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Illinois might be the team to beat in the B1G

Very impressive winning easily at Mackey tonight. Very few weaknesses with their game.
Or the team racing to a .500 record and double digit losses isn't Final 4 material or as good as they thought.
 
Illinois is pretty good. I don’t think they are some major contender, but a legit top 25 team.
 
Illini big guy is a man among boys and ILL was out of their minds in the second half. Fraiser is a little too punk for me but he's fearless. They are a tough-minded team. Teams like that can steal a few road wins and surprise us in the standings come early March.

I've never seen a 7 foot 3 player have less of an impact in the lane that the cocky dutch kit from Purdue. Not sure what's going on there but didn't think it was possible for someone that tall to disappear on the court. Boilers are going to struggle to maintain their overall record to be NIT eligible.
 
I said weeks ago they were legit. I got laughed at.


They seem to be one of those teams that is coming together in a rush..........that neutral court loss to MO just a few weeks ago was not impressive........

Watching them, I wondered why they have not been better to this point, as I hadn't watched them play a full game. Looking at their stats, the Frazier kid, who wrecked Purdue, is only averaging 9 pts, 2 assists a game in 30M of time. He's their version of DG......when he goes off they can beat anyone, but he's always been hot & cold (albeit w/o DG's moodiness).

They have two outstanding players in Cockburn & Ayo, plus Giorgi and some nice role players. They just don't have a true point guard, and that will keep them from being an outstanding team.

After this year. they'll lose lose Cockburn & Ayo, so they'll be back to mediocre in '20-'21.
 
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Illini big guy is a man among boys and ILL was out of their minds in the second half. Fraiser is a little too punk for me but he's fearless. They are a tough-minded team. Teams like that can steal a few road wins and surprise us in the standings come early March.

I've never seen a 7 foot 3 player have less of an impact in the lane that the cocky dutch kit from Purdue. Not sure what's going on there but didn't think it was possible for someone that tall to disappear on the court. Boilers are going to struggle to maintain their overall record to be NIT eligible.


Are you old enough to have watched 7'2" Uwe Blab play at IU?

Here's why Bob Knight, at his best, was better than any other college coach: In 1983-84, he was 13-5 in the BT and went to the Elite 8, beating No. 1 UNC on the way, with a starting line-up of Uwe, freshman Steve Alford, Marty Simmons, Stew Robinson, and Mike Giomi.
 
Are you old enough to have watched 7'2" Uwe Blab play at IU?

Here's why Bob Knight, at his best, was better than any other college coach: In 1983-84, he was 13-5 in the BT and went to the Elite 8, beating No. 1 UNC on the way, with a starting line-up of Uwe, freshman Steve Alford, Marty Simmons, Stew Robinson, and Mike Giomi.
yes I am. But Uwe spent more time in the paint. RMK had him work on an ugly sky hook shot. Haarms just wants to chuck 3 pointers like everyone else.

That 83/84 team had talent, and shooters- but Dean Smith was woefully outcoached by RMK that night. And Alford did not play like a freshman in the game. Also, Marty had a solid freshman season, then went home and ate himself into Knight's doghouse.
 
Underwood can coach. Always thought he'd be a good fit for them. Actually a little bummed they made the good hire. I like it better when they aren't good.

He’s decent. I don’t think he’s anything special. Tom Crean looked phenomenal in 2012 and 2013. Let’s see how long Illinois lasts.
 
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Are you old enough to have watched 7'2" Uwe Blab play at IU?

Here's why Bob Knight, at his best, was better than any other college coach: In 1983-84, he was 13-5 in the BT and went to the Elite 8, beating No. 1 UNC on the way, with a starting line-up of Uwe, freshman Steve Alford, bMarty Simmons, Stew Robinson, and Mike Giomi.
Blab was a first-round NBA pick.
 
Illini big guy is a man among boys and ILL was out of their minds in the second half. Fraiser is a little too punk for me but he's fearless. They are a tough-minded team. Teams like that can steal a few road wins and surprise us in the standings come early March.

I've never seen a 7 foot 3 player have less of an impact in the lane that the cocky dutch kit from Purdue. Not sure what's going on there but didn't think it was possible for someone that tall to disappear on the court. Boilers are going to struggle to maintain their overall record to be NIT eligible.
Haarms needs more weight and strength. He works hard out there, but gets shoved around. He will probably hit 8 3's against IU.
 
It's about the teams that can stack wins. Those teams will have the easiest conf tourney setup and improve their odds of making the big dance.

Illinois is on a nice run. MSU has been the most consistent. With so many others clumped together in the middle struggling to win on the road, you will see those who get hot for 4, 5, 6 straight games start to separate from the pack.

Teams that win one then lose one, win two then lose two will be stuck in the pack. The good news is it's still early enough if you lose a couple you can still go on a run and most of the pack will have stayed right around .500.
 
Those Illinois folks want Chicago area kids heavily recruited. If Underwood can pull some or a lot of those guys to Champaign then they will be happy with him.

We don’t care if they’re from Chicago, Peoria, out of state or the Caucuses (what up, Giorgi!), haha. Just want good players! There are a lot of good players in state, specifically Chicago, so you gotta look there ... but a good player is a good player, I don’t care where they come from!
 
Blab was a first-round NBA pick.

Proving that there are some pretty dumb people associated with the NBA.

Started 1 game in his first 4 years, avg 2.1 pts and 1.8 rebs for his career.

Never played more than 12 minutes per game in a single season.

How many 7'2" guys shoot .433 from the field?

Again, the fact that RMK got that guy drafted in the 1st round of the NBA shows that he was, at his peak, the best college game/developmental coach ever.
 
mushroomgod_1 said:





Are you old enough to have watched 7'2" Uwe Blab play at IU?

Here's why Bob Knight, at his best, was better than any other college coach: In 1983-84, he was 13-5 in the BT and went to the Elite 8, beating No. 1 UNC on the way, with a starting line-up of Uwe, freshman Steve Alford, bMarty Simmons, Stew Robinson, and Mike Giomi.

Blab was a first-round NBA pick.
[/quote]
Yes, back in the mid 80’s when any 7’2” kid who didn’t trip over his feet was a first round pick. The nba game has changed drastically since then.
 
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Illinois is very good, and a definite risk to win B1G. They have all the tools, good guards who can shoot and handle the ball. Strong inside play with a beast Cockburn, and a good coach, he may look grumpy but who cares he knows how to coach his players.
 
Being a huge fan of the Mavs who drafted Uwe, it sux that Joe dumars was the next pick. Mavs really needed a center. Utah had some Giant named Mark Eaton. AC Green and Terry Porter closed out the first round and they turned out good. Nobody knew about Dumars. Probably the same could be said for Porter and maybe AC Green. You can likely find a name or 3 of some recognizable NBA role players like Manute Bol but it was pretty slim pickings.

I know many fans in Dallas were immediately upset that the Mavs took Detlef over Malone at time. I doubt anyone questioned Blab over Dumars until a few years later.. To think that 80's team of the Mavs could of had Malone and Dumars. arghh
 
Perhaps not but there were quite a few GBIers and trolls over here predicting back to back FFs.

No there weren't, but if that narrative makes you happy, run with it. They got within a whisker of the F4 last year, and should have won that game. Anyone with any sense knew this team wasn't going to surpass last year's with losing Edwards and Cline. I'm sure they have their loonies, just as we do, but I haven't seen anyone talking about a PU F4 this year, except you.
 
Purdue has never went to the Final 4 under Keady or Painter.
PU is nationally irrelevant
Probably their biggest chance was this last year because if Guy doesn't make 3 ft's or doesn't get fouled and missed then they would have gotten there. The other time was when Big Dog was a Junior. That was a very good PU team, and if memory serves they got beat by Duke. At least that is what I think it was.
 
Probably their biggest chance was this last year because if Guy doesn't make 3 ft's or doesn't get fouled and missed then they would have gotten there. The other time was when Big Dog was a Junior. That was a very good PU team, and if memory serves they got beat by Duke. At least that is what I think it was.
Probably their best chance was when they lost to Wisconsin in the 2000 elite eight.
 
I think Illinois has surprised people and may have been taken too lightly. Now that they are at 6-2 people will look at them a little different and there will be more pressure on them. The question is - can Illinois handle the heat of the spotlight??
 
I think Illinois has surprised people and may have been taken too lightly. Now that they are at 6-2 people will look at them a little different and there will be more pressure on them. The question is - can Illinois handle the heat of the spotlight??

For sure. Cockburn is tough to deal with.
 
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