I’ve spent a fair amount of time on teleconferences the last couple days, listening to Air Force Academy players and their head coach, Jeff Bzdelik, talk about their first-round matchup with Illinois.
First of all, I can understand their predicament. You have national announcers and analysts and writers bashing on them for even being in the tournament. Unworthy, they’re saying. Hey, it’s not Air Force’s fault they got into the tournament and no one should rob them of their joy at being there.
But, predictably, they are using this as a rallying cry, saying it’s us against the world, David vs. Goliath, emphasizing that size can be beaten with heart and want-to. It’s a tired cry used by school after school after school and, frankly, it’s probably where the discussion legitmately turns.
Air Force’s biggest problem in this game is that in Illinois, it drew a talented team that has experience playing against it’s unique style. Ideally, Air Force would have drawn someone who has never played the Princeton offense and matchup zone defense. It’s very difficult to learn in a few days. But Illinois played Northwestern twice this season and has played and beaten Georgetown twice in the last two seasons. And even if Air Force says their version of the Princeton offense is different, esentially it’s the same.
Illinois has become very good playing against it. The coaches understand it. The players understand it. As a result, they go into the game feeling confident about it. Other schools might go into the game confused and undcertain. That won’t be the case Thursday night when Illinois takes the Cox Arena court in San Diego.
Anything is possible. But Air Force would need the stars to align almost perfectly to have a chance to win this game. I’m not trying to sound arrogant in that prediction, but I simply believe Illinois has a better than 98 percent chance of prevailing based on superior personnel and removing the element of surprise as it relates to their style.
And if it’s Washington in the second game, Air Force Coach Jeff Bzdelik (who played Washington earlier in the season) said, “with all due respect to Washington, Illinois is a step above in terms of its tenacity.”
I would look for James Augustine to have a big game Thursday. You can almost bet on a double-double. Illinois may go “small” fairly often, with Brian Randle at the 4 and Augie at the 5 and Dee Brown, Rich McBride and either Chester Frazier or Jamar Smith.
I just finished filling out my bracket and I have far too few upsets. That’s a problem. One I like is No. 12 Texas A&M over No. 5 Syracuse. Billy Gillespie has a good team and Syracuse’s magic is due to run out.
Jay Bilas is one of the analysts who the Air Force people said seriously questioned the Academy’s right to be in the tournament field. Ironically, Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas are the crew assigned by CBS to the San Diego site. So the cadets can take up their gripes with Jay in person. I happen to think he does a very good job.
So it’s on to San Diego tomorrow. I’ll blog but will probably wait until I get checked into the hotel and can bring you some local color. Talk to you then.
March 13th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Someone on an ESPN website Q/A with Doug Gotllieb (sp?) said today they thought Air Farce was placed in the tourny just to fill in another western team. Who knows what the NCAA committe does or why. Hey wasn’t some AD or other bigwig from Tennessee on the NCAA selection committee? Is that why the Vols got a 2 seed? Go figure. I say we beat the Air Farce by 20. Thank you and GO ILLINI!!!
March 13th, 2006 at 8:26 pm
In transition from the previous blog to this…come on guys stop complaining and crying about the seedings and the unfairness to Illini and on and on and on…who cares about all that garbage… what’s done is done…let’s move on as we’ve got bigger problems ahead of us.
Look, our problem is none of the above. Our problem is the way these players (save Dee and Augie most of the time)take the court and play. They are unmotivated, lackadaisical, jittery and with no intensity and energy most of the time. in the rare ocassions that they are not like that, they can beat any team, UConn included. Let’s see which of their traits would prevail during the big tourney.
Also, pay attention to what Mr Tupper said about these tough indidividual military types like Air Force “size can be beaten with heart and and want to”…two distinct qualities that are in question for this current Illini team, and the tournement should answer them both.
How far this Illini team will go in this tournament would tell us a heck of a lot not only about these non-senior players’ reversal from their season long norm (as explained above), but also about these coaches’ adaptability to tough tournament conditions without a team like last year’s…this is the real thing now.
The tournement is a new beginning for all these 65 teams, Illini included. Let’s give them a chance, wait and see and hope for the best while we enjoy the games. We have plenty of time to see how they do and analyze the heck out of everything we observe about them later.
March 13th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Local color, Tupps? We all know what you’re talking about–LOCAL WEATHER!
Seriously–I wish people would quite crying about our seed. We have excellent fan bases on the West and East coasts. It will be very impressive–especially for new recruits on TV–to see all the orange in San Diego (and hopefully Washington, DC)!
March 13th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Disgusted Illini Fan:
What’s with you?? All of a sudden you sound like a true rah rah Illini fan. Where’s the conspiracy talk? no accusations against Gunther? Ther say that a leopard can’t change it’s spots but I guess there were wrong.
March 13th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
I have watched Air Force once this year on TV when they played Utah. They doubled up the score on Utah…something like 74-42.
I would not compare the Air Force “Princeton” offense to Northwestern. It seemed to me that Air Force played the real thing. Their players just moved around in a merry-go-round, every player, including the guards, posting up in the paint and they did this until some defensive player screwed up and Air Force got a layup. Unlike Northwestern, all their players seemed interchangeable and they did not rely on a big center.
Luckily, the Illini, (like Wisconsin and Iowa) have defensive skills where Coach Weber can tell the players a plan that will beat this offense and the players will actually carry it out. But I don’t think it’s an automatic done deal for the Illini.
I would predict that McBride, Dee, Augie, Randle and Chester play most of the game against Air Force, since there will be no room to “loose your man” like would happen with Jamar, Warren, Marcus Arnold, and Sean Pruitt.
After watching Air Force against Utah, I would say there is a 20% chance of an upset of the Illini, but no more than that.
Does anybody know how Guenther and Bruce got addicted to cupcakes? Apparently, Bruce Pearl has figured out the RPI math and will get rewarded. JUST SAY NO TO CUPCAKES!
March 13th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Disgusted Illini Fan: from your post, I say you may change your moniker (read: something more positive), at least until further notice. I agree with all your comments. I don’t think UCon is by any means invincable. Further, what more noble cause could you chose than a team so aptly named, not “ex-Con”, not “future-Con” just plainly and accurately “U-Con”. Hope we can play and beat them before they get indicted again and lay that off as an excuse. First things first, tho, let’s focus on Air Force and get it done.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
Not really, Jim (#4)…I haven’t changed a bit as I continue to believe that the power to be at U of I (i.e., the administration, the athletic dept. and the alumni assn) simply don’t want excellence and/or a national championship for the Illini in footbal and basketball. I truly believe that and I can prove my theory chapter and verse to whoever wants to listen…but it would make for a long essay and there is another time and place for that.
Furthermore, I am, by nature, education and business training, a pragmatic person who believes in analyzing and identifying the problem(s), resoving it (them) and get thing(s) done andd finished to full satisfaction…and right now, at this point it time, I truly believe in what I said in my note above (#2) about this team. For example, there is a reason that this very Illini team that beat NC in Chapel Hill earlier this season has gone way down while NC has gone way up..and, yes, NC’s better talent is part of it, but not all of it. The real reason is what I explained above in #2…I am sure of that.
Thanks for asking.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
I don’t mean to beat a dead horse that’s already bludgeoned beyond recognition, but let me throw this fuel onto the Tennessee Ridiculously-high Seed fire:
Compared to Tennessee, Illinois had more wins vs. the RPI Top 25 (5-3), vs. the RPI Top 50 (9-4), vs. the RPI Top 100 (13-10), and away from home (10-5), while each lost 4 of its last 10. Tennessee did have a slightly better non-conference RPI (7-15) and conference RPI (11-13), but that’s not enough to stand 2 seeds ahead.
I saw where there are still some of you gagging over the Vols, so I thought I’d tighten the noose!
What’s done is done — let’s root for a pair of Illini wins this weekend!!
March 13th, 2006 at 10:37 pm
I’m afraid that the media didn’t do Illinois any favors by down grading Air Force. I’m sure that all the media comments will be put up on the bulletin board in Colorado. The comments are going to make A F more determined and the have nothing to lose. They’re not supposed to win so they will be loose. They also will become the nation’s team because everyone loves an underdog. The worst thing would be if the Illini believe the negative hype and get careless. The Illini should be ok but I’m sorry to hear the stuff about A F
March 13th, 2006 at 10:57 pm
Wow, a 4th seed. Who’d have thunk it?
It saddens me to see that if we would have taken care of business during the season we would have had a much easier road - as Iowa and OSU have it pretty good. Actually, OSU should walk all the way to the Elite 8 (If they can get past Georgetown).
Oh Well, our cohesiveness issues and the committees love for us (and our somehow offensive mascot) has put us at a disadvantage again this year.
Like I said - its an annual right of Spring!
GO ILLINI!!! Let’s see some THUNDERDUNKS with knees up!!
March 14th, 2006 at 12:39 am
Will the real Disgusted Illini Fan please stand up?
Who are you REALLY?
March 14th, 2006 at 5:51 am
Not only local weather, but the local sights is what he is talking about. And I ain’t talking about the Chamber of Commerce points of interest.
Anyway, Illwis I hear you in your cupcake comments. I am sure the AD and BAM will make sure the sked is a little tougher next year. I understand the theory of it this year and it was good on the one hand, but when it comes toward the end of the year I guess its kinda bad when the committee is looking at SOS. Thank you and GO ILLINI!!!
March 14th, 2006 at 8:36 am
A few points on Illinois’ ‘cupcake’ non-conference schedule. While definitely not the toughest - not near as weak when compared to others.
IL played 14 non-conference games while most others played around 10, so some of those cupcakes weren’t ‘in place of’ quality opponents, they were ‘in addition to’.
They played 4 NCAA Tourn. teams - Xavier(14 seed), Wichita St(7),Georgetown(7), and NC(3) - only 1 of those games was at Assembly Hall. Gtown and NC went on to hand Duke 2 of their 3 losses this year.
In non-conference play, Ohio St only played 1 Tourn team, LSU - Iowa played 4 - losing to 2 of them (Tx and N Iowa) - Tenn played 4(S Alabama, Murray St., TX and Memphis) losing vs Mem.
Another interesting note about this year’s team. A quick glance throught the scheds shows IL was the only team during the reg season to win 2 road games against the other BT teams going to the NCAA tourn. (Wis and Mich St.).
No real point other than I think this year’s non-conf and conf accomplishments stand on their own.
All that’s history now, and like others have stated, it’s the start of a new season - so GO ILLINI!
March 14th, 2006 at 9:52 am
It seems that the game against Air Force may be a lose-lose situation for the Illini. If Illinois beats A F,the attitude will be ’so what.”Thry were supposed to win and they did. If Illinois loses to A F the result could be devestating. The same media that has put down A F will be praising them and blasting Illinois for losing to a weak team.
The ironical park is that if Illinois beats AF and Washington/Utah St. this week,they will probably be in A F’s position next weekend against Connecticut(the underdog,with little or no chance of winning.
I hope the Illini say the he!! with the media and WIN!
March 14th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Tex,
I agree 100%. Unfortunatley, the SOS calculation does not care that you play more games, nor even that you play more quality opponents. The only thing it cares about is your opponents records and your opponents-opponents records. Therefore, if your schedule is IDENTICAL to Tennessee’s with 4 extra cupcakes, it could significantly decrease your SOS comparatively. For example, last season UI played Longwood who was like 1-60. I remember estimating the SOS value by just NOT PLAYING that game (since we played more games than some teams) and the value would have increased by around 10-20 slots. Its ridiculous, but that’s the way it works. Therefore, the key is to play terrible teams who will still be competitive in their conferences and try your best to avoid teams in terrible conferences who will end up with awful records. For example, playing Air Force and Illinois will probably result in about the same net effect on SOS (Illinois will have a slight edge because their opponents in general probably have a better record, but it will be pretty close). How does that make sense? That is precisely how teams like TN can play less top 100 teams and still have a better SOS.
Although this example is not what TN did, my guess would be that playing all your NC games against teams ranked no better than 100 and no worse than 150 could result in a much higher SOS value (depending on which teams you select) than playing half your games against top 25 and half against 250+.
In essence, there are plenty of “cupcakes” out there that won’t hurt your SOS much because they will end up with an overall winning record. Pick those rather than the teams going 1-20.
March 14th, 2006 at 10:25 am
I hope that the experience of losing to Penn State will prevent a blase’ attitude toward Air Force. But for a fraction of a second too slow a shot in that game Illinois would be Big Ten Champs and a #2 seed. So nothing can be taken for granted from now on. Then there would be some value gained from that shocking loss.
Illinois and Bruce Weber seem to take their collective feet off the accelerator when the lead gets into the teens and we start subbing too freely. Sure, the bench needs work as well, but we need to crush our opponents and not let them get back into games. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Please!!!111
March 14th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
I’m not worried about the first game.
I believe the Illini are going to come out with plenty of energy. My worry is that they’ll try putting too much into it and won’t have anything left for the second game.
March 14th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
A few comments on the seeding process, and then on to more current topics:
If Tennessee is really and truly a rock-solid #2, that would HAVE to make Illinois a #1 (and by default put Duke, Memphis, UConn and Nova in an entirely different tournament altogether).
Right?
But other than the obvious nepotism displayed toward Turd Pearl, Illinois probably deserves their #4 seed.
What I DON’T get is how many ignorant asses a collegiate athletic organization has to employ in order to come up with a “system” in which a Midwest team has to go to Washington DC via San Diego.
In the entire 64-team field, NO OTHER TEAM will have to travel as far as Illinois in order to advance to a third game, and by extrapolation, we can predict with a high degree of accuracy that, had Illinois drawn a #7 seed, their first games would likely have been played in another solar system.
It has been suggested that it’s payback for the easy road we were given last year, but I’m not buyin’ any of that.
It was just a coincidence that the NCAA chose St. Louis to host the Final Four (more than a year in advance) in a year the Illini happened to go on a roll, and it’s as plain as the nose on Barbra Streisand’s face that a Midwest Final Four venue will favor a Midwest team.
Duh.
It has also been suggested that our “failure” to comply with the NCAA’s mascot ruling might be another reason, and there might be something to that theory.
But who cares?
So Illinois has to go through ANOTHER century of not hosting NCAA sanctioned events.
Big deal.
So we got shafted . . . time to move on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DIF #2: never let it be said that our opinions are completely the oppositve of one another’s on every topic.
It is indeed time to quit complaining about the seedings and unfairness to the Illini and look to what lies ahead.
It is what it is, and that’s that.
And I agree with you that Illinois’ success in this tournament will have everything to do with how much intensity they bring to each game, but that’s a given in March, no matter who you root for.
By the way, DIF, you’ve really taken on a more positive tone here lately, so I feel compelled to warn you to be careful, for I fear good old fashioned team spirit might be infecting your thoughts:
________________________________________
“Remember that, if and when the Illini ever would win a championship in football or basketball you guys owe us a big “THANK YOU”. On the second thought, at the rate they are going, I doubt any one of us would be around or alive!”
Comment by Disgusted Illini Fan — 3/2/2006 @ 9:09 pm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“The tournement is a new beginning for all these 65 teams, Illini included. Let’s give them a chance, wait and see and hope for the best while we enjoy the games. We have plenty of time to see how they do and analyze the heck out of everything we observe about them later.”
Comment by Disgusted Illini Fan — 3/13/2006 @ 8:26 pm
________________________________________
illiwis #5: March 14th is no time to be bitchin’ about the “cupcakes” we played months ago.
Not including Michigan State, two of ‘em are in our bracket.
DIF #7: dammit, there you go again . . .
Your massive ego continues to fuel itself with the belief that the administration and athletic department of the University of Illinois exist for the sole purpose of foiling your wishes for a national championship.
By the way, if you are, as you have claimed, a graduate of my beloved Illinois, disgruntlement over your choice in providers of your “higher” education might best be remedied by switching what passes for loyalty in your universe to a university that meets your high standards of excellence.
Just a suggestion . . .
Jim Nevitt #9: I don’t get it either . . . the sports media is raking Air Force over the coals when they should be holding the NCAA Selection Committee’s feet to the fire.
XAVIER #10: I choose to respond to your sudden gush of team spirit thusly:
________________________________________
“The Illini are SOOOO predictable. So much so, that I will call it now. Loss to Minny, Win against Iowa, Loss to MSU.
Then 2nd round loss in B-ten tourney.
Can anyone say 6th seed in the Big Dance? Wait for it—It’s coming my brothers.”
X
Comment by XAVIER MCDANIEL — 2/21/2006 @ 11:26 pm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“All you kiddies ready for our yearly slight by the committee . I stopped watching a few weeks ago because we are in as a 4 seed -OR WORSE!! They do it to us ALMOST every year.
It is practically a right of spring!!!
Just wait and watch.”
X
Comment by XAVIER MCDANIEL — 3/12/2006 @ 4:14 pm
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“I beleive I shall now rename myself - THE PROPHET!!!
It was too easy .
Comment by XAVIER MCDANIEL — 3/12/2006 @ 6:14 pm
________________________________________
That’s five incorrect predictions out of seven in those four posts, Prophet Boy.
(SIX incorrect predictions if you count the one about you being a prophet)
Nic #11: in response to your question from yesterday about where you can hook up with some Illini fans in Decatur for the Sweet 16, I’ll let you know here in the blog that Tupps built after dates and times are decided.
If you’d like to join us for the 1st and 2nd round games, Ralph’s Pub Illini Club will be at LSB Thursday and the Bourbon Barrel Saturday.
(you too, wrf the Illini fan)
I’d welcome the chance to meet another blog buddy in person. Just ask someone to point out Editor Boy when you get there, and come on over and introduce yourself.
Bill R. #12: if the Selection Committee is so concerned with strengh of schedule, I’d like to hear your theory on why they invited so many of those “cupcakes” to the Big Dance this year.
I recommend reading what Tex #13 and Paul from Chicago #15 have to say on the subject first, though.
In the meantime, remember that the Committee is also supposed to consider things such as how a team finishes their conference season, but then Tennessee loses 3 of their last 4 and gest a #2 seed, while Illinois wins 3 of their last 4 and gets a #4.
Face it: the NCAA does whatever it wants with no explanation or consistency whatsoever. The Buckeyes’ recent hand-slapping provides ample proof of that.
After all, Illinois would have been kicked out of NCAA athletics forever for the saem charges.
Steve Weiss #16: yes, Penn State was the most beatable of the teams that beat us, but other than snapping our 33-game home winning streak, that loss didn’t hurt us any more than losing at Iowa, Indiana, Ohio State or Michigan.
________________________________________
So with all our agreements, disagreements and opposing points of view, it is very clear that we can all agree on one thing:
MARCH ROCKS.
Ciao for now . . .
March 14th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Man no one, I mean no one is giving us or anyone else a chance against UCONN. 670 THE SCORE just scorched a caller for even suggesting Illinois could match up with them. Man I hope we get a chance I would love to make some of these so called experts who are always wrong, eat there words. Digger Phelps really loves Uconn and Doyel from cbs sports.com yesterday picked Illinois as one of his pick’s to be upset in the opening round. No respect, I hope every Illinois player is reading and hearing what I am. It makes me really want to see Illinois do well. GO ILLINI
March 14th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Illini fans you can breath a little easier, you are a 8.5 point favorite.
March 14th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
I agree with Jim Nevitt about Army being the underdog and having nothing to lose, so I am a little worried about us being one of those overrated teams who gets busted in the first round.
ON THE CONTRARY, if we get past the first two rounds to face UConn, we will be in the same position A F is in now. I’d love to see our guards shoot 3’s like they have nothing to lose. I garauntee UConn isn’t happy about seeing Illinois in the 3rd round. Instead of complaining about our seed, lets start relishing at the opportunity to show the country we are an elite program.
March 14th, 2006 at 2:05 pm
OK, call me a dunce also, but I went to ESPN and tried to find the H&RBLOGSQUAD group and found nothing. Tony, I’d love to enter, but either your group is renamed or this is some sick joke. I logged in, went to join a group and even did a search. Nothing. Spent time reading through all the groups in public, private, all, vacancy … Nothing! Help … if this really exists.
Nice to see you back RPIC EB. Haven’t heard from ya in a while.
Gotta go. GO ILLINI!
March 14th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
After working the brackets several times I concluded that Illinois has the toughest road to the final four. No surprise there. However, I figure just about anyone who wants to get to the championship game will have to play U Conn or Duke. So, the question is, do you want to play them the third game after a week of rest and preparation, or the 4th game after no rest and no time to prepare? Or do you want to see them in the Final Four after playing 4 games and suffering whatever ills and injuries the tournament wants to inflict on you in those games? I’m thinking that if U Conn isn’t upset by Albany or UAB, then the Illini will have a very good shot at getting them, after rest and preparation, in the Sweet 16. As some previous poster said, hey, competition is what this tournament is all about. Let the games begin! Go Illini!
March 14th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
I think what most people tend to over look in the tournament is that every team plays as if there is no tomorrow thats because there isnt. Once you lose youre done and you go home and watch the rest of the games on tv. Instead of looking past every round of the tournament how about we look at the first round. Dont worry about UCONN right now worry about A F. A F is playing for respect from the country. A F will be playing their hearts out I hope Illini are playing their hearts out too.
March 14th, 2006 at 3:14 pm
#22 wrf wrote “OK, call me a dunce also, but I went to ESPN and tried to find the H&RBLOGSQUAD group and found nothing. Tony, I’d love to enter, but either your group is renamed or this is some sick joke. I logged in, went to join a group and even did a search. Nothing. Spent time reading through all the groups in public, private, all, vacancy … Nothing!”
Thank goodness it’s not just me. I couldn’t find it either.
March 14th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
NY Post columnist Lenn Robins made Illini his sleeper pick. Reminding everyone that the Tourney is often ruled by the point guards- and Dee is one of the best in the country.
Though I’m troubled whenever I agree with the NY Post…
March 14th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Click on “create entry.” A screen will come up that includes the following links in the upper left-hand corner:
Edit Entry Settings
Create or join a Group
Invite Friends To Play
Click on “create or join a group.”
If you enter the word “blogs” (without quote marks) in the search engine, you can do a pull-down link to join the group. Remember the Illinois2006 password.
I’m not sure why it’s that difficult. It looks like the ESPN search engine burps on the ampersand (&). But if you do a search for “blogs,” you’ll find it with no problem.
March 14th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
According to Steve in Tx in the last blog, a Kyle Veltrop of Sporting News.Com said that Air Force had the best shot at an upset in the 1st round. Now NYIllini says a NY Post columnist says the Illini are his sleeper pick. Wow, that’s quite a range of possibilities……from one end of the spectrum to the other. If you try to pick a 1st round upset like that, you’re actually pretty safe in not looking bad. If you’re right you can say “Aha, I told you so”. If you’re wrong you just say “Well, they weren’t supposed to win anyway”. You can apply this also to the guy picking the Illini as his sleeper. This all shows that anyone or everyone can have an opinion. I would tend to think that the NYPost guy is the smarter of the 2.
March 14th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
#21 BR — RIGHT ON!!! I’m a little tired of hearing about what these teams are going to do to us.
Let’s start talking about what we’re going to do to them!
Look at the best games we’ve played this year… Illinois can be awesome. And aside from a little hiccup last week when we played the same team back to back, we’re freaking PEAKING at the right time. We beat Michigan State AT Michigan State. We went in and without blinking, beat Minnesota. We’re the only team to win twice at Wisconsin in YEARS.
Air Force will be a good warm up game, but we’ll shut them down. They won’t know what hit them.
2nd round? Look for excellent intensity.
Vs. Connecticut? Look for loosey goosey play and frankly, that scares the crap out of UConn.
You know UConn looked past their first two games and saw a big Orange I with a chip on its shoulder waiting for them, and it gave them pause. Will they be confident? Oh yeah. That will be one off-the-hook game.
They know that three or four of Illini’s players played in the Championship last year. That’s three or four more than they’ve had.
Think about IL… McBride can go 5 for 8 from beyond the arch, 2 for 2 within it, and 4 for 4 at the FT line.
Pruit can go 4 for 5, making every contested shot. Augustine can go 6 for 6, and freaking nail a 3 if he feels like it, while grabbing a dozen rebounds.
Jamar… in the pre-Conference, we were surprised when he missed and Air Force is a pre-conference type team.
And Randle? Will someone just piss him off so he becomes the athletic FREAK he is?
Notice, I didn’t mention Dee. Don’t have to. He shows up every game. He got beat by one NBA-loaded team last year… he’ll look to go after a certain NBA-loaded team this year.
Illinois is only as good as McBride and Randle, and if they get hungry, which ya gotta think they will be, then lookout.
The other day, i watched something on HBO about the ‘85 Villanova v Georgetown final… this was when one newspaper put had “Villenova vs. a god” on the cover. The question wasn’t who would win, but how much would Villanova (an 8 seed) lose by.
Dude, they were unconsious in shooting, missing only one shot in the second half, and they won. Anything is possible in March.
March 14th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Thank you, Tim Cain.
March 14th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
IlliniAmy, it’s not nearly just you. I had a problem too. Tim C. has kindly given us clear instructions without insulting our intelligence.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Try Blogsquad as your first words on the search. That’s how I got it to come up.
Editor Boy - Keeping notes? I remember you saying you were going to ignore us trolls. Guess that makes you the biggest liar of them all. P.S. Why don’t you edit out my offensive curse symbols and post my masterpiece against you. I know you ain’t that gutsy. I did get it right that you couldn’t play hoops if we lower the rim five feet didn’t I . (I believe I said something about air balls from ten feet and Chuck Taylors and sweatpants, Simpsons etc.)
As for the Illini being predictable I have one that never fails. They never and I mean never go farther in your bracket than you pick em.
Who on this blog has ever had the Illini screw em by winning more games than you picked?
Who on this blog has had them bow out before you had them losing?
Bet I know which one gets more votes!
P.S. I see Air Force posting Dee up until the cows come home. (Why no one in the Big Ten figured this out astounds me.)
Remember I predicted not past the sweet sixteen and I stand by it. Remember two Senior greats, a stud Junior, and a little team named Austin Peay. I have a concerned feeling about this!
Rock out with your brackets out!!!!!!
March 14th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
#26 The only problem with that statement is that Dee isn’t a point guard - he just plays one on TV.
I still think we have a shot, but like I always say, “You have to be knocking down the 3-ball” and that is our weakest trait. I just hope our perimeter D steps up. No free looks.
March 14th, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Thanks Tim C…and Thanks Patti for the reassurance. I’ve joined groups on ESPN many times before, but hadn’t had difficulties finding the group until now. I feel like a dunce that I didn’t think about the ampersand being a problem for the search engine.
March 14th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
#18 RPIC Editor Boy, you miss the point about the Penn State loss. It was how we lost that I am pointing out. We tried to coast instead of destroying them by 25-30 points. In the other losses we were outplayed for various reasons, but our self-inflicted cool off let us beat ourselves in the PSU game. We shouldn’t just do enough to win, but we should make a statement in every game that tells the opposition that we take no prisoners and give no quarter. It is very difficult to maintain focus and intensity in every game, but the champions manage it, and so should we.
March 15th, 2006 at 9:45 am
KY “Jelly” Mike #32: don’t have to keep notes ya maroon.
Easier to just use the archives links to past posts, and a little feature found on most PC’s called “cut and paste.”
Maybe you heard of it?
Beyond that, it’s my photogenic memory, which is something that would be of benefit to you, because I never said I quit READING what you trolls have to say.
As for making a liar out of myself, my only defense is that sometimes the stench becomes so overwhelming that you just GOTTA fan the air, and if you’ll kindly point out where I can find ANY masterpiece posted by you, I’ll glady take it on.
As to your reference to my ability to “play hoops,” whether that means blog-sparring or on the actual hardwood, there’s only one thing you need to remember:
Don’t leave me open.
By the way, how’d you know about my collection of Chucks?
Most comfortable shoes ever made.
Steve Weiss #35: - I did indeed miss your point, and I apologize for that, because it irritates me to no end when our boys take command of a game and then switch into cruise control.
March 15th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
While I think the NCAA is basically a group of mafginally compentent odl fogggies out to make themselves feel important at the expense of everyone else, I will let others debate the pairings. My grip is their inability to read a road map. San Diego is much closer to Colorado and Washington than it is to Illinois, yet they continue to say that the higher seeds, especially the top 4 get tp play close to home to reward the teams and their fans. Kansas is further than Bradley from Oakland Hills too, so it isn’t just us. The NCAA needs a map lesson. Maybe you can ask them about their inability to follow their own rules!!