, UConn, Duke, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa State and Houston.
InDaAZ
- Eugene, Oregon
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
lol; a well-informed MIL you have there.It's not an evolution, you're all just not old enough to know what they've always been like.
My Purdue-grad M-I-L texted me before the game to see if I was watching live or on delay, so she'd know when to 'send her regrets'. Her words, not mine.
Post-game, the only text I got was 'who's this Wagler guy?'.
I've heard that Indiana weddings comprising Purdue and Indiana alums/partisans can slide into Hatfield v. McCoy territory once the liquor flows.
That postgame session was a 1000% more professional than the one after we beat them. That was flat out embarrassing, especially TKR. Painter is a class act and I'm sure he saw that and corrected the attitude. Smith usually gives well thought out responses to tough questions. Painter is probably the best in the conference at it. He gives credit where it's due, throws in some analysis and the reporters leave with material. The others....useless.
I can't remember a time where ANY of our players went up there and embarrassed themselves and the program.
What is wrong with TKR? His body language is terrible. Hating life. His dreams of an NBA career have been crushed?
I was born in 92, so they aren’t in my top 3 like you said but I still hate them
UNC
Missouri
Iowa/Indiana
Michigan/Purdue/MSU
Wisconsin was there for a long time but Ayo changed that and then we capped if off by beating them in the BTT champ
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
The University of Maryland says "hello" and "we're an evergreen object of contempt."
I know they're not really in the Big Ten but, alas, they kinda are.
I really enjoyed his "that's exactly what happened, yup" after being asked about his ankle. Maybe he realizes that Edey carried him and now that coming back to the Puds was a mistake? Him and his smug/dirty teammates can enjoy their "soon to be" 4 game losing streak! Oprah is over here handing out L's like cars
But you did play for K STATE which is about as bad. I think you were sulking that you weren't going to be the Star
After watching last nights MSU and Rutgers game better be ready to play against Washington. By the way it should be pointed out that Nebraska played without Mast and Fragar against SCUM and still damn near beat them on their floor. They are legit!
Rutgers was not as sloppy as Michigan State, worst first half I've seen them play, Rutgers had it and then blew it by not fouling
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
Morez has improved. I give him credit for improving his free throws and reduced fouls. Michigan may have been the right move for him.
I am happy with our team. Having 5 guys who can hit the 3 (Keagan, Jake, David, Tomas, big Z) plus 2 others guys who are deadly driving the paint (Kylan and Andrej) combined with our size makes us a Frankenstein match-up for most teams. Morez is a great player but does not fit our system. I hope Lee, Jaksys, and Bilic is shooting three hundred 3's per practice because in future that is what it is going to take to play for Brad. He is only recruiting shooters.
I am so looking forward to the Michigan game to test our 5 out offense vs. Michigan size. I don't think Morez and Adara can guard outside. Purdue and Boswell injury may have given Brad the 2026 Illini cheat code
I worry about Morillo. Hopefully he can score inside like Marcus Domask. All the other HS recruits are shooters.
I am happy with our team. Having 5 guys who can hit the 3 (Keagan, Jake, David, Tomas, big Z) plus 2 others guys who are deadly driving the paint (Kylan and Andrej) combined with our size makes us a Frankenstein match-up for most teams. Morez is a great player but does not fit our system. I hope Lee, Jaksys, and Bilic is shooting three hundred 3's per practice because in future that is what it is going to take to play for Brad. He is only recruiting shooters.
I am so looking forward to the Michigan game to test our 5 out offense vs. Michigan size. I don't think Morez and Adara can guard outside. Purdue and Boswell injury may have given Brad the 2026 Illini cheat code
I worry about Morillo. Hopefully he can score inside like Marcus Domask. All the other HS recruits are shooters.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I was going to say this is wild to me ... but I kind of agree, haha. 2001 was the first year I really remember, and 2003 was the first year I really remember regularly looking forward to watching games with my dad as a fifth grader. I remember being shattered when Dee fouled that Wisconsin player in Madison to allow them to snag the Big Ten title from us in 2003, so there's your context!
By 2005 or so, my friends (mostly Iowa fans and one huge Wisconsin fan) had become pretty fanatic sports fans, and we had definite impressions about everything (because we were no doubt so wise!). We actually used to call Illinois, MSU and Wisconsin the "big three" within the conference, and the stats from 2000 to then definitely backed that up. However, I never "hated" Wisconsin, and I definitely didn't hate MSU. Weber and Izzo had a great relationship, and MSU fans actually did a T-shirt swap at the 2005 Final Four that sort of endeared them to me for a very long time after that. I was vaguely aware that Illinois/Indiana and Illinois/Iowa used to be really big rivalries (especially in the 1980s) from things my dad said and clips they'd show on TV, but both programs were pretty down in this era and the games we played against them were rarely super meaningful. OSU always seemed really "meh," Michigan and Purdue were terrible and nobody else in the league seemed relevant at all.
Fast forward to the Gordon saga, and I adopted Indiana as my most hated team QUITE easily, and this actually made me sort of like Purdue ... I had this sentiment (that I in no way still feel, lol...) that Purdue fans were generally classier and nicer than a lot of other Big Ten fan bases, and we both hated Indiana, so they were good with me. Fast forward to the late Weber years, and all of a sudden I really disliked Ohio State. Fast forward to the end of the Groce Era and early Underwood years, and I REALLY couldn't stand Wisconsin and their embarrassingly long winning streak vs. us. Fast forward to the beginning of our renaissance in 2020, and all of a sudden I totally *got* the Iowa rivalry for the first time ... and I would argue it has stayed our best overall Big Ten rivalry since then. Fast forward to 2021 with Hunter Dickinson running his mouth, and I couldn't stand Michigan ... but I am not sure I ever saw them as a "rival." Fast forward to 2024 or so, and all of a sudden I had an animosity toward Purdue that I never had before.
The TL;DR is that while I think some schools are nearly objectively better candidates for our best long-time rivals (mainly Iowa and Indiana), I do agree with you that so much changes over the years as certain teams get good and others go through down periods. While they definitely have not always been at the #1 spot, I can honestly say that the only team I have actively disliked since the second I started following Illini hoops was Missouri, haha.
Goillinikobd
- Southeastern US
Does this mean Painter is on the hot seatI really enjoyed his "that's exactly what happened, yup" after being asked about his ankle. Maybe he realizes that Edey carried him and now that coming back to the Puds was a mistake? Him and his smug/dirty teammates can enjoy their "soon to be" 4 game losing streak! Oprah is over here handing out L's like cars
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
From a strictly NET perspective, I think Missouri doing well is always better than Alabama doing poorly. For either to be a Quad 1 result, we need that team to be top 50. Right now, Alabama is #21 and Missouri is #73. It would take an epic collapse for Alabama to slip to a Quad 2 loss, and meanwhile Missouri is almost as close to slipping to a Quad 3 win as they are to improving to a Quad 1 win!
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